Superintendent Update

Dear Allen ISD Parents and Staff,

I hope you had a great weekend and are enjoying the cooler temperatures this week. As we begin to dive into the middle of the Fall semester, I wanted to provide you with an update on our progress to adjust Allen ISD’s elementary attendance boundaries. Significant discussions regarding the proposed changes have taken place within the community. I understand this is an extremely emotional situation for our families, and one that I do not take lightly. I hope the information in this message helps outline the thought process for why these changes are being proposed.

While this process to adjust our attendance boundaries is far from finalized, even having the discussion can cause angst for our families. Our parents and students love their schools, and no one wants to be the family that moves to a new campus. Allen ISD could make the easy decision and not adjust the attendance boundaries, but unfortunately this is not in the best interest of our District as a whole.

This Elementary Boundary Adjustment process has provided Allen ISD the opportunity to consider not only our attendance zones, but the overall long-term financial health of our school district. As a financially responsible organization, Allen ISD must consider the most efficient ways in which to run our District. This focus has become even more important in recent years due to the way in which Allen ISD receives funding, the required implementation of Full-Day Prekindergarten, and the disproportionate enrollment growth in our District.

Last week, Allen ISD sent out communication on September 23 to update our community on the Elementary Attendance Boundary Adjustment process. This communication outlined the work of the Attendance Boundary Adjustment Committee, which is composed of more than 70 parents, community members, and Allen ISD staff who represented each campus in our District. The committee met on September 21, and provided feedback on boundary adjustment proposals presented by Allen ISD that included the following changes:

• Realignment of attendance zones at all elementary campuses to alleviate functional capacity issues at several campuses, with an effort to move as few families as possible
• Repurpose Anderson Elementary into the Anderson Early Childhood Campus to accommodate the state-required transition to Full-Day Prekindergarten
• Repurpose Rountree Elementary for future non-instructional programming needs (only presented in one of the two proposals)
• Relocate the One-Way Dual Language program from Boyd Elementary to Chandler Elementary

I want to stress that these decisions have not been finalized. The District’s intended goal is to gather feedback before presenting an official recommendation to the Board of Trustees. As we consider redrawing our boundaries, it is integral to have our community voices involved in this process. Allen ISD will continue to gather community input when we host public meetings on October 6 at Preston Elementary and November 2 at Boyd Elementary, both at 6:30 p.m.

Allen ISD has studied its elementary attendance boundaries for many years. The declining enrollment and underutilization of facilities on the east side of town has been on our radar for several years. To compound the issue, student enrollment has continued to climb on the west side of town, causing the student enrollment at several of those schools to exceed functional capacity. Ultimately, this is an issue that impacts the entire district as a whole in regard to capacity, enrollment, and financial efficiencies.

Below is some additional information that I hope you find helpful as we continue these discussions.

Why is Allen ISD considering a realignment of its elementary attendance zones?

Allen ISD has more than 3,000 open elementary seats across our District, and more than 75% of those lie within the eastern portion of our District. There are 10 elementary schools to the east of Highway 75 and only 8 on the west side, yet the west side elementary enrollment is higher by 884 students. To put it in general terms, our schools in the west are reaching or exceeding capacity limits, while our eastern schools are generally experiencing declining enrollments. Demographic projections indicate this disparity will grow even greater in the next four to five years. Therefore, building an additional school on the west side of town only compounds inefficiency issues and creates additional elementary seating vacancies across the District.

This chart showcases each campus’s functional capacity this school year using existing attendance boundaries:

Why is Allen ISD considering repurposing Anderson into an Early Childhood Campus?

In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed a wide-sweeping education bill that was signed into law known as House Bill 3 (HB 3). This law requires school districts to offer Full-Day Prekindergarten for eligible 4-year-olds. Allen ISD has applied and been approved for a final waiver to push the implementation of Full-Day Prekindergarten until the 2024-2025 school year.

Allen ISD currently offers Half-Day Prekindergarten and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) services at both Cheatham Elementary and Rountree Elementary, but additional classrooms will be necessary to accommodate the new full-day requirements and growth in the program. It’s also worth noting that school districts are funded for half-day prekindergarten, but not for full-day services. Allen ISD will spend additional funds to hire new staff and purchase new resources to meet this new requirement from the State.

Allen ISD believes it is in the best educational interest of our prekindergarten and ECSE students to consolidate these services into one campus. Anderson Elementary has been identified as the ideal location for an early childhood campus because of its low student enrollment and campus location.

How does repurposing schools on the east side address overcrowding on the west side?

The consideration to repurpose a campus has more to do with operational efficiency than it does overcrowding. This is an important point due to the way in which Allen ISD receives funding. In the current school funding system, virtually all new revenue is tied to enrollment growth, and Allen ISD’s enrollment is now only increasing by approximately 1 percent each year. Like many businesses and households, Allen ISD must continue to operate with stagnating funds while the costs of insurance, utilities, and other vital services continue to rise. Even as local property taxes rise, the State mandates that the District cannot keep additional funding. As the tax bill on your home rises, the State responds by sending less funding to Allen ISD.

Ultimately, it costs more on a per-student basis to operate a small-enrollment campus as opposed to a large-enrollment campus. Allen ISD approved a $5 million deficit budget this school year in order to provide approximately a 3% pay raise for staff. Allen ISD must continue to recruit and retain wonderful educators into our District, and offering competitive salaries and benefits is a major factor in accomplishing this goal. With the current school funding formula in place, Allen ISD cannot continue to recruit and retain effective educators while operating the current number of small-enrollment schools in our District. This is an unfortunate reality that we must face together. Below is a chart that indicates the disparity in per-pupil spending between two schools in our District.

I want to emphasize that Allen ISD is not looking to operate only large-enrollment schools. As mentioned earlier, the District has several campuses above our functional capacity numbers, and our goal is to lower that enrollment number. The aim is to restructure enrollment at our campuses to efficiently maximize our educational programming for students while also making sure our class sizes reflect our current model.

Will Allen ISD reduce staff as a result of repurposed campuses?

Absolutely not. When studying regular year-over-year turnover data, Allen ISD will be able to reallocate staff resources across the District in a way that best support student learning. All current Allen ISD staff will have a position in the District next school year.

When will the final map proposal be introduced to the community?

Allen ISD will present the map proposal on October 6 at the public input meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Preston Elementary. It will also be shared in other digital formats for those who cannot attend the public meeting.

What are the next steps in this process?

Allen ISD has not finalized any decisions on the attendance boundary adjustment proposals. Community members will have the opportunity to provide feedback and input on the map proposal on October 6 and November 2. The District will collect and review the feedback before presenting a recommended map to the Board of Trustees in November.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter and become engaged in the facts of this discussion. At the end of the day, we must consider decisions that are in the best long-term interest of Allen ISD as a whole, and I thank you for joining us in that process.

Sincerely,

Robin Bullock, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools