Brave Nation Continues to Expand Rapidly

Year-to-year growth in Community ISD was climbing at a steady rate of just over seven percent in the school years of 2019-20 (2,560 students) and 2020-21 (2,776 students), but then the COVID-19 Pandemic took place.

Since the shutdown took place in March 2020, the entire State of Texas has seen off-the-charts growth, with populations in 2020 estimated around 29.36 million, and now estimated at 30.98 million, an increase of over 1.6 million people. There are a few faster growing areas in Texas, but Collin County ranks near the top for population growth, even briefly holding the title of "Fastest Growing County in the United States". Since 2010, Collin County has grown at an annual rate of 3.3%, and reached over 1.2 million people in 2024.

Focusing back in on Community ISD, our four towns of Lavon, Copeville, Nevada, and Josephine - the namesake of our mascot LaCoNe Jo - have seen a large part of that growth, only losing out to towns like Princeton and Celina in percentage growth. Our growing towns have translated to a huge increase in enrollment with Brave Nation seeing a 21.5% jump between the 2020-21 school year and 2021-22, a 21.4% rate between 2021-22 and 2022-23, and a 13.9% rate of growth between 2022-23 and 2023-24. As of September 17, 2024, we had 5,250 students enrolled in Community ISD, which is a growth rate of just under 10% from last year.

Our demographer projected a total enrollment of 5,224 students by October 25, 2024, on the day colloquially known as "Snapshot Day" in Texas. This projection, which is used by the District as the base number we build our school budget on, has already been surpassed with just over a month until Snapshot Day. With students allowed to enroll in Community ISD until the last week of school, we can expect to get several hundred more students before the end of the 2024-25 school year, with a big period of growth between now and Thanksgiving and another between Christmas and Spring Break.

Even before Dr. Knowlton became the 12th Superintendent of Community ISD, it was evident that growth was going to be a main theme for Brave Nation for the foreseeable future, with our demographer projecting 11,924 total students enrolled and a high school population of 3,542 by 2033-34. In response, Dr. Knowlton was charged with evaluating the need for a bond program, which was deemed necessary in February 2022 to properly manage growth. The bond issue was put on the May 2022 ballot, and of the three propositions put before Community ISD voters, Prop A passed, providing $595 million for four new elementary schools, two new middle schools, significant additions to the high school, renovations of our two oldest elementaries, and several other facilities.

Before the 2022 bond passed, Community ISD had four campuses - McClendon Elementary (opened in 1998), NeSmith Elementary (opened in 2008), Edge Middle School (opened in 1987 as CHS), and our new Community High School campus (opened August 2020). Roderick Elementary (opened in August 2022) and our current CHS campus were a part of the 2017 bond, as well as the newly-renovated Edge Middle School. The original Edge Middle School is currently the Terry Pope Admin Building, which opened as the only Community ISD building in 1974 with K-12 and administrative offices all housed in the same building.

After the bond passed, Community ISD got to work immediately, purchasing land for the Dodson Elementary (opened August 2023) and Ellis Elementary (opened August 2024) sites, as well as Community Trails Middle School (opened August 2024). Still to be built are elementary schools in Elevon (projected 2027 or later) and Riverfield (projected 2027 or later) and Community Creek Middle School (projected 2027 or later). Elevon (John Marlon) and Riverfield (D.R. Horton) are both donated land sites, and Community Creek will be built next to Ellis on land purchased by the District. The District also thoroughly renovated McClendon Elementary and NeSmith Elementary, and plans to renovate the current Edge campus as well.

When this current bond is completed, Community ISD will have seven elementary schools, three middle schools, and a high school campus roughly twice as large as it currently is. The bond is currently projected to be finished sometime before 2030.

While adding new campuses has been a huge part of accommodating the growth in Brave Nation, all of these new students also require new personnel - new teachers, paraprofessionals, child nutrition staff, police officers, nurses, and principals! In addition to replacing the standard turnover that takes place each year for all school districts, Community ISD's HR department has had the added challenge of hiring for at least 100 new positions each of the last three years. The District has also taken significant steps to recruit and retain the best staff, including increasing our starting salary for first year teachers from just over $37,000 in 2017 to just shy of $58,000 now, and by moving to a four-day instructional calendar. Community ISD owes a significant portion of its successful response to this growth period to our HR and finance departments, who have worked tirelessly to make sure our campuses have the best people possible in those roles.

While our first few years of growth have gone well, there are still new challenges on the horizon for the District, as well as new opportunities. Here are some things to keep an eye on for the next few months and years:

1. Growth rate

With the U.S. Federal Reserve recently cutting rates by half a point, most experts predict that mortgage rates will go down, which could encourage people to start selling their current homes and looking for new places to live with a better interest rate. Alternatively, that mortgage rate drop could increase housing prices, which in turn would eventually lower demand and discourage people from moving.

2. DEVELOPERS CONTINUE TO BUILD AT HIGH RATES

While new housing construction across the country slowed down quite a bit during the economic challenges of the last two years, developers in Community ISD continued to move forward at about the same rate as they had for the last three years. In the most recent data available, Community ISD set a record for housing starts - a term developers and demographers use to indicate a house has started to see actual construction on the lot but is not yet sold or occupied. 508 housing starts took place in Quarter 1 2024, and we'll receive data on Quarter 2 2024 very soon.

3. Changing Demographics Affect School Funding and staffing requirements

While the State of Texas has a "basic allotment" for all students - currently around $6,160, set in 2019 - there are also funding measures for specific demographics, such as our bilingual students or our special education students, which increase that amount. That funding is used to serve those student populations in as equitable a way as possible, ensuring that all Braves receive the best possible education during their time in Community ISD. Our District has seen huge shifts in our demographics over the last four years, with increases in economically disadvantaged students (47.8% in 2021-22 to 58.26% in 2023-24) Special Education students (13.35% in 2021-22 to 16% in 2023-24), and English learners (21.7% in 2021-22 to 23.45% in 2023-24).

4. The Homestead Exemption

While many of us as taxpayers greatly appreciate the changes to the homestead exemption the State Legislature made in 2023, it made a significant negative impact on school districts across Texas. When the homestead exemption initially was discussed before our May 2022 bond election, the State of Texas promised school districts that they would be "held harmless" from this funding impact for any bond issues that passed before the homestead exemption changed. Though our bond was approved by voters in May 2022 and the homestead exemption was not increased from $40,000 to $100,000 until January 1, 2024, that funding hasn't been fully realized by the State.

We hope that this guide helped inform you on the state of the District through the first few weeks of the 2024-25 school year. If you would like to get a more thorough explanation of anything covered in this post, please tune in to our annual "State of the Bond Summit" with Dr. Knowlton on Tuesday, September 24 starting at 6 pm. We'll be broadcasting live from Braves Studio, and Dr. Knowlton will present a detailed update on everything that has been done with the May 2022 bond program so far, and what projects are still on the docket. She will also end the show with a live question-and-answer period, so please stay tuned to the end to hear your question answered!