Frisco ISD Delays Opening Four New Schools

The Frisco ISD Board of Trustees voted Monday night to delay the opening of four new schools that are currently under construction.

Memorial High School, Lawler Middle School, Talley Elementary and Liscano Elementary were scheduled to open in 2017, but will now open in 2018.

The move is meant to bridge a looming budget deficit that was triggered by two factors: cuts in state funding to the district and residents voting down a property tax increase. 

"We're doing everything we can to protect the classroom, to protect our staff. We're trying to minimize the impact of that but obviously there's going to be some impacts," board president Anne McCausland said.

In August, 58 percent of voters rejected a property tax rate increase, which would have generated $30.6 million to cover the end of a fund called Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction.

Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Lyon told NBC 5 that delaying the opening of the new schools is one of the biggest cost-saving measures.

"When you don't open that school, then you have overcrowding at other facilities and you have increased class sizes at other facilities," said Lyon. "You have to weigh that with the savings. At the end of the day, the tough part is, we have to balance the budget."

Lyon added enrollment projections are down for next year. He anticipates between 2,400 to 2.500 new students for the 2017-2018 school year.

"We have a history of accommodating that level of overcrowding in the past. Is it desirable? No. But does it save enormous amounts of money without directly impacting student programs and opportunities? Yes," said Lyon.

The Board of Trustees reviewed updated enrollment projects and costs associated with opening new schools, and discussed implications of delaying the school openings and how that impacts rezoning.

According to Frisco ISD, it costs $16-$18 million to open, staff two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. If the openings are delayed, rezoning may involve a combination of capping enrollments and possible adjustments to existing zones to balance enrollment to assist in delaying the need for future new schools, the district said.

Before the board voted, some residents said it was all moving too fast.

"This is a big impact – both on money and on our students," said Joe Widner, with the group Frisco United. "So it would be nice for people to ask questions and really dig into it to understand what's happening before a vote's taken."

Other budget recommendations, to be voted on later, include a one-year salary freeze for all district employees to save an additional $7.5 million.

"As a mom, I'm thinking overcrowding. I'm thinking our school district was built on the foundation of the small school model," said Cindy Badon.

Badon has two kids enrolled in Frisco schools. She supported a 13-cent property tax rate increase meant to replace state funding cuts for day-to-day operations.

Badon's son is a freshman at Wakeland High School, one of three high schools Memorial would have relieved.

"What happens when you put too many students in one school? How does it affect their education? How does it affect student to teacher ratios? If we're giving teachers too much of a work load, that's going to affect the quality of our district and the quality of the teachers we attract to our district," said Badon. "We voted to build schools and then we voted against the funding of those schools."

Frisco ISD is the fastest-growing district in the state, Lyon said, and has opened three to four new schools every year for the past two decades. 

The district, which redraws school boundaries every year, will now work to rezone once again to deal with the delay of the four schools.

NBC 5's Kevin Cokely and Homa Bash contributed to this report.