Board of Spring Branch school district denies residents' petition to be annexed

By Sebastian Herrera Updated 11:23 am, Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The public hearing ended with angry words toward Spring Branch ISD board members as some people walked out in disgust - the 1½ years residents from two sections in the Energy Corridor's Thornwood neighborhood had spent preparing to argue their need to be annexed out of Katy ISD and into Spring Branch ISD had not succeeded against the legal issues board members saw.

This happened after Katy ISD decided the same fate a week earlier.

Spring Branch ISD trustees did not approve the petition of annexation on Tuesday of sections II and III in Thornwood's four-section community at the hearing.

After Katy ISD did not approve the petition on July 20, residents' only hope was the approval of Spring Branch ISD in order to move into an appeal with Michael Williams, Texas' education commissioner. Now the case is virtually closed, though section II resident and neighborhood spokesman Richard Melton said the sections can still pursue a different type of appeal.

"I wish everyone here understood what the commissioner of education understands with consideration of the educational benefits," said Melton, a Houston attorney. "I wish they had taken under account the rationale for the factors that are relevant. Of course we're disappointed."

For much of the 3½ hours of the hearing, 13 people, most of whom are residents of affected sections, told the board why they want to leave Katy ISD. They focused on commuting problems, as well as the social split that has occurred as a result of the neighborhood being divided between both districts, since sections III and IV are in Spring Branch ISD's boundaries.

Thornwood is at the southwest corner of Eldridge and Memorial Drive.

Resident Andrew Jones, cited the negative effects of long commutes: Lack of sleep, a longer drive for first-time teenage drivers, strain on parents who work and stress for students with extra-curricular activities.

In the grand view, residents said the split of the neighborhood between districts was about the health and educational benefits of Thornwood students. Each resident who spoke was met with overwhelming applause from the more than 50 people present.

Relied on counsel

Ultimately, however, the board relied on its legal counsel. Counsel said annexation of the sections could not happen under the Texas Education Code, which lists guidelines for district detachment. Under the code, petitioners have to prove that detachment would not decrease the taxable property of Katy ISD by twice as much as it would decrease its student membership. The attorney said residents violated this after calculating that ratio at 0.194 versus 0.9756 percent.

The finding mirrored what Katy ISD presented at its hearing. Both school districts are represented by the same law firm, Thompson & Horton LLP, so the council for Spring Branch adopted what Katy ISD's legal counsel had already found.

Melton said both districts only used the 33 students in sections II and III who attend Katy ISD for their ratio, instead of the 67 total students living there, which he said is "what the code calls for." He said the districts also used the assessed tax values of Thornwood from 2015, while the residents used the figure from 2014, which Melton said is $10 million less.

After the hearing, Spring Branch ISD board president Chris Vierra said the board made the decision they had to.

"I would say we have different understanding of the law, and we listen to our legal counsel," Vierra said. "It's always hard to hear stories of parents who are struggling with their school choices, but we hear them all the time in our district and out of our district."

The petition states that the 153 signatures on it represented 62 percent of registered voters from section II and III, 11 percent more than needed under code. It also said the two sections made up only .061 percent of Katy ISD's 180-square-mile area.

Both districts received the petition on April 2.

Average distance

The average distance to the closest Katy ISD elementary, middle or high school from Thornwood is 6.98 miles, in comparison with an average distance of 1.71 miles to the nearest Spring Branch schools, according to the petition.

Distance is especially difficult for Thornwood parents with special-needs children, section III resident Colette Kraham said, as the petition shows the average commute to such programs in Katy ISD takes about 50 minutes more than it would to similar ones in Spring Branch ISD.

In recent years, the neighborhood has shifted to include younger residents and more children, said Section II resident Nikki Thomason, whose daughter is a first-grader with special needs.

Some Thornwood residents such as Thomason have opted for private school because of the issue. Others such as Kraham, who has two young children, have taken advantage of Spring Branch ISD's open-district policy to enroll their children within the district. But because the policy only allows nondistrict students to enroll in open spots within a district school, the option has been limited.