As outlined in the Board Resolution passed on September 17, 2024, before any sale can be considered, the district must follow specific legal procedures outlined in Texas Education Code Section 11.1542.

After meeting these legal obligations, and per the Board Resolution passed on May 7, 2024, the Board has authorized the Superintendent to engage with the City of Plano to determine if they are interested in purchasing the properties at fair market value.

At this time, we are not accepting purchase offers from individual community members. If the properties become available for public sale in the future, which would only occur after the requirements outlined in the Texas Education Code have been met and after discussions with the City of Plano, the district will announce the process for submitting offers at that time.

Plano ISD sets a property tax rate annually based on specific criteria determined by the state. This represents a portion of overall taxes. The portion of taxes that support Plano ISD schools does not support road maintenance or other city of Plano services, which come from the City of Plano taxes.

Plano ISD tax rate has declined every year for the past 4 years. To the extent, tax increases are due to the appraised property values, which are not determined or controlled by Plano ISD.

Closing schools would not impact property taxes. However, the long-range facility planning the district is currently engaged in will improve the efficiency of the district and result in a decreased need for future bond programs around renovating or replacing facilities.

The Plano ISD Board of Trustees held a special called meeting on Monday, June 10, at 6:00 PM. During this meeting the board deliberated and took action on the Long Range Facility Plan proposal presented by the Advisory Committee on May 21. 

Community engagement was a crucial part of this process, with extensive feedback gathered through six community meetings, onsite staff meetings at every campus and digital communication over the past nine months. As the meeting involved decisions related to the relocation of the Regional Day School Program for the Deaf, sign language interpreters were available at the meeting and via the video. View the meeting agenda and access the video. 

We will stand by our staff and families throughout this process.

Two of the Guiding Principles from our Board of Trustees to the Advisory Committee states, “Consider the impact on staff including a hold harmless for compensation and retention to ensure job security for current employees” and “Phase changes over time to allow for relocation of staff.”

Throughout this process, all families and staff will be fully supported with their enrollment and career options in the district. 

Long range facility planning, if done thoughtfully, can be an opportunity to build higher-quality schools. When the number of buildings and the buildings’ capacity is better matched to the proper student enrollment, schools can be more equitably and robustly resourced.

Some of the advantages could include: smaller class sizes and campuses having greater access to extraordinary academics, special education services, fine arts, and athletics, among other essential services such as social emotional learning and mental health support.

Teachers may no longer be at a campus where they are the only one teaching a certain grade level or subject, and now with peer educators, be able to collaborate on curriculum and feel more supported – further enhancing a child’s education and a teacher’s experience.

Students also may experience a broader range of student peer interactions, and now with more educator and staff support, receive more enrichment or intervention services based on their individual needs. 

All of these advantages could lead to more thriving students and staff, and therefore, more thriving schools.

On May 21, representatives from the Long Range Facility Planning Committee presented their comprehensive review process and final recommendations to the Plano ISD Board of Trustees. These recommendations include the potential closure of the four schools listed below along with associated boundary adjustments:

• Davis Elementary School
• Forman Elementary School
• Armstrong Middle School
• Carpenter Middle School

While specific details are not yet known regarding the future of facilities that would no longer serve as schools, the board took action at the May 7 board meeting to prepare for the possibility of closing schools. Board members adopted a resolution to ensure that any surplus property would be repurposed in a way that benefits the community and respects the integrity of our neighborhoods. 

Possible options include:

• Re-purposing the buildings or properties for other district use.
• Converting the campus(es) back to green space.
• Partnering with the City of Plano to maintain the properties for public use.

At this time, we are not selling any Plano ISD properties.  As we move forward with our transition plan, if we decide to sell any properties, we will proceed as directed by the Board of Trustees Resolution Regarding Certain Real Surplus Property approved on May 7, 2024.

We are committed to our students and we are committed to our staff.

The district will work with the affected families to transition them to a new school within the district that is close in proximity and that best meets students' needs.

Human Resources will work closely with each affected staff member to help them find alternate positions within Plano ISD that match their qualifications. Our goal is to retain staff members and to honor their service to our district.

The elementary Regional Day School Program for the Deaf will be relocated to Harrington Elementary School. Students will remain in the feeder pattern of the middle, high and senior high campuses that currently serve this program. You can read more here.

Legacy Committees (inclusive of staff, families, and community) will be convened for each campus that is closing to identify specific steps that can be taken to honor the history of the campus.

We understand that previous school closures in other school districts have had negative impacts. We also believe that rightsizing, if done thoughtfully, can be an opportunity to build higher-quality schools.

We will minimize negative impacts by transparently engaging with the community, sharing the potential positive outcomes, including consistent class sizes across the district, more programming, and higher quality school environments.

We will honor the history and traditions of school communities, and we will engage the community in how to repurpose any closed schools for the benefit of the community.

Design capacity is the number of students at 100% utilization of general and special education classrooms at a school. Functional capacity is approximately 85% of design capacity and is considered the optimal utilization of a school facility. The other 15% of capacity allows for flexibility to assign rooms for other purposes, such as for parent resources and pull-out programs.  It also accounts for utilization of classrooms below 100%.

Design capacity (100%) is calculated by multiplying the number of classrooms on a campus with the maximum number of students per classroom according to grade-level and program type.  The capacity calculation excludes certain special-use spaces such as PE, music, science, and computer rooms in elementary schools, and CTE labs in secondary schools.

When reviewing the capacity data for schools, it is important to keep several factors in mind. For example, campuses that show utilization rate at or close to 100% capacity may not have flexible spaces for other purposes.

The district provided the community the opportunity to have a say in this conversation by holding 6 district-wide community meetings, staff meetings and presentations at every Plano ISD school campus and by participating in several community engagement opportunities with local clubs, organizations, industry partners and community groups. 

This website has also been a reliable source for information throughout this process and will continue to be updated as new information becomes available. Via this site, the community has an opportunity to continue to engage by using our two-way communications platform, Let's Talk.

Proposed Timeline

Nov 15, 2022: Board authorizes Strategic Roadmap study

May 2, 2023: Board approves Strategic Roadmap study

Sept 5, 2023 Administration discusses Long-Range Facility Planning contained within the  Strategic Roadmap study

Sept 19: Board approves a resolution to affirm the efficiency framework criteria and establish an advisory committee to provide feedback and recommendations to the Board of Trustees regarding long-range building and property efficiencies

Oct 3, 2023: Board approves Guiding Principles to share with the Advisory Committee

Sept 20, 2023 – Oct 25, 2023: Staff meetings at every campus

Oct 2023 – May 2024: - 8 Advisory Committee Meetings

Nov 2023 – March 2024: 6 Community feedback meetings - 1 meeting in each high school.

May 2024: Advisory Committee presents to the Board

June 2024: Submitted for Board approval

July 2024 – June 2025: Communication to the public

While rightsizing has the potential to save the district money, our ultimate goal is to elevate the standard of education in our community. This is about living up to our promise of an excellent education for all students. Rightsizing, if done thoughtfully, can be an opportunity to build higher-quality schools. When the number of buildings and the buildings’ capacity is better matched to the proper student enrollment, schools can be more equitably and robustly resourced.

Earlier this year, we developed a five-year strategic management plan – one we call our Strategic Roadmap– to ensure we deliver on our promise of a high-quality education for every child. What became clear as we collaborated with our community to create our Strategic Roadmap was that we could do better for our children by ensuring each student had the same access to extraordinary educational experiences and resources regardless of the campus where they were enrolled. In order to deliver this level of educational equity, we need to address school facilities that are becoming emptier, underutilized and less productive. 

While rightsizing will ensure every student receives an equitable, high-quality education, we want to be transparent and share with you that the district and its students will realize better efficiency and financial stability as a secondary benefit.

The decision to rebuild Haggard Middle School was made leading up to the 2022 Bond Election. It originated during our Future Forward Task Force meetings and was unanimously approved by our Board of Trustees in August 2022. The task force and district carefully considered various factors, including facility assessment scores, demographic projections and enrollment trends.

Haggard Middle School, located centrally within the district, emerged as a better candidate to accommodate changes in student population and long-term viability, offering more flexibility for future district planning.

The funds allocated for rebuilding Haggard Middle School would have been spent on a middle school regardless. Skipping a bond cycle without addressing middle school needs would have resulted in higher costs in the future. The $110,000,000 allocated now would grow to approximately $145,000,000 in the next bond cycle.

While the Board of Trustees has approved an Advisory Committee to review our instructional campuses, district administration has also been evaluating all auxiliary and administration buildings for efficiency.  As a result of this evaluation, the district has retired one of its auxiliary buildings in the past year and is continuing with this review process.

Long range facility planning, if done thoughtfully, can be an opportunity to:

• Provide higher quality facilities for students.
• Allocate staff and resources in a more equitable, robust manner.
• Provide more equitable access to programs for students.
• Open access to a broader range of student/peer interactions.
• Expand enrichment or intervention services based on individual student needs.

Overall, the average student to teacher ratio will not be affected.  The district is proactively managing staffing through attrition to reflect decreasing student enrollment. 

Please see the table below for current student to teacher ratios and class size:

	# Students	#Teachers	Ratio	Average Class Size
Elementary School	21,712	1,084	20.0	20.0
Middle School	10,746	688	15.6	20.8
High School	7,513	433	17.4	20.3
Senior High School	7,938	427	18.6	21.7
Total	47,909	2,632*	18.2	20.5

 

*Special Education Staff Not Included

The construction of a Career and Technology Education Center (CTE) was approved in the 2022 bond election. While Plano ISD considered the possibility of repurposing property from a potentially retired campus, it was determined to be more cost-effective to purchase property and begin the design and construction process sooner. Because any potential facility retirement would not occur until 2025-2026, the District would have had to include approximately $10-$12 million for construction inflation in the cost of repurposing an existing site for the CTE center. Additionally, there was no way to guarantee that the facility would be centrally located. 

However, at the time of the bond, a piece of centrally-located property became available for $7.4 million. Purchasing this property allowed the District to begin design and construction earlier, which allowed the District to avoid the $10-$12 million in construction inflation that would have been associated with repurposing an existing facility, resulting in $3-4 million savings for the District. It also allowed the District to meet the needs of our students and community much sooner than repurposing a facility would have.

Plano ISD does not determine property values.  However, as the district evaluates options for repurposing or selling any facilities, the Board of Trustees will always consider the potential impact on the community, including neighboring properties.

We are working with demographers to allow for the possibility of regeneration in the future. When looking at building capacity during this long range planning process, we are intentionally targeting between 80% and 85% to allow for the possibility of future growth. While some campuses have exceeded that capacity in the past, it is important to note that in 2012 Plano ISD had over 10,000 empty seats district wide at the height of enrollment.

The advisory committee was established to provide feedback and recommendations to the Board of Trustees regarding long range building and property efficiencies, up to and including;

• campus programming;
• feeder pattern options;
• attendance boundaries;
• right sizing properties and/or
• retiring campuses based on current and projected enrollment.

To continue the legacy of excellence in Plano ISD, the Board of Trustees adopted the 2023-2028 Strategic Plan on May 2, 2023.

• Pillar 5 of the Strategic Plan establishes that the District will maximize resources and community partnerships to achieve District goals that meet the needs of students and staff.
• Objective 5.3 of the Strategic Plan instructs the District to develop and implement plans to efficiently use District facilities that will provide expanded opportunities for students.
• Enrollment has decreased steadily since the 2011-2012 school year, from 55,700 to 47,800, with our demographer projection continuing to decline.
• A total of 21 campuses are greater than 45 years old and the efficiency of our facility utilization has decreased steadily since the 2011-2012 school year, from 84.68% to 72.72%.
• Finally, the TASA-CMSi audit which concluded in the spring of 2023, found that continuing to operate schools that are not needed represents an unnecessary and inefficient expenditure of funds and a loss of productivity.

Per approved Board Resolution passed on September 19, 2023, the advisory committee will be comprised of Board appointed members with each trustee nominating 3 committee members. 

Consideration was given to balanced representation from each senior high school feeder pattern as well as balanced representation from elementary, middle and high schools.  Each Board appointed committee member is a current or recent district parent and is also a Plano ISD resident. 

The District appointed members from the Future Forward Taskforce, as well as members made up of principal and staff representatives.