This is all over the news; anyone potentially affected here that has an opinion? Living next door in Southlake and being pretty familiar with Keller ISD's schools and demographics the reasons behind this are pretty obvious but I also wonder that, if it successful, this will open a Pandora's box for other ISD's in the area (ex. Flower Mound and Plano) which may try to carve out wealthier areas in a similar move.

Besides the demographics I get the impression a big issue would be dividing up the shared assets since most of the athletic and fine arts facilities are in the City of Keller (east of the tracks).

Seems like a bold, blatant move. I'll be surprised if they go through with it given the uproar.

My wife used to teach in the district so still has lots of friends and connections. The general consensus is that this scenario really hasn't been considered and even if it goes through, will likely be aggressively investigated and possibly reversed. But I don't see how you go about something like this without having a very clear path forward to win so who knows.

I'll see if she gets any other info today

I watched most of the board meeting last night and it was a circus. It's hard to know who to believe in all of this as someone who doesn't typically delve into school board politics.

The process followed to-date does seem shady and I hope they do not attempt to railroad it thru for the coming school year. I'm in 76248 and open to learning more about the drivers behind it.

God bless the KISD teachers going through all this though.

Not sure what the right answer is, but status quo is not it. As long as the state continues to hold back funding, more and more budget cuts are coming. Is splitting into two districts worse than closing one or more high schools? Who knows. But doing nothing is not an option.

To be fair, Carroll ISD does have a disproportionate white population compared to statewide demographics. The district has an extremely high Asian population though as well. Those 2 combined make up around 80% of their enrollment. It always appears Carroll is all white because the Asian students in the district typically don't play football. But it's silly to compare them with what is happeneing in Keller. Carroll ISD wasn't carved out to exclude the underrepresented demos. It was actually started as a combo of multiple rural schools.

FWAppraiser said:

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To be fair, Carroll ISD does have a disproportionate white population compared to statewide demographics. The district has an extremely high Asian population though as well. Those 2 combined make up around 80% of their enrollment. It always appears Carroll is all white because the Asian students in the district typically don't play football. But it's silly to compare them with what is happeneing in Keller. Carroll ISD wasn't carved out to exclude the underrepresented demos. It was actually started as a combo of multiple rural schools.

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My kids are in band at Carroll, not football. They see the diversity in the district

Seems to me that Keller ISD and Richardson ISD would have a lot in common, in terms of having a sizable portion of a large city inside the boundaries of their district. Richardson is probably 30 years or so ahead of the Keller experience. But I would imagine the issues encountered are similar.

double aught said:

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Good point. Greg Abbott and his quixotic obsession with vouchers is a big problem.

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It's really more billionaires Tim Dunn and the Wilks brothers that are pushing vouchers (and money whipping the Texas GOP, including Abbott, to do it).

You're right. Makes it even more egregious.

The idea of every kid having a certain amount of dollars that follows them is a fantastic idea. But as I understand it, the vouchers idea that was and is being presented isn't that. Unless it's free choice for all students, and a system that truly holds all schools accountable, they should spend their time fixing public education. The system is a mess.

FWAppraiser said:

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The idea of every kid having a certain amount of dollars that follows them is a fantastic idea. But as I understand it, the vouchers idea that was and is being presented isn't that. Unless it's free choice for all students, and a system that truly holds all schools accountable, they should spend their time fixing public education. The system is a mess.

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We've been told they're fixing it. It's as bad as ever.

Money talks.

AggieFrog said:

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Decay said:

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Yeah God forbid you let people vote on schools with their dollars

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But it's not. It's a subsidy for those who can already afford private school. It's not enough to cover private tuition, so those who can't afford it today, can't afford it with the subsidy tomorrow. And it's putting public money in private schools who are not subject to the same requirements as publics (to teach those with disabilities, to be held to standardized test results, etc.). Note that I say that as someone who had three kids in a private school for multiple years (spending $20k+ a year to do so) - my tax dollars should support public schools, IMO.

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People say this like it's a black and white thing. Additional monies will allow some who otherwise would not be able to afford private school to send their kid to private school should they desire to. The delta for a family's ability to send their kids to private school is not going to be either $0 or the entire cost of tuition for a great many families like this statement assumes.

That said, I don't trust the government to keep its hands out of private schools once the public's tax money becomes involved so I really can't say I'm ecstatic about the possibility.

If I'm not mistaken, any adjustment to school district lines (shrinking or expanding) has to meet state approval. This won't be as simple as the school board making a decision at the local level and carving out a new district.

Fenrir said:

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That said, I don't trust the government to keep its hands out of private schools once the public's tax money becomes involved so I really can't say I'm ecstatic about the possibility.

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If the private schools take public money, isn't the anus on the government to get involved to some extent?

Hincemm said:

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Fenrir said:

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That said, I don't trust the government to keep its hands out of private schools once the public's tax money becomes involved so I really can't say I'm ecstatic about the possibility.

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If the private schools take public money, isn't the anus on the government to get involved to some extent?

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IMO, doesn't have to be but almost for sure will end up that way. There will for sure be strings but what those are could be pretty varied. The argument has always been that people could just come up with scam schools to leech off of the newly available money however it's possible that requiring accreditation by certain entities could solve that problem and those accreditation entities largely already exist.

nai06 said:

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Decay said:

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And my tax dollars should go to wherever my kids go IMO

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So for those without kids, should they be able to have a say where their tax dollars go?

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Yes

Stive said:

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And to what extent should that go?

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abolish the department of education, remove truancy laws, and remove child labor laws

I'm being facetious because nobody actually has the spine politically to say "only kids who want to be educated should be". But there is currently zero incentive on the school system to improve. Public schools need to get an absolute kick in the ass, financially. Why does the $/student keep going up? Why do admin salaries outpace teacher salaries? Why is testing so expensive?

Because money talks. And your crybaby "what if kids don't learn" has worked for decades but our property taxes have many people exactly like me asking "what the actual hell are you doing with all of that money?"