DEMOGRAPHICS OF KISD HIGH SCHOOLS:

 

Katy ISD knows that in order to convince voters that they should vote for the upcoming bond, they have to believe that the schools are crowded. Notice that there is no mention of the most practical fix for the anticipated (while not here yet) "rapid growth," and that would be to REZONE!!!

 

This chart is on the KISD web site in March 2014 (I highlighted the emotional words and phrases so you wouldn't miss them!):

 

Katy ISD Plans for Growth with Bond Proposal Presentation

 

Thursday, February 27, 2014

During Monday's Work Study meeting, the Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees heard a presentation on a proposal for developing a bond process to address the rapid growth within the District. The presentation established a draft framework that could be used to develop a bond package and public awareness for the critical capital needs that will need to be addressed to provide enrollment relief, renovations, and other related facility projects.

 

The presentation contained the operations, communications and financial components of a potential bond package, including projected new housing occupancies and student enrollment, a timeline of communications, and recent election order changes.

 

Through data presented annually by the District's demographers, PASA, and discussions with residential developers, the District has identified future enrollment projections and areas with the most projected growth within the next several years.

 

Some of the key enrollment projections are illustrated in this graph:  

School

Capacity    2013-2014*

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

King Elementary

1,030            1,237

1,369

1,559

1,783

2,137

2,596

Wolman Elementary

1,030            1,116

1,176

1,370

1,566

1,707

1,808

Seven Lakes Junior High

1,403            1,562

1,733

1,962

2,104

2,254

2,363

WoodCreek Junior High

1,403            1,624

1,868

2,188

2,424

2,649

2,796

Morton Ranch High School

3,000            3,264

3,385

3,552

3,659

3,802

3,965


To view the
full Board presentation, and to receive more information about past Katy ISD bonds, visit the Katy ISD website.

 

*I  added the 2013-2014 column (with the Capacity number) so that tax payers can see what the numbers are now. 

 

Remember that the Demographer, who is hired at some expense even though KISD has their own well qualified demographer in-house, has said in the past that her numbers are + or - 9% accurate!  That could be one or two schools worth of students in either direction in any given year.

 

Remember too that in 2006, when they were trying to force a bond issue on us, this same demographer predicted that 83,418 students would be in the Katy schools by 2015.  Notice, please, that's not going to happen!

 

The last thing I hope the tax payer will consider is that these particular schools that they have highlighted are portrayed as being way over capacity THIS year.  So why weren't new schools on the bond last November?

 

Is the lack of planning de rigueur for this school board?  Instead of pandering for another bond, shouldn't we be holding these board members accountable for not addressing overcrowding before this if indeed it does exist?

 

Of course the problem is NOT overcrowding.  The problem is that THIS Board does not want to rezone.  They've put themselves in a box by building schools before there are students to fill them.  They open them half empty (Tompkins High School for example--and Seven Lakes High School when it opened), and then while other schools have students spilling out the door, Tompkins is not utilized.  The TEA used to fine school districts $250 per student for not being fully utilized, but I'm guessing the TASA got the Legislature to get rid of that requirement!

 

As for using Morton Ranch High School as an example of an overcrowded school--how about just moving some of those students to Mayde Creek High School which is under capacity by 322 students?

/

Now the reader should go back to the index and to "Front Page Op Ed by Lisa Gray and my retort" and read what the REAL numbers are in this school district as of February 27, 2014. 

 

Here are a few paragraphs just to pique your interest:

 

Looking additionally at the numbers, KISD has seven high schools with one of them (Tompkins) opening with only about 830 students last fall and lacking the 11th and 12th grades.  That school has a capacity of 3,000 students, so it has a way to go before it is full.

 

The seven existing high schools (including Tompkins) have a stated (by the school district) capacity of 21,000 students, but there are only 19,304 students, making the high schools UNDER capacity by 1,692 students (and since I wrote this, I have discovered that the District was not counting the capacity that is increased by the presence of portables!)

 

The thirteen existing junior high schools have a capacity of 17,028 with only 15,663 actual students, leaving the junior highs UNDER capacity by 1,365 students.  Ten of the District's thirteen junior highs are under capacity. (Junior highs mostly have a capacity of 1,400 so the District is almost ahead by an entire junior high.)

 

The thirty-five elementary schools have a capacity of 31,060, but there are in February 2014 31,882 students.  However what is also a factor is that the school district has just built two new elementary schools that will open up next fall with a joint capacity of 2,060 students, so then the District will be UNDER capacity by 1,238 students. Actually at the present time (March 2014) the elementary schools have 24 of them UNDER capacity, so the statement that "we need to build new schools" would seem to be quite FALSE--unless of course your philosophy of building public schools is, "If we build them, they will come!"

 

What we need is rezoning so that the schools on the east side of the district that are emptying out with the advent of an older population are filled with the overflow of students in the overly crowded schools of the west side.


What we have right now is a superintendent who is bent on having a second stadium.  That's why he was hired--to build a new stadium.  The District LOST the bond election last year because the public thinks this superintendent, and the Board that fails to provide oversight,  spends money foolishly and shows that he doesn't care about the safety of elementary children who have to walk to and from school in the streets every day because he took away their buses for two years and counting.  The superintendent and the Board think they can get that stadium if they tie it to new schools that the public has been fooled into thinking they need. 

 

Don't buy it.

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You also might want to read my article under "Academics" titled "What Are Your Kids' Chances of Going to College?"   You will be surprised at the factual numbers. While they have you distracted with bond issues, football games, and other things, they are not educating your children very well.  Surely that should concern any parent who cares about their children.

 

No one in a public school system should EVER be promised that there will be a brand new school across the street the minute they move into their new home!  Tax payer dollars should NEVER be used to accommodate uppity people that think the world owes them a new government school!