Two sections in Energy Corridor Thornwood neighborhood seek annexation out of Katy ISD

School board rejects bid by Thornwood to be annexed by Spring Branch district

By Sebastian Herrera Updated 12:20 pm, Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Photo: Sebastian Herrera/ For The Chronicle

Image 2 of 2Residents representing sections II and III in Thornwood's four-section community appeared at a public hearing Monday night conducted by Katy ISD in response to a petition calling for the two sections to be detached from the district and annexed by Spring Branch Independent School District.

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Richard Melton, a resident of Section III in the Thornwood neighborhood, spoke at the July 20 meeting of the Katy Independent School District board of trustees.

Half the Energy Corridor's Thornwood neighborhood wants out of the Katy Independent School District, but after 1½ years of preparation, residents there now face a bleaker chance to see that happen.

Nine residents representing sections II and III in Thornwood's four-section community appeared at a public hearing Monday night conducted by Katy ISD in response to a petition calling for the two sections to be detached from the district and annexed by Spring Branch Independent School District. After presentations from both Katy ISD administration and the neighborhoods, the district's board unanimously disapproved the petition, leaving residents stone-faced as they walked out of the room.

Thornwood school annexation petition summary

The residents' main motivations - the inconvenience of the distance to Katy ISD facilities and a longtime social split in Thornwood because of being divided between two districts - did not convince the board.

"This petition favors the educational benefits of the students and future students ... along with the social, economic and educational effects," argued Richard Melton, an attorney and Section III resident who spoke on the petitioners' behalf.

Now, the residents hope for approval from Spring Branch ISD when it holds its own hearing next week regarding the petition, which both districts received on April 2. If approved by Spring Branch, residents can move to petition Katy ISD's decision to the Texas Education Agency commissioner.

Spring Branch's hearing will be at 6 p.m. July 28 at the Wayne F. Schaper Senior Leadership Center, 955 Campbell Road.

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

When residents first held a community meeting in early 2014 to discuss the issue, it became clear that many felt the need to be out of Katy ISD, according to Section III resident Colette Kraham, one of the 10 to 12 residents spearheading the petition effort.

Commute takes toll

The daily commute to Katy ISD schools and facilities has worn on residents, Kraham said. The petition, which displays 153 signatures, states that the average distance to the closest Katy ISD elementary, middle or high school from Thornwood is 6.98 miles, in comparison with the average distance of 1.71 miles to the nearest Spring Branch schools. The closest Katy ISD high school, Taylor, is 6.68 miles farther from the neighborhood than Spring Branch's Stratford High School.

"We don't feel like we are a part of Katy, but yet we are in that district. The kids that grew up here and went to Katy schools said they felt socially isolated. Their parents had to drive them 15 to 20 minutes to see friends," said Kraham, whose daughter will be in the first grade when the school year begins and whose son will be in the third grade. "Then there's issues about extracurricular activities, sports, or if they need tutoring after school. Distance makes a big difference in those things. The school bus has to show up here at 6 a.m. to pick up kids. That's ridiculous."

Thornwood has long been split between both school districts, with section I and IV being in Spring Branch. Research suggests that the neighborhood was once served by the Addicks Independent School District and became consolidated in the 1960s by Katy ISD, while Spring Branch ISD absorbed the other half. The petition states that neighborhood planners intended the community to be under one district.

Thornwood sections II and III have 140 homes, according to the petition, and information from Katy ISD states that 33 students from the sections were enrolled in the district at the end of the school year in 2014.

The commute has been especially difficult for parents with kids in special-needs programs, Kraham said. The petition shows the average commute to such programs in Katy ISD takes about 50 minutes more than it would to similar programs in Spring Branch ISD.

The petition also suggests that some residents moved from the neighborhood to be in the Spring Branch district. Kraham said she has taken advantage of Spring Branch's open-district policy to put her children in that district's schools. Other residents have done the same, but because the policy only allows open spots within schools to be filled, the solution is limited.

51 percent needed

Much of the past 1½ years for leaders in the petition effort has consisted of research, knocking on doors, getting signatures and figuring out the legality of their cause.

"People also have jobs and are busy; so it takes time," Kraham said. "Before, nobody was willing to do the hard work of what it takes to do this."

The Texas Education Code lists guidelines for the annexation of a neighborhood into a different district. To change districts, residents need to have at least 51 percent of registered voters in the affected area sign a petition and need to demonstrate that the move is in the best educational interest of students. Residents also need to prove that the change would not significantly alter the territory or tax base of the district from which they want to leave.

At the hearing on Monday, four Katy ISD administrators presented arguments in favor of disapproving the petition. The strongest came from the district's geographic information specialist James Faron, who said detachment of the sections would violate the state code.

"Based on 2014 assessed values and 2013-2014 student membership figures, detachment of the Thornwood area would decrease the taxable property of Katy ISD by more than twice as much as it would decrease its student membership in Katy ISD at 0.194 percent versus .09756 percent," Faron said "(Therefore), detachment would violate Section 13.051E of the Texas Education Code."

The petition at no point addresses the assessed tax values of the sections or number of students living there, though Melton said in his presentation that the petition met all of the "ratios," and he said before the hearing that the zoning potentially affects 67 students.

Melton later said that the discrepancy exists because the district only used the number of students in sections II and III who attend Katy ISD, instead of the total number of students living there, which he said is "what the code calls for." He said the district 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. The residents did not include their findings of their own calculated ratio that meets the code because they did not believe it would be a key talking point, according to Melton.

"That was a mistake, however," Melton said. "If I had known, I would have had a rebuttal. They didn't give me that info that they used until 10 minutes before the meeting."

 

Thornwood petition results:

62 percent in favor of detachment

17 percent contacted but did not sign

17 percent undecided or unable to reach for response

4 percent in favor but unable to reach for signature

 

 

 

 

Minimal effect on Katy

Petition results say that 62 percent of registered voters in sections II and III signed, 11 percent more than needed. The petition claims that Spring Branch ISD can more than handle the addition of Thornwood students and that the two sections comprise only .061 percent of Katy ISD's 180-square-mile area, saying "Detaching Thornwood Sections 2 and 3 … would reduce the enormous territory of Katy ISD by less than two tenths of one percent, a nearly imperceptible reduction."

Under the code, the easiest route to annexation would have been if both boards approved the petition request by a majority vote.

If Spring Branch ISD approves the petition request, the appeal will be heard as a new case by Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams and could pass with his approval. But if Spring Branch ISD also disapproves the petition, there is no appeal option.

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

"It was all empty-nesters at first, but since then, we're getting in residents all the time with toddlers," Thomason said. "People who will go to school in the next few years."

Up to Spring Branch

In his 15 years with Spring Branch, Spring Branch ISD communications officer Steve Brunsman said this is the first time he has seen an attempt by a neighborhood to be annexed into his district and that he doesn't know of it happening before.

"As a district, we don't have a stance or opinion on the matter," Brunsman said.

Katy ISD's only response before the hearing came in a short written statement that explained the date and reason for the hearing and board members did not speak about the matter on Monday.

With Spring Branch ISD now having the power to determine the neighborhood's next step, residents hope to still have a chance.

Ultimately, they will continue fighting for their children, Thomason said.

"It's not an issue of the best district or worst district. The programs in Katy are outstanding and (have) outstanding teachers," Thomason said.

"However, there's a drive, and I have my children to consider. We're part of the community for our neighborhood. We would like some cohesion with them."