I was at the Board Meeting on Monday evening, even giving some public comment, and the board approved the expenditure for a demographic study, which I will state, that I am for the study.
It was discussed what the demographic study will provide about current outlook of property that current owners may sell or have intent to sell for development, the anticipated home values, etc., to detemine where growth and what potential age of buyers will be going. It will also give an idea of where current 3-5 yr old students are, for entry into elementary schools, to show the shift of the students to which schools.
It was discussed that Davilla is not close to full capacity, Rayburn has a few empty classrooms as does SFA, but Long is busting at the seams. Student enrollment for this year was discussed as levelled off for the first time in forever.
I personally agree that an attendance rezoning will need to be done, and I personally think the demographic study will definately provide the info for that, likely to be completed in the next few years. It will be critical for the district to take advantage of rezoning to fill classrooms and reduce portables.
I have advocated the movement of Bryan High to 4A, as it will definately cut down on transportation costs. With the added help of enrollment at Bryan Collegiate HS, it is very possible that Bryan High could be a 4A school, as well as CS. This has not been discussed at the Board Meetings that I have attended over the last few months, but it is being advocated. If attendance levels off for one or two more years by chance or even declines, it could be a probable scenario, in my opinion.
I know that this has not been discussed to me, but I would assume that Rudder could be renovated to accept more students with the amount of available land that is still there, which could also help put both schools at 4A. There are some possibilities out there that could make it work.