One of our primary concerns about the Plano Tomorrow Plan has been the impact of all the additional high-density apartments on our Plano Schools.  High quality schools are the lifeblood of Plano and the primary reason most of us chose to live here.  When Toyota recently announced its move to Plano, the schools were cited as the number one reason for selecting Plano.  While we have always touted the quality of our schools, they have been starting to slip and this is a dark undercurrent that could dim our future.   One of the Old Shepard residents said it best at the P&Z meeting last week when talking about the PISD schools going downhill and saying once you lose your reputation for fine schools, it affects whether people will buy homes in that district and then it’s a downhill spiral from there and there is no hope of the district ever getting its reputation back. That is a point we need to continue to emphasize. 

Some members of the City Staff, P&Z and Council have repeatedly made the statement that kids don’t live in apartments and that they do not affect our schools.  We know that is untrue. We have heard many references by our neighbors to the crowding at their school caused by the number of children coming to our schools from the high concentrations of apartments built in Far North Dallas and Richardson but within PISD.  PISD’s boundaries extend to the Collin County line in those cities (south of Frankford / Renner Road).  The schools along Plano’s southern corridor have suffered immensely in recent years as a result of the additional students from these apartments.  Yes it’s true that when these apartments were first built in the 80’s and 90’s, not that many had children. But as time has passed and the apartments have aged, the number of children have increased dramatically.  A problem is, Plano has already approved zoning actions in the past year that will add 5,000 more apartments between Plano Parkway and George Bush / 190 and those apartments will eventually increase the pressure on these schools even more.  The Plano Tomorrow Plan would seek to add far more apartments along this same corridor and along Central Expressway and the Tollway in the attendance zones of these same schools and of other schools whose performance is already suffering.  

Two prime examples are Huffman and Jackson Elementary Schools.  These were once flagship schools of PISD – very highly rated and parents clamored to get their children enrolled.  Now these schools are performing very poorly and are hurting the reputation of Plano Schools and of their neighborhoods.  While our schools need to do their best to educate all students, an excessive concentration of challenged students can overwhelm a school and even cause students (and their parents) to flee to private schools or move to other districts.  Plano's prior policy of distributing apartments throughout the city and avoiding excessive concentrations benefitting our schools.

Did you know that Huffman was rated in the 36th percentile of all schools in Texas for 2014?  As recently as 2008, Huffman was in the 90th percentile.  Jackson Elementary is only in the 46th percentile (an improvement from the 36th percentile in 2013). Most Plano schools are in the 90th percentile, yet several of the schools in the areas where Plano wants more apartments are performing below the 60th percentile.  Many parents are now pulling their children out of these schools and putting them in private schools since the situation is so dire (no wonder there are 4 private elementary schools within 2 miles of Huffman).  We also are hearing of teachers declining offers to teach at these schools because of the situation.  We are trying to get real numbers, but we believe over half of the enrolled students at Huffman are coming from apartments – largely from North Dallas along the Tollway.  While we know  PISD is doing all it can to educate the children within its boundaries, it is clearly being stressed beyond its capacity to deal with this influx of students and adding even more apartments will, in the long run, make the situation worse.  We have heard from a number of individuals and realtors that in their home search, buyers have ruled out homes in the Hufffman and Jackson attendance zones due to the poorly performing schools.    

Here is Information on select Plano Elementary Schools and their poor and declining performance. Warning - it may shock you or make you cry. School Data