CFISD outlines marketing, facility-use and revenue plans; tuition-based pre-K launches Jan. 21

District leaders on Monday briefed the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Board of Trustees on a broad community-relations and revenue strategy that combines marketing campaigns, business partnerships, naming-rights consulting, expanded facility rentals and a tuition-based pre-K program aimed at stabilizing enrollment and generating non-tax revenue.

Teresa Hall, CFISD chief of staff, told trustees the effort—organized under the district’s strategic plan guardrail 3—focuses on communication, stakeholder engagement and new revenue streams. “Our goal is to increase student enrollment with a more proactive approach and to maintain consistent messaging to prevent enrollment declines,” Don Tryon, Director of Community Engagement, told the board.

The board received multiple data points administrators say support the strategy: a fall enrollment advertising effort that reached more than 150,000 Pandora listeners (approximately 30,000 in the targeted Hispanic market), an email campaign sent to 297,622 addresses, and a paid social campaign targeted inside and outside district boundaries. The district reported $415,245 in existing advertising/partnership revenue generated from July through the present reporting period.

Administrators said business-partner engagement has grown: 87 of CFISD’s 96 campuses have now been “adopted” by a business partner, and booster clubs across the district reported more than $10 million in revenue last year. A naming-rights effort is underway; the district has engaged a consultant, the Superlative Group, which delivered a draft asset inventory and valuation report last week, administrators said. The district identified multiple naming-rights and advertising opportunities—Berry Center fields and facilities, VPAC spaces, digital signage and ticketing ads among them.

Scott Tucker, director of general administration, presented the tuition-based pre-K plan, which administrators said will launch with a marketing campaign on Jan. 21. The district set the monthly tuition at $650 for residents and nonresidents, $600 for CFISD employees, and a $50 registration fee. Tucker said the rates were set to comply with Texas Education Agency (TEA) rules; TEA limits what districts may charge and requires districts to submit proposed rates for approval. Tucker also said tuition-based pre-K students do not generate average daily attendance (ADA) in the same way that tuition-free pre-K does.

Administrators said the district will offer the same pre-K curriculum and the same progress-monitoring requirements for paid students; they described staffing plans and a registration platform redesign to accommodate the new offering. Nadia Stovall, Director of Community Programs, described before-and-after care branded as “Club Rewind Sprouts” (presented in the slide deck under that name) with morning care beginning at 7:15 a.m. and after care through 5:30 p.m., offered at elementary campuses with full-day pre-K.

Facility rentals and venue management were a major focus. The district reported a 40% increase in facility-use revenue from July–November 2024 compared with the same period in 2023 after a pricing model change; while hours of use shifted between months, revenue rose. The Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC) and Berry Center both reported expanded outside bookings: VPAC reservations are 70% external by count while district events use more room hours, and Berry Center reported current-year revenue of about $1.5 million with a projection to exceed $3 million for the year.

Community-program metrics included Club Rewind and early-learning-center growth: administrators reported approximately 371 staff in community programs, a 37% reduction in a Calvary waitlist since the start of the school year, expanded ELC capacity at specific sites and an overall community-program contribution of roughly $16.8 million to the district since inception. The district said it currently counts about 600 trained mentors and continues monthly mentor training to support its mentoring program.

Trustees asked about benchmarks and targets for outside revenue at VPAC and how naming-rights projections would be finalized; administrators said committees will meet to review the consultant’s draft revenue projections and bring recommendations back to the board.