With the first bell of the school year barely rung, schools in our community are feeling growing pains from rapid enrollment increases. Families continue to move to Argyle and Northlake, bringing a wave of new students that has left local elementary schools scrambling for teachers, space, and funding solutions.
Northwest ISD adds teachers, puts tax increase to a vote
In Northwest ISD, enrollment at Johnie Daniel Elementary and Lance Thompson Elementary came in higher than the district had projected before the school year began.
“As a fast-growth school district, we regularly see spikes in enrollment across Northwest ISD,” said a district spokesperson. “Northlake remains a fast-growth area for our district, and we have seen enrollment already exceed projections at [those] schools.”
Daniel Elementary had so many new students enroll for this school year that the district is adding an additional teacher in both second and third grades. Both jobs were posted on Aug. 8, just five days before school started.
The state caps elementary class sizes at 22 students. But districts can request an exception from the state to go beyond that limit. District officials say they expect to ask the state for more exceptions than normal this year due to the district’s recent staffing restructuring. “Most elementary classes will remain at or under 22 students, though about 20% will have one to two students more,” said the spokesperson.
In hopes of reducing class sizes, the Northwest ISD school board voted unanimously this week to put a funding measure on the Nov. 4 ballot. If approved, the tax rate would increase by three cents to add $12 million in operating funds to the district. In announcing the election, Northwest ISD said $8 million of that would fund new positions to reduce class sizes and $4 million would be used for staff pay raises.
Argyle ISD hires staff, weighs portables to ease overcrowding
Argyle ISD is also battling the issue of needing more staff to balance class sizes, but they are also struggling with lack of space.
At an Aug. 4 school board meeting, the Board of Trustees approved five additional elementary teaching positions to help keep up with growing enrollment.
“Some of our class sizes are creeping up to 21 already and school starts next week. And we’ve got a couple grade levels that are right there at 22,” said Superintendent Courtney Carpenter at the meeting.
But before voting to add the positions, the conversation turned to the question of where to put the added classes if they hire more teachers.
“Our challenge, just to be very honest, is space,” Carpenter told the trustees. “We’re going to have to get very creative if we end up opening additional [classes].”
District officials said that Argyle West Elementary and Jane Ruestmann Elementary are particularly strapped for space. Depending on enrollment growth, the district may have to resort to adding portable classroom buildings at those two campuses this year.
“When we were planning this past spring, based on the numbers at that point in time we thought we might make it through this year without portables,” said Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Stewart.
“We are now looking at potentially implementing some this year depending on when we could get them,” announced Carpenter.
We reached out to Argyle ISD for comment, but district officials did not respond to our request.
