Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 13
Trustees Set Deadline for Closure Decision • Graduation Suites Snapped Up Quickly • Jun Gets Warm Sendoff From Council • Maximum Price Approved for Fire Station
I owe Angela Webster a coffee or a soda or, at the very least, a Subscriber of the Week certificate. On Friday, a member of the “Coppell, Texas” group on Facebook asked what’s going on at the former home of Ms. Mary’s Southern Kitchen. Webster said she’d read in the Coppell Chronicle five weeks ago that the shuttered restaurant will soon be reborn as the Double Yoke Cafe.
“Subscribe if you don’t already,” Webster added. “It’s the BEST for knowing what’s going on.”
Lots of people took her advice. By the end of the day, this newsletter had 40 new free subscribers and, more importantly, 10 new paid subscribers. Welcome aboard, folks!
Trustees Set Deadline for Closure Decision
With the spring semester winding down, Coppell ISD’s elementary schools have been hosting reunions for their alumni who are about to graduate. Mockingbird Elementary will host one on Monday, followed by Austin, Denton Creek, Pinkerton, and Valley Ranch on Tuesday.
At least one elementary school may shut down by the time members of the Class of 2026 are invited to such events.
Last Monday, the Board of Trustees committed to a timeline that calls for a Sept. 30 decision on potentially closing any campus. Board President David Caviness said there’s been “this underlying thought in the community” that the district was preparing to close a school throughout his seven years as a trustee.
“Quite frankly, we’ve never had those discussions,” Caviness said during Monday’s budget workshop, “and I think the only way we can put those to rest is we have the discussions and determine whether or not we need to do that.”
For anyone who’s new to this discussion, here’s a quick summary of the situation. The amount of funding Coppell ISD gets from the state has been stagnant while costs keep climbing. The district has been covering shortfalls by dipping into its fund balance, which is not a sustainable solution. Although voters approved a $321.5 million bond package a year ago, those dollars cannot be used for general operating costs, such as salaries. I’m a big fan of this Coppell ISD graphic that explains the two buckets of money from which school districts can draw funds.
“We’ve got to turn every stone over as we’re dealing with the budget,” Caviness said, and the trustees discussed several concepts during Monday’s workshop. Here are a few examples, followed by their potential financial impacts:
Bring back “pay to play” fees for extracurriculars: $250,000
Eliminate all bus routes that aren’t required by law: $2.6 million
Ask voters to approve an increase to the M&O tax rate: $2.4 million
Eliminate or reduce planning periods on secondary campuses: $3.8 million
Move high schools from block scheduling to seven-period days: between $1.4 million and $4.4 million
Superintendent Brad Hunt said those last two options were brought to the table because elementary administrators and parents have said things along the lines of “Why are we the only ones in the crosshairs?”
“Turning over every stone seems to be the prudent thing to do and the equitable thing to do,” Hunt said.
During the board’s previous budget workshop, Caviness and Trustee Manish Sethi described closing an elementary school as a “silver bullet.” The estimated cost savings would be at least $2 million, and Sethi suggested the district could afford to close two of them.
(See “Could Coppell ISD Close Two Campuses?” in Vol. 4, No. 8.)
The districts’ 11 elementaries are projected to have a combined enrollment of fewer than 5,550 next school year, and that number is expected to keep dropping. Meanwhile, the bond-funded renovations of three campuses will increase the elementaries’ combined capacity from 6,740 to 7,000.
The next step in the adopted timeline will happen tomorrow evening, when the trustees will hear about a facilities evaluation tool developed by a team comprised of district parents and employees. The timeline calls for the trustees to approve that evaluation tool during their June 10 workshop.
At one point during last Monday’s workshop, Trustee Leigh Walker asked whether the district had already decided to close a school. Caviness and Hunt said that remains just a possibility or an “if.” Walker said that’s a big if.
“Out of everything that we’ve talked about tonight, the only thing that is not reversible, that we can’t go back and change, is consolidating a school,” Walker said. “Everything else that is on the table, we could change our mind — or a future board could change their mind — in a year and reverse it. When we talk about closing a school, it’s done.”
Graduation Suites Snapped Up Quickly
Coppell ISD devised a new way to raise revenue this semester. For the first time, seniors’ families were able to rent air-conditioned suites in a press box for Coppell High School’s outdoor graduation ceremony.