Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD presents campus consolidation plan; parents urge pause over McCoy Elementary proposal

District leaders from Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District (CFB ISD) briefed Carrollton City Council Feb. 18 on a facilities and demographic review that recommends consolidating four campuses to address declining enrollment and repeated budget deficits. The district said the proposal would affect Central Elementary, Verno Elementary, McCoy Elementary and Long Middle School.

Randy Schackman, board chair, and Chris Moore, assistant superintendent of operations, told council the district commissioned a capacity study and a facilities master plan, and then updated demographic forecasts using Texas Education Agency (TEA) snapshot data from fall 2024. Moore said the district’s studies show roughly 9,800 unfilled student seats across the district, a 4.7% enrollment decline over five years, and a 10-year forecast projecting roughly a 1,100-student drop if trends continue. The district also reported adopting two consecutive deficit budgets and an aggregate deficit of about $28 million, which it said informed the recommendation.

Moore described the process used: the facilities-planning advisory group — a community committee convened by principals and made up of teachers, staff, parents and business partners — helped craft selection criteria that were then applied across the district’s building portfolio. The firm Woolpert (listed in district materials as the facilities consultant) conducted the capacity study and facilities plan, Moore said, and the district updated its demographic analysis to match TEA snapshot enrollment numbers.

The draft recommendation presented to council on Feb. 6 directed the consolidation of three elementary campuses and one middle school. Moore and district staff said the recommendation is intended to improve fiscal sustainability, maintain instructional quality, and preserve teacher support; they said the district will continue community outreach, provide online materials with maps and FAQ updates and operate a hotline for questions.

Many City of Carrollton residents attended the council meeting and later the public forum to urge the district and council to pause the consolidation plan, focusing their concerns on McCoy Elementary. Parents and residents described McCoy as a high-performing and diverse campus and said a closure would disrupt students and could depress nearby property values. Public commenters raised process concerns, asking why McCoy and its neighborhood did not have direct representation on the advisory committee, why some publicly posted data contained apparent inconsistencies, and why the district had not accounted for nearby residential infill and special-program capacity limits (for example, LEAP and other special programs that operate at less-than-full capacity for programmatic reasons).

Representative public comments included parents and neighbors noting the school’s high academic rating and special programs such as LEAP (a district program for students with particular needs), and asking for additional review, more transparent enrollment and transfer data, and a delay in any final decision to allow more community input. Speakers asked the city to forward residents’ concerns to the district; city staff said they would share council and public comments with the ISD.

District staff answered several procedural questions: they said that the facilities advisory group set criteria but did not itself select campuses for closure; instead, district administrators applied that criteria to the full portfolio. The district said the advisory group’s membership came from principal nominations and represented teachers, parents, business partners and community members; several parents at council said they were not aware of committee membership in their neighborhood and requested clearer disclosure of participant lists.

What’s next: the ISD board will consider its recommendation consistent with its legal process. City council members emphasized that the school district is an independent entity and that the city has no formal authority to approve or block the district’s plan; council members said they would gather and forward public comments and any city-commission concerns (such as vacant-building impacts or traffic/safety questions) to the ISD.

Key numbers and details from the presentation

- Vacant capacity: roughly 9,800 unfilled seats across CFB ISD campuses (district figure) - Budget: the district reported two consecutive deficit budgets and a cumulative budget shortfall cited as about $28,000,000 - Recommendation: proposed consolidation of Central Elementary, Verno Elementary, McCoy Elementary, and Long Middle School - Demographics: district-cited 4.7% enrollment decline from 2018–2023 and a demographer forecast of about 1,100 fewer students over 10 years

Parents and community members asked for additional transparency, correction of publicly posted data inconsistencies and more time for community input before any final vote. City staff said they will forward resident comments and the council’s concerns to CFB ISD leadership.