Coppell ISD school trustees voted against shuttering Town Center Elementary School on Monday night, following strong objections from parents. Financial strains and declining enrollment prompted the debate over the school\u2019s future. The district is facing an $8.5 million deficit, and closing Town Center would have saved about $1.3 million in payroll and $1.5 million in total, school officials estimated during a Sept. 22 meeting.<\/p>\n
A plan to consolidate the school came up for a vote Monday night and failed with five votes against and two in favor, an outcome parents in the audience applauded and cheered. Over the past month, parents had been rallying to get the school board to find other solutions to address the deficit. Parents and community members spent about an hour during public comment calling on trustees to vote no.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can find solutions without dismantling more schools and without destroying the community trust,\u201d Tiffany Tai, a parent of two students at Town Center, said during public comment.<\/p>\n
The district projects Town Center\u2019s enrollment to drop over the next five years. The school is operating below its total capacity of 600 students; it currently teaches about 450 students. By 2030, Town Center would have an enrollment of 396 students, the district estimated.<\/p>\n
The plan now is for the school to remain open, with the district planning to explore options to mitigate the budget strains.<\/p>\n
In a statement following the vote, Superintendent Leanne Shivers said she anticipated reductions in staffing. The \u201csteps ahead will likely affect many areas of our district,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Across the district, which serves more than 13,000 students, enrollment in the 2025-26 year has decreased by almost 200 students, with the most drastic dips in pre-K and kindergarten.<\/p>\n
During the meeting Monday, board members emphasized the achievements of the districts\u2019 academic and extracurricular programs but also weighed the grim financial realities. President David Caviness, who voted in favor of closing the school, said he wants the district to avoid reorganizing schools in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if we shook everything up today, I want to make sure we\u2019re going with the option that puts us in the best position for the future,\u201d Caviness said.<\/p>\n
Other trustees raised concerns about how the move would affect Town Center students. Even if the school closes, the district is facing an uphill battle with the remaining deficit of about $6 million, said trustee Leigh Walker.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the smallest, and yet it has the biggest impact,\u201d Walker said. \u201cI\u2019m not there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trustee Anthony Hill said the board should find alternatives to closing the school, such as generating more revenue to offset the monetary shortfall. The district should try to understand why \u201cwe are not the option\u201d \u2014 why parents are not enrolling their kids \u2014 he added.<\/p>\n
Town Center was not the first school the district had considered closing. In September 2024, Coppell ISD trustees narrowly voted to close Pinkerton Elementary because of declining enrollment and limited state financial assistance.<\/p>\n
Other school districts in North Texas are facing problems with budget squeezes and downturns in enrollment. Grapevine-Colleyville ISD is moving forward on a proposal to close three elementary schools, despite protests from parents.<\/p>\n
For now, some Coppell ISD parents are taking a moment to process what they see as a victory, Tai said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a lot of community action,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has been five weeks for us to work so diligently, so incredibly hard, as a community to stand up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.<\/p>\n
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab\u2019s journalism.<\/p>\n
The decision to keep Town Center Elementary School open is a significant victory for the community, but the district still faces significant financial challenges. The school board will need to explore alternative solutions to address the budget deficit, and the community will need to continue to be involved in the decision-making process.<\/p>\n
A: The school was considered for closure due to declining enrollment and financial strains, with the district facing an $8.5 million deficit.<\/p>\n
A: The school currently teaches about 450 students, which is below its total capacity of 600 students.<\/p>\n
A: The district projects Town Center\u2019s enrollment to drop to 396 students by 2030.<\/p>\n
A: The district will explore options to mitigate the budget strains and find alternative solutions to address the deficit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Coppell ISD School Trustees Vote Against Closing Town Center Elementary School Coppell ISD school trustees voted against shuttering Town Center Elementary School on Monday night, following strong objections from parents. Financial strains and declining enrollment prompted the debate over the school\u2019s future. The district is facing an $8.5 million deficit, and closing Town Center would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/PH2VIYB2H5AYTDZPA6NNG6MQSM.JPG?auth=f2c34e3be8593ef72c50728540d2d1ff05279006905cc84bcfa48e9d35888c88&quality=80&width=1200&height=630&smart=true","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15822,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15819\/revisions\/15822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}