Budget Development Frequently Asked Questions

Unfortunately, there is no research that clearly identifies the best schedule for teaching and learning or for the student experience. We have learned some good lessons about block scheduling this school year. While it was a good option to help limit the spread of COVID so our students could return to the school buildings for instruction, we have found that our instruction program does not thrive. There are two primary reasons to return to the 8-period day:

(1) It's the best choice for our instructional program. Our teachers are trained and our curriculum is developed for 45-50 minute segments of learning. Our principals prefer the 8-period day because it is more effective for the way we have built our instructional program and their leadership development to monitor and evaluate instruction. We know the 8-period day delivers the instructional benefits to support students and allows for the curricular sequencing to elevate advanced learning. When we ask students about block scheduling we hear they love it because they have less homework. They describe similar scenarios where the teacher will instruct for about 60 minutes and provide about 30 minutes for homework or "guided practice". The reality is we are not covering two days of content in the 90 minute class period. There is nothing wrong with block scheduling, but our instructional program is not set up to obtain the same results we do with the 8-period day. However, if given the time and resources to reconstruct the curriculum and provide professional development to retrain staff, we are confident that we could make block scheduling work too.

(2) For Lovejoy ISD, block scheduling limits our ability to effectively share staff between campuses. This school year has illuminated the difficulty and inefficiency of shared athletic staff, fine art staff, and others between Sloan Creek, Willow Springs, and Lovejoy High School on a block schedule. We have made the system work temporarily for this school year, but if we choose to move to a block schedule long term, we will need to reduce our reliance on shared staffing by adding positions.

Extracurricular fees have been discussed in the past and certainly would be an option for the Board to approve.  However, the Board and administration have tried to remain mindful of “fee fatigue” that parents have expressed in the past when additional revenue enhancement programs such as the elementary school campouts, various Booster fundraisers, etc. were previously implemented.  At current participation levels, an extracurricular fee of $300 for all students in grades 7-12 who choose to participate in a fine art or athletic program would garner approximately $565,000 for the district’s budget.

Education funding in Texas is controlled by the Texas Legislature. The distribution of property taxes for education is written into law and was last updated in 2019 by HB 3. While most public schools benefited from the changes in HB 3 (2019), Lovejoy ISD was not one of them.

The proposals currently under consideration by the Board of Trustees are sustainable solutions to our budget challenges.  The proposed programmatic changes are to address district staffing inefficiencies in order to address the ongoing nature of our budget shortfall with the strong likelihood that the current school funding system adopted in the last legislative session as HB3 will remain intact in Texas for several years to come. Given the design of HB3, Lovejoy ISD will only have a funding increase with increased student growth.  Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, Lovejoy ISD will need to prioritize available funding to begin to replenish our district fund balance as well as offering pay increases that keep the district staff pay competitive with neighboring districts.  Additional programs and additional staffing that are not tied to current program offerings would not be part of the Lovejoy ISD budget in order for these programmatic changes to have longevity.  If the community wanted to raise and donate the money to address the $6M budget shortfall each parent would need to donate approximately $1,500 per student enrolled in Lovejoy ISD.  However, unless programmatic changes are made to increase efficiency, this would be an annual cost.  

Students that have pre-enrolled or re-enrolled for the 2021-2022 school year are included in the enrollment numbers for 2021-2022 school year. 

Please see the Budget Development website that has links to publicly accessible Board Briefs and meeting information.

References to utilization for the context of this discussion measures the efficient use of our campus facilities. This simple calculation compares the number of students served on a campus as opposed to the student capacity of the campus. For example, one elementary has 600 available seats and 324 students. This results in a 54% utilization rate for the facility. To further impact the inefficiency, each campus has a full administration and student services costs of 100% (~$600,000), but serve almost half the potential capacity.

It is also noteworthy that the administration analyzed demographic study data for the next ten years and took into consideration any future student enrollment impact.

Referencing the preceding question, the current calculated capacity of Sloan Creek Intermediate = 80% and Willow Springs Middle School = 91%.

If a staff member loses their job due to a reduction in force, and their student is a current student of Lovejoy ISD - yes, the student will have the choice to continue attending Lovejoy ISD for the 2021-2022 school year.

We are still visiting with specific staff. During the meeting on April 12th, we will share the programmatic areas impacted by the reduction in force.  Reductions at the campus level are pending campus restructuring configuration. 

Fees for services have been and continue to be a possible revenue stream for the District.  Given our current budget shortfall of $6M, each family would need to pay approximately $1500 per child in fees on an annual basis to maintain all current staff and programs.  The current reductions in force (RIF) are directly connected to employing the staff necessary to support our projected number of students enrolled in the district. It is not our goal or intent to terminate any of our amazing staff and our greatest hope that through attrition we are able to accomplish both right-sizing and retention. We began charging a transportation fee in 2020-2021 and that program is also a recommendation for expansion, as the service is only utilized by about 10% of our students daily. Fees for services (such as extra-curricular) has long been discussed and remains an option for the board which could yield about $565,000.

Highland Park has an admirable model for both the giving of time and money. Please note that our district cafeteria staff are not paid from general funds and are paid from the revenue generated by food sales in the cafeteria. As such, this model of volunteering would have no impact on our budget shortfall of $6 million for 2021-2022. However, regular parent volunteers could make an impact in other areas of the district, such as serving in our libraries, bus aides, receptionists, substitute teachers, custodial support, and campus grounds. 

When there is a reduction in force (RIF) due to programmatic changes the district must follow a very specific process when identifying the individuals in the positions impacted by the programmatic change.  This process is specifically described in Board Policy DFFB(LOCAL).  All Administrators, Staff and Teachers who are currently in a position that will potentially be impacted by the RIF have been spoken to individually and this includes a combination of individuals at each elementary school, the administration building, etc.

Not all staff members will lose their jobs.  Each year Lovejoy ISD receives resignation letters for reasons of retirement, relocation of spouse, etc.  A large number of the staff who are currently in positions potentially impacted by the RIF will be applicants for other open positions within the District.  We do not anticipate a drop in job performance because of the professional nature of our staff and the reality that many will want to be considered strong applicants for other open positions.  

The reductions to address our $6M budget shortfall includes $850K of reductions to district administration personnel.  

The current Pre-K program net revenue is included in the budget. In addition, we included $130K for a new class of Pre-K pending building usage/availability and licensing.

The $850K in administrative cuts are directly related to personnel savings.

Out of the 11 positions eliminated, two positions were created in the past 22 months.

Lovejoy is proud to provide our students exceptional fine arts and athletics experiences and opportunities. At this time, LISD is not planning to charge fees for athletics or fine arts programs.

Executive staff member positions are included in the $850K administrative cuts.

Lovejoy ISD is required by law to serve GT students and has served as a catalyst for many families moving to the district.  If we changed our elementary GT model and adopted a less effective model in which a classroom teacher was required to modify and differentiate the curriculum to meet the needs of the GT children while also instructing students without GT learning needs in the same classroom, we would be able to save approximately $300K. The Center for Academic Training is another exceptional opportunity for our Lovejoy students to gain the confidence and support the need to ensure academic success. If we were to eliminate the CAT at high school, we would be able to save approximately $120K.

The Foundation for Lovejoy Schools has two different donation funds available. The Teacher Grant Fund supports teacher requests for classroom enhancements and innovations. The One Heart. One Lovejoy. Fund directly impacts our general operating budget and helps the district bridge the gaps in state funding. In the past, elementary campus Camp-Outs generated funds to help support security positions. 

Lovejoy ISD is dedicated to improving our communications and exploring new and effective ways to communicate with our teachers, students, staff, parents and community. Town Hall meeting notifications were sent via our Constant Contact newsletter system as well as sharing information on social media. If you did not receive a direct communication, please email [email protected] so we can ensure we have your correct contact information.

Lovejoy ISD is excited to offer summer camps this year! Please visit our summer camps page!

Currently, the property in inventory will be kept until we can determine that Lovejoy ISD does not have a dedicated educational facility use for that land. If a use is no longer determined, the Board may choose to sell the property.

In previous years, Lovejoy ISD experienced fast growth and larger student class sizes. Additionally, demographic projections provided in 2020 indicated elementary levels would start to decline in 2025, however, COVID has accelerated that decline and the current housing market has created challenging conditions for young families to buy in LISD. 

It is hard to draw comparisons across districts as job descriptions, duties and titles vary from district to district. Lovejoy ISD Central Administration is currently 3% relative to the number of district teachers. With the reduction in both Central Administrators and teachers this percentage will drop to 2.5%. The regional average is ~ 2.5% based on available PEIMS data.

Lovejoy ISD was receiving the ASATAR funding per student amount we were guaranteed by the state for the local tax effort prior to the state tax compression. During this same time period, Lovejoy was a fast-growing district experiencing new campus growth.

Our academic excellence is not by chance but by design. The state funding system in Texas is structured to provide Lovejoy ISD with a basic educational program that does not support all of the enhanced programs within the Lovejoy heart that our community experiences and expects.

To some degree, yes. It is difficult to budget for guaranteed revenue with such volatile/potential participation during this deficit budget year. We have factored in depressed levels of local revenue such as summer enrichment, camps, facility rentals, etc. 

It is hard to draw comparisons across districts as job descriptions, duties and titles vary from district to district. Lovejoy ISD Central Administration is currently 3% relative to the number of district teachers. With the reduction in both Central Administrators and teachers this percentage will drop to 2.5%. The regional average is ~ 2.5% based available PEIMS data.

Campus and Department budgets were cut by 15% and a hiring freeze was implemented for any vacancy, which was not absolutely necessary to continue serving students at the appropriate level. However, the general fund budget is over 85% payroll expenditure and most of that budget is contractually obligated. Therefore, the contractually obligated expenditures are very difficult to reduce during a school year. In addition, all personnel were necessary to offer both in-person and virtual learning platforms. Response to the protocols mandated by the pandemic created significant additional expenditures in the areas of facility cleanliness as well. The $3.1 million potential draw from Fund Balance for 2020-2021 is approximately 7% of the total general fund budget.

Lovejoy ISD invests in TexPOOL which is a safe investment and overseen by The State Comptroller of Public Accounts. TexPool is the largest and oldest local government investment pool in the State of Texas. The pools maintain a $1.00 value per share as required by the Texas Public Funds Investment Act. Additionally, the district will continue to monitor and adjust to leverage our demographic experts in projecting student enrollment / growth based on various changing market factors in the community.

As we work to address a $6M budget shortfall the administration was tasked to review programmatic changes which would continue to provide the excellence of the K-12 experience in the most cost-effective manner possible. We considered multiple models to maximize efficiency, including keeping all three elementary schools.  As we shared at the Town Hall, one method to address the $300,000 cost difference in the two elementary restructuring comparisons would be to include 35 additional transfer students in our 2021-22 budgeted revenues.  

At this time, one sitting Board member has an elementary student. However, all of our Board members are parents who are deeply involved in the community and while some may not have children of their own currently in elementary school, they have family members enrolled in K-4,  as well as connections with all age levels of students through their commitment to community service.

The May School Board elections were canceled as the three open positions were uncontested.

Lovejoy is in the top 1% of all districts in Texas, so we know we are a leader in academic success. The 100 schools shared on Monday night vary in ratings just like all K-4 model schools do in Texas. School ratings can be found at https://txschools.gov/districts.

Lovejoy ISD owns the portables and would be able to save around $30K annually in utilities, maintenance and upkeep by eliminating the use of portable buildings. Additionally, the district would be able to recoup some costs by selling the portable buildings.

Lovejoy is ~ 95% built out with minimal available land for unplanned development. The decrease in enrollment is primarily in the K-4 student age groupings and has more to do with the pricepoint of the available homes for families with children in these age ranges.  However, we have not approached the Town of Fairview or the City of Lucas about putting age restriction zoning in place to help balance our enrollment equally across all grade levels.

Dual credit courses are an excellent choice for some families so that their child may earn college credits that could be accepted by other colleges or universities.  We continue to partner with Collin College regarding course and program offerings.  The State of Texas requires students to graduate with 26 credits.  In order to satisfy graduation requirements, juniors typically take English III or AP Language, Physics, Pre-calculus, and U.S. History (1865-present), and their second or third credit of Language Other Than English (LOTE), in addition to elective courses.  

Our AP Language course earns college credit with a score or 3, 4, or 5 on the AP exam.  Dual credit options would not be available for Physics or Pre-calculus courses.  The only remaining course that would be a viable dual credit course option for juniors would be U.S. History.  However, students must pass the U.S. History STAAR End-of-Course (EOC) exam in order to fulfill their testing graduation requirements.  Due to the unpredictable assignment of which Collin College professors teach dual credit courses and the strong training and track record of our U.S. History teachers to successfully ensure students master the content of the course, we do not see a clear academic benefit for the Lovejoy junior students to take dual credit U.S. History with Collin College.  Our U.S. History EOC scores are one of the highest in Texas because of our excellent teachers and students.  We do not want to jeopardize a student’s graduation opportunity by having the course taught by non-Lovejoy educators.

As for dual credit for seniors, we currently offer English IV, government, economics, and College Algebra.  These courses represent three of the four “core” subjects with the exception of science.  We also partner with Collin College for our coherent sequence of health science courses. 

To reach the service areas in the district within the start and end times of our campuses, of both eligible and paying students, we have 24 bus runs in the morning and 24 bus runs in the afternoon split between K-6 riders and 7-12 riders. On average, we have approximately 35 students (eligible and paying) registered to ride a bus; however, currently, we average less than 20 riders per bus run daily. Each bus run takes approximately 45-60 minutes to complete.

Lovejoy ISD has not had a recent traffic study conducted, but a link has been provided to the Department of Transportation Fact Sheet for FM 1378 from 2011. https://www.keepitmovingdallas.com/sites/default/files/docs/FM%201378_Project_Factsheet.pdf

The demographic projections we have shared in our presentations indicate the anticipated low growth enrollment in five and ten years from our recent demographic study.  The transfer student enrollment will decrease as the number of resident students increases.  The demographic study only projects enrollment growth in grades 5-12 and static or declining enrollment in K-4.  Unless the school funding system under HB3 changes we no longer anticipate budget shortfalls with the “right sizing” to increase efficiencies as currently proposed.  The reconfiguration of our K-4 program is a cost avoidance of $1.3M-$1.6M annually based on the model approved by the Board on April 19.  The Board tasks the administration to develop a budget on an annual basis in light of current enrollment and any new legislation, therefore, budgets for the next three years are not available for the website.

The Board of Trustees and administration are keenly aware of the enhanced programs in which Lovejoy ISD intentionally spends more than other districts.  These programs are what we have come to call “The Heart of Lovejoy” which are educational programs that make the K-12 experience unique and different from other school districts.  These programs and positions cost the District approximately $3.3M each year.  

The $850K of administration cuts include position cuts and salary reductions.  The administration salaries are difficult to compare from one district to another because the staffing within departments is difficult to analyze from the Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR). Lovejoy ISD is intentionally structured to be a flat organization with very few middle management positions which causes our administrators to perform duties and tasks that are beyond what other district administrators are expected to do in their job descriptions.  

The teacher positions within the district are aligned to the student enrollment projections for Lovejoy ISD and secondary student course pre-registrations for the 2021-2022 school year.   

Elections to “swap” the taxes from the I&S to the M&O budget are no longer legal. 

Although demographic studies prior to 2020 indicated the need for three elementary campuses based on the trending home values and resales, the demographic report in January of 2020 clearly identified an enrollment pattern and trajectory in grades K-4 that is not expected to reverse.  Hart and Puster have 30 and 32 classrooms respectively.  With the state maximum enrollment of 22 students per class Lovejoy can serve 1,364 students in grades K-4.  The 2020 Demographic study which forecasts enrollment until 2029-2030 never indicates a K-4 enrollment of more than 1,350.  Should the K-4 enrollment reach or exceed the demographic projections, Lovejoy ISD has the ability to decrease the quantity of transfer students accepted in grades K-4.  Two elementary schools can accommodate our K-4 students much more efficiently with higher building utilization.  Greater efficiency in our K-4 program will save the District approximately $1.3M on an annual basis.

Although we staff on a 22:1 ratio in grades K-4, typically a large percentage of our classrooms do not reach and rarely ever exceed this maximum number of students.  In Lovejoy we implement research-based approaches to ensure the highest quality educational experience is provided to each student.  The research on class size indicates that there is no positive correlation on learning unless the class size is below 15 students and only statistically significant for economically disadvantaged students.  Small class sizes can create stronger relationships for teachers and students when appropriate strategies are implemented, however, it is also an inefficient structure and more costly for budgets.     

Out of the surveys we sent to families, we only received 39 responses, and the majority of parents who responded stated they left due to COVID and were waiting to see what the plans were for the upcoming school year before committing to return. 

The breakdown of responses is as follows - 

Adjustments to district boundaries is a lengthy process in which two districts must agree that there is no significant change or loss of taxable values within the district.  Several years ago a “split” neighborhood in Lovejoy was seeking to be annexed into Lovejoy ISD, however, their current district was unwilling to lose the taxable values for their district.   

In 2013, Lovejoy ISD established a tuition transfer program known as Lovejoy Scholars as an avenue for families in “split” neighborhoods to attend Lovejoy ISD.  Currently, none of the Lovejoy Scholars live in “split” neighborhoods and participation has been minimal which could change with recent changes to the Lovejoy Scholars program.

 Lovejoy ISD has not sought to expand boundaries because there are no lands that we are willing to lose in an exchange with a neighboring district that have equal value and benefit to Lovejoy or the other school district.      

The changes to transportation last year were to reduce our district expenditure of approximately $1M to approximately $660K.  Although the $660K is still a large expenditure in the district’s budget, only about 10% of the students are bus riders.  Even pre-pandemic, the percentage of bus riders has never been the majority of the students.  There is capacity on our current fleet of buses to serve all of the students in the LES attendance zone who choose the fee to ride service.

The changes to transportation last year were to reduce our district expenditure of approximately $1M to approximately $660K and not related to COVID.  Although the $660K is still a large expenditure in the district’s budget, only about 10% of the students are bus riders which we believe has a connection to COVID-19.  The School Board is considering a fee for any student who uses the bus service from home to school in order to further assist with the $660K expenditure.  Even pre-pandemic, the percentage of bus riders has never been the majority of the students.  

The changes to transportation last year were to reduce our district expenditure of approximately $1M to approximately $660K.  Although the $660K is still a large expenditure in the district’s budget, only about 10% of the students are bus riders which we believe may be connected to COVID-19.  The School Board is considering a fee for any student who uses the bus service from home to school in order to further assist with the $660K expenditure.  For the K-2 / 3-4 campus configuration, those parents who choose not to pay a fee for bus transportation from home to school, the shuttle service plan would allow parents to drop their elementary children off at either Hart or PES and for any of their other elementary-aged children not attending that campus to be able to ride a shuttle bus to the campus he/she attends.  For example, the parent living on the south end of the district can drop all elementary children at Hart and any of their children in K-2 could ride the shuttle to Puster.  

As the board and administration has worked through the budget development process this spring, on March 12th two bills were filed in the legislature that repeals the district's ability to charge transfer students tuition which is a $1M impact to our 21-22 budget. Additionally, as part of our budget development, the administration was working on options to expand the tuition transfer to increase revenue to offset the projected shortfall. So, the repeal of charging tuition removes a million dollars in current revenue and approximately $1.5M to $3M in potential increased revenue to address the shortfall. We believe there is a high probability these bills will become law. However, we will not know the full extent of the bills until after we have already renewed or nonrenewed contracts for employees, as required by law. Unfortunately, the March 15th board meeting was taken over to discuss the facemask debate following the Governor's repeal of his facemask executive order. This pushed the board's discussion on budget to the March 25th meeting.

The Board and administration are confident in the excellence of the educational experience provided in Lovejoy.  We understand the feelings that campus transitions may have as we have opened new campuses and implemented new grade configurations over the last fifteen years.  All of these transitions have strengthened the outstanding reputation of our district despite any fears or concerns that were expressed prior to the changes.

Class sizes will not be impacted by the changes to our elementary program because teachers are hired based on the enrollment projections in Lovejoy ISD.  Regardless of the elementary school model that is approved (2 K-4 campuses or a K-2 and a 3-4 campus), children will continue to have an excellent experience because of the caring, committed and well-trained teachers and leaders we have in Lovejoy.  For an overview of what draws PK-12 families to Lovejoy, you might visit our Why Lovejoy? webpage on our district website.     

The Board and administration have considered extracurricular fees as a measure to balance the budget.  This could become a necessary method to enhance revenue at some point in the future.  The currently proposed revenue enhancements and budget reductions balance our budget for the 2021-22 school year by implementing sustainable solutions with annual savings, “right size” our staffing to match our enrollment projections, and protect the unique elements of the Lovejoy experience.

The two budget priorities will continue to replenish our fund balance and increase staff pay to remain competitive with neighboring school districts.  Although the current budget plans do create the capacity to begin to increase fund balance, they do not include any raises for staff.        

For the K-2 / 3-4 grade level configuration structure, the district will help offset some of the traffic by offering free shuttle services for K-6 students. The additional cost for shuttle buses will depend greatly on the number of riders that choose to ride the shuttle from one campus to another. It will likely require two shuttles from the south and two shuttles from the north. The District currently operates two shuttles between campuses so the potential impact would be two additional dedicated shuttles. However, we anticipate the cost of the two additional shuttles will be offset by the numbers of families who choose the free shuttle option overpaying a fee for home-to-school bus service. The reduction in home-to-school riders will allow the district to repurpose two route buses for internal shuttles to provide a more convenient drop off and pick up experience. If the K-2 and 3-4 elementary school grade level structure were implemented, the district would have to make slight adjustments to each campus’ start and end times to accommodate drop-off and pick-up. Without the free shuttle service, the K-2 / 3-4 grade level configuration would significantly impact the amount of traffic on Country Club Road.

The $1.3 million savings does include the $30K savings from discontinuing the use of portable buildings at the central office, HES & SCIS. Additionally, it includes all personnel positions that can be reduced to meet the higher levels of efficiency.

This will depend on the K-4 configuration the school board chooses. There are approximately 40 positions that could potentially be impacted by the reduction in force; however, there are employees that have already notified the district of their retirement or resignation at the end of the school year. Therefore, any of the employees subject to the reduction in force, will have the option to fill an open position (due to retirement or resignation) if they are a match for the position and certification.   

The current budget proposal does not include an extra-curricular fee for fine arts or athletics. 

The District is not eliminating fine arts or athletic programs.

The budget will be adopted June 14th (if the current schedule is maintained). Any additional meetings scheduled for future dates will be announced to the community.

In addition to the Town Hall meeting which offered open question opportunities, the budget development website, and the four board meetings (which are open to the public) - the school district advertises and holds a formal public hearing on the budget and tax rate every year. This hearing is required by law and is posted on the agenda. Every year before opening the floor to questions from attendees, the CFO covers in detail the revenue assumptions included in the budget and the details of the expenditures included in each functional category. Significant changes from the previous year budget are also reviewed in detail. This is primarily for the information of those attending, as the board is aware of these assumptions and expenditure types because they have been discussed individually over the preceding months. 

The cost difference is approximately $300,000 because additional teachers will be needed on each campus to ensure some capacity is available for enrollment growth.  To provide a more thorough explanation, here is an example of this scheduling reality.  If we have a  K-2 campus with 10 teachers per grade level we would not have to hire an additional teacher if classes each had 21 students instead of 22 (10 empty seats for new enrolling students).  With 5 teachers in a grade level and 21 students in each grade level at two separate campuses this only leaves 5 empty seats for new students at each school. Typically, we would not feel comfortable starting a school year with 5 empty seats in a grade level at one campus unless we knew we had adequate seats on the other campus available in the same grade level for the ability to “overflow” new students when seats at their “home campus” are no longer available.  “Overflowing” students away from their “home campus” is never preferred and rarely popular for new families.  Typically, a newly enrolled family prefers to keep siblings together because they are in a new district.  Therefore, in addition to the child being “overflowed” to the other campus it now creates enrollment challenges at the grade levels of the child’s sibling(s).  In order to ensure seating capacity for students we estimate one additional teacher per grade level (5 teachers) would be necessary to limit the quantity of students who would experience an “overflow” situation.  The additional payroll costs of five teachers is approximately $300,000.  

In addition to savings of approximately $300,000 there are several other benefits to a K-2 and 3-4 model.  Although we recognize that students will have another campus transition, we do not anticipate significant challenges because they will already be attending school with their grade level peers instead of “merging” into a grade level with another group of students from another elementary school.  We also recognize that this new model does diminish a "neighborhood elementary campus" connection; however, we are hopeful that all students and families will be united throughout their K-12 experience. Finally, there will be a district shuttle service for greater ease and comfort for our parents regarding drop off and pick up of children.  We believe that the positives to this new model include:

• • • Creates more efficiency in the use of classroom space in our PK-4 program (changes the campus use from approximately 66% to 85%+)

• • • Creates more collaborative planning and curriculum alignment opportunities for grade level teachers across the district

• • • Creates a stronger district connection with students attending campuses all together beginning in PK or K-12 and our One Heart.  One Lovejoy. core value can me more strongly reinforced

• • • Eliminates the need to duplicate services and programs on three campuses

• • • Creates greater scheduling efficiency and economy of scale for special programs which we are legally required to provide such as GT and special education

• • • Increased facility opportunity at a single location creates the opportunity to expand our early childhood program offerings to students younger than 4 year olds which enhances an existing revenue stream for LISD

• • • Reduces a reliance on K-4 student transfer enrollment or resident student enrollment growth to support three equally structured campuses (specifically rather than ~220 available seats or 18% of total current K-4 enrollment in K-4 it would minimize this number to ~60 available seats or 5% of current total K-4 enrollment of 1200 students

• • • Creates the viable option for any K-4 student transfers to matriculate through LISD K-12 program without fear of transfer opportunity being revoked when student reaches SCIS or WSMS due to a far smaller number of available seats after grade 4

• • • Eliminates an annual operating expense of approximately $1.3M for the LISD budget 

• • • Allows the district to fulfill a goal of the Long Range Facilities Planning Committee and eliminate the use of portable buildings throughout LISD which has annual operating savings of approximately $30K

Reductions in Force are never a goal of Lovejoy ISD; however, with 88% of our typical annual budget for payroll costs and very little discretionary costs remaining in the other 12% of our annual budget, RIF decisions are necessary to address our estimated $6M budget shortfall for the upcoming year.  The teacher RIF choices are impacting elementary campuses to a greater extent because our K-4 program is more inefficient when compared to the secondary program.  

A restructuring of the elementary program is a result of our demographic projections and enrollment patterns.  Enrollment in our K-4 program is approximately 1,200 students.  This number is not projected to exceed 1,320 students for the next decade or beyond.  Our demographer has reported that this decline and plateau in our K-4 enrollment is a result of the average home price in Lovejoy ISD.  The average home value causes homes to typically be purchased by families with older children rather than younger families.  We are confident that we will continue to see increased enrollment; however, this enrollment will primarily be students in grades 7-12. 

According to our demographic study and our student enrollment patterns for the last decade, the key driver to the low enrollment in grades K-6 is the average price point for a home in Lovejoy ISD.  Homes in our price range are usually purchased by families with older children.  Just as the current K-4 structure has not caused an increase in K-6 enrollment, we are confident that the strength of the K-12 student experience in Lovejoy ISD is a draw for families to seek enrollment in our district.  Moreover, there are approximately 100 other school districts in Texas who have structured a “primary” (K-2) and “upper elementary” model in their district for a variety of reasons and given the strength of our teachers and school culture we believe this model will be successful for our children as well.

The District Administration was tasked by the Board of Trustees to develop the most efficient K-4 grade level structure. The recommendation for campus selection was based on the building's student capacity. Puster has a slightly higher student capacity than Hart of ~60 students. Having three (3) grade levels (K-2) at the larger capacity building will better accommodate their enrollment numbers long term. On average, K-2 has a projected enrollment of ~ 50 to 75 more students than the two grade levels of 3rd & 4th grade.  There are approximately 100 other school districts in Texas who have structured a “primary” (K-2) and “upper elementary” model in their district for a variety of reasons and given the strength of our teachers and school culture we believe this model will be successful for our children as well.  Instructionally, we chose this model because K-2 classrooms are “self-contained” classrooms with a homeroom teacher that students stay with all day with the exception of their “specials” time of PE, art, and music.  The homeroom teacher provides instruction in all subject areas for the children and provides a nurturing, age appropriate experience for children who are 5-7 years old.  Beginning in third grade, students often receive more specialized instruction by an English/social studies teacher and a separate math/science teacher.  Students change classrooms to begin the transition experience that they will have on a more frequent basis after leaving elementary school.

As we face a $6M budget shortfall the administration was tasked to review programmatic changes which would continue to provide the excellence of the K-12 experience in the most cost-effective manner possible.  Typically students experience difficulty in a campus transition when both the campus and their student peers are new.  By adopting a K-2 and 3-4 model, we would remove the anxiety of brand new grade level peers because students will have been together in K-2 and are now all making the transition to the new school together.  There are many ideas and approaches that can be implemented with greater frequency to make this a smooth transition including grade level visits to the 3-4 campus, tours, etc. similar to what is already done during “bump up day” for our current campus transitions.    

As we work to address a $6M budget shortfall the administration was tasked to review programmatic changes which would continue to provide the excellence of the K-12 experience in the most cost-effective manner possible. We considered multiple models to maximize efficiency, including keeping all three elementary schools. We have also considered keeping two K-4 elementary campuses.  This model is less efficient than the K-2 and 3-4 campus model because of the need for approximately five additional teachers to maintain capacity in each grade level.  This model also does not protect students from being “overflowed” to the other campus when available capacity is filled in a grade level at a student’s “home campus”.

For the referenced structure of K-2 and 3-4, the utilization would become 86% and 91% respectively.

No, when there is a reduction in force (RIF) due to programmatic changes the district must follow a very specific process when identifying the individuals in the positions impacted by the programmatic change.  This process is specifically described in a legal local policy (DFFB).  All teachers who are currently in a position that will potentially be impacted by the RIF have been spoken to individually and this includes a combination of teachers at each elementary school.   

Assuming the K-4 students from one elementary school are equally distributed to the other two elementary schools, the utilization would become 84% and 93% respectively. Additionally, as referenced in previous responses, having two K-4 campuses would increase the cost over the K-2 and 3-4 configuration by around $300,000 or five teachers.

The total savings of the K-2 and 3-4 campus grade level configuration is approximately $1.6M.

The additional cost for shuttle buses will depend greatly on the number of riders that choose to ride the shuttle from one campus to another. It will likely require two shuttles from the south and two shuttles from the north. The District currently operates two shuttles between campuses so the potential impact would be two additional dedicated shuttles. However, we anticipate the cost of the two additional shuttles will be offset by the numbers of families who choose the free shuttle option over paying a fee for home-to-school bus service. The reduction in home-to-school riders will allow the district to repurpose two route buses for internal shuttles to provide a more convenient drop off and pick up experience.

The district’s after school care program is a fee based service for families that utilize the program. The fees charged to program participants cover the cost of providing the service.

There will be minimal capital improvements or construction costs to transition a campus from a K-4 to a Pre-K and office space use. These future improvements will not impact the immediate usability of the spaces for Pre-K classrooms or offices allowing the district to postpone any modifications until the future building costs level. However, any capital improvements or construction costs will not affect the district’s general operating budget (also called the maintenance and operations budget or M&O budget) as these types of projects qualify for funding from the district’s bond budget (also known as the interest and sinking fund or I&S budget).  A school district's property tax is made up of a M&O tax rate and an I&S tax rate. The M&O tax rate provides funds for the maintenance and operations costs of a school district, which include items such as salaries (which comprise more than 85% of the M&O budget), regular education, special education, compensatory education, career and technical education, gifted and talented education, and transportation. The I&S tax rate provides funds to make annual debt service payments on qualifying voter authorized bond issuances.

Only students ages 3 to 5 that meet special education criteria would attend school at the early childhood center. Students who meet special education criteria that are in grades K - 4 would be at one of the other elementary campuses. 

The additional cost for shuttle buses will depend greatly on the number of riders that choose to ride the shuttle from one campus to another. It will likely require two shuttles from the south and two shuttles from the north. The District currently operates two shuttles between campuses so the potential impact would be two additional dedicated shuttles. However, we anticipate the cost of the two additional shuttles will be offset by the numbers of families who choose the free shuttle option over paying a fee for home-to-school bus service. The reduction in home-to-school riders will allow the district to repurpose two route buses for internal shuttles to provide a more convenient drop off and pick up experience. If the K-2 and 3-4 elementary school grade level structure were implemented, the district would have to make slight adjustments to each campus’ start and end times to accommodate drop-off and pick-up.

In a K-2 and 3-4 separate campus model, there would be approximately 9-14 teachers in each grade level.  In your example for Kinder, each campus has classrooms designated for Kinder, but Puster is the only campus where the rooms are offset from the rest of the classrooms in it’s own pod.  In this model we would anticipate that one half of the kinder teachers (in the upcoming school year, 5) would utilize the current kinder pod and the other 4 teachers would occupy classrooms near the kinder pod.  Logistically, all teachers and students would have access to the playground and would have equal resources to continue to teach our district’s kindergarten curriculum.  We would not need to submit enrollment waivers because we would staff the kinder program with 9 teachers and our projections are that each teacher would have approximately 19-20 students in his/her classroom by reaching at least our current kinder enrollment of 178 students.  We would not incur construction costs as the five classrooms outside of the current Kinder pod are appropriate for kindergarten instruction and needs.   

A key prerequisite for improved instruction is planning time for teachers and professional development that supports improved instructional practices.  All grade level teachers on one campus, rather than three, increases the opportunity for horizontal alignment of the grade level experiences for students and for teacher collaborative planning to ensure that the most engaging student activities are adopted by all teachers.  Our campus instructional leaders and many teachers are excited about the possibility of focusing on the unique learning needs of a more specific age group and increased opportunities for collaboration with grade level colleagues.  Quantitative or qualitative data evidence of the improvements in the student experience are impossible to identify at this time without implementation of the new model; however, given our knowledge of the key elements of successful instruction, the K-2 and 3-4 model has the strong potential to improve the foundational components of effective and engaging instruction and learning experiences for our students.

Although it is a great partnership with Creekwood United Methodist Church to utilize their parking lot for our pick up and drop off plans, there are two significant factors to this plan design.  First, if Puster were the early childhood center the total number of students at Puster could not be enrolled at Lovejoy Elementary without moving some Lovejoy Elementary students to Hart.  The same would be true if we made Hart the early childhood center, some Lovejoy Elementary students would need to be moved to Puster.  The Lovejoy Elementary campus has the lowest enrollment and projected future enrollment of the three current campuses, but not low enough to accommodate the entire enrollment from either Puster or Hart.  However, by changing the Lovejoy Elementary attendance zone, Hart would have an enrollment of approximately 500 students and Puster would have an enrollment of approximately 600 students.  The second significant factor in this plan design is the proximity of Lovejoy Elementary to our central administration building allows current positions to serve in dual capacities to also serve in our elementary childhood center.  

The idea of only having two K-4 elementary schools is still under consideration by the Board of Trustees.  Although the idea of selling PES is a very novel idea it does not address our budget shortfall.  If McKinney were willing to purchase PES, the funds would replenish our Interest and Sinking (I&S) budget which cannot be used for Maintenance and Operations (M&O) daily operating expenses.  Our budget shortfall is in our M&O budget due to HB3 and legislative changes that have occurred for the last decade.    

The availability of open seats is dependent on the K-4 program that is adopted by the School Board.  With our current staffing, if two K-4 schools are approved there will be approximately 220 empty seats in grades K-4.  If the K-2 campus and separate campus for grades 3 and 4 is adopted, there will be approximately 110 empty seats.  The Board and administration believe that the design of the transfer student program should not require additional staff and allow transfer students to remain in Lovejoy until high school graduation as long as the student continues to meet all academic, behavior, and attendance requirements.  The availability of open seats beginning in grade 7 are much more limited, therefore, we are only confident that an enrollment of approximately 80 transfer students in K-4 would allow transfer students to have the ability to matriculate through our K-12 system and keep enough capacity for resident student enrollment without the addition of staff.  

To maintain all three elementary schools and increase efficiency of each campus utilization to 85% or higher, Lovejoy ISD would need to enroll an additional 330 K-4 students and add approximately 5 teachers above current staffing levels.  Furthermore, these additional 330 students would have to enroll with the understanding that there would only be about a 25% chance that they could continue to remain in Lovejoy after grade 6.  We believe that parents are unlikely to enroll their K-4 children with the strong likelihood that they must exit after grade 6 despite meeting all transfer student academic, behavior, and attendance requirements.          

Lovejoy ISD’s transportation fee is $350 per rider per year for home to school bus and intercampus shuttle services (unless the K-2 / 3-4 campus configuration is adopted). The fee equates to around $2 per school day for bus service. The district has not set a cap for families with multiple riders at this time.

Students placed on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) who require special transportation as a condition of their Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) shall be exempt from transportation fees.

Transportation services will be similar to what the district has in place today. However, for 2021- 2022, all families will have the option to pay a fee for bus service for home to school and/or intercampus shuttles. 

There has been a demand in the area for Pre-K services that are closer to home and enable our Leopards to start their experience in Lovejoy ISD much earlier. 

The Board of Trustees will make a decision on April 19th regarding the elementary reconfiguration. Following that decision, specific demographics divisions will be adopted as applicable (according to the decision by the School Board on April 19th).

Elementary music, art, and PE will be offered at elementary campuses, regardless of the reconfiguration plan.

Due to the proximity Lovejoy Elementary is to the Administration offices, utilizing LES as the early childhood center would allow the district to use existing district administrators to staff the early childhood center to support the students. If Puster was used as the early childhood center, additional support staff would be needed due to the inability to share existing administration staff. Moving parts of the district administration to operate out of Puster only creates more inefficiencies in departments and workflow. 

Our demographic projections include new developments and known potential developments with corresponding enrollment projections.

All elementary campuses have the classroom space necessary for students who receive services in special education. Staffing for each campus is reviewed on a yearly basis. Student numbers and  ARD committee decisions help to determine the quantity of staff that are needed to serve students in special education. 

Lovejoy ISD offers a private Pre-K program at Puster Elementary and a fee based Pre-K program for our employees at Hart Elementary. We do not currently offer a Pre-K program at Lovejoy Elementary School. Just as with our exploration of efficiency models in K-4, there would be inefficiencies associated with three separate locations of Pre-K.  We get calls daily on Pre-K options for those wanting to start their students journey as a Leopard.

We are projecting $130K per added private Pre-K class in 2021-2022. Pending available space and licensing for an expanded program in the future - a potential revenue stream could be considered.

There would be minimal construction costs to make Lovejoy Elementary an early childhood center. LISD follows all state laws and requirements and would utilize current equipment such as mobile sinks, etc. Any minimal renovations would utilize bond funds and not impact the district M&O budget.

The current class size limit for Kindergarten – Fourth Grade is 22 students. Lovejoy ISD will not change and or exceed the state's class size limit.

At this time, there are ten Pre-k students that Puster is their home campus based off where their home is located.  Out of those ten students, six of those students have siblings that currently attend Puster.

We are thankful for the feedback we have received from our community. The Board of Trustees has not made a determination regarding the elementary configuration for next year. Please feel free to email the Board if you would like to share additional feedback and input prior to their decision on April 19th.

Lovejoy ISD would need to raise $1.3M each year in order to keep Lovejoy Elementary School as a K-4 campus. However, this would maintain inefficiencies in campus utilization and staffing each year as the district's demographic projections show a continuation of our level of enrollment at the elementary ages.  Also, due to contract requirements in Texas for educators, all funds would need to be received by May 6 in order for contracts to be extended to educators for the upcoming school year.

Delaying this decision creates the need for the District to seek other budget cuts to address the $6M budget shortfall.  To compensate for the $1.3M - $1.6M expense, Lovejoy ISD will need to make additional staffing and program cuts and collect additional fees because there is no real option to take this out of the District’s fund balance.  As we shared at the Town Hall, the additional $300K to have two K-4 campuses instead of a K-2 and 3-4 campus will need to be funded with an additional 35 transfer students assisting with the M&O budget instead of these $300K being earmarked to replenish our minimal fund balance.  To “find” another $1.3M to keep our K-4 program on three campuses will cause more drastic staff reductions and additional fees for parents. 

Maintaining our K-4 program on three campuses will cost $1.3M dollars annually.  

Our financial projections have been extremely accurate since at least 2003.  Our current budget shortfall is a combination of depressed student enrollment, an acceleration in the pace of enrollment decline in K-4, loss of “Fast Growth” status from the Texas Education Agency, COVID-19 expenditures and lost revenues, and pending legislation regarding the ability to charge tuition for transfer students.  

The 2021-2022 district budget is being built upon an enrollment of 4294 students in grades K-12.  We are confident in the accuracy of this number.  Although we can speak directly to the benefits of a Lovejoy education, we respect each family’s right to choose to enroll in our district or another educational organization.  

Dr. Goddard was well aware of the need to find a solution for our budget shortfall and was part of the process to identify revenue enhancements and expenditure reductions from October until his departure.  Dr. Goddard was involved in the budget analysis for the current school year and for the upcoming school year until his departure.  He was still employed when a 15% cut for all current budgets were made in January.

As the board and administration have worked through the budget development process this spring, on March 12th two bills were filed in the legislature that repeals the district's ability to charge transfer students tuition which is a $1M impact to our 21-22 budget. Additionally, as part of our budget development, the administration was working on options to expand the tuition transfer to increase revenue to offset the projected shortfall. So, the repeal of charging tuition removes a million dollars in current revenue and approximately $1.5M to $3M in potential increased revenue to address the shortfall. We believe there is a high probability these bills will become law. However, we will not know the full extent of the bills until after we have already renewed or non-renewed contracts for employees, as required by law. Unfortunately, the March 15th board meeting was taken over to discuss the facemask debate following the Governor's repeal of his facemask executive order. This pushed the board's discussion on budget to the March 25th meeting.

When Reductions in Force (RIF) are under consideration by the School Board, out of respect for potentially impacted employees  these are only communicated individually and thoroughly to the potentially impacted employees prior to any public presentations of the specific areas of programmatic changes. 

Reductions in Force (RIF) occur with the approval of the school board and are not part of the review and recommendations areas of the district site council or the campus improvement committees.      

There are several potential benefits in the K-2 and 3-4 elementary reconfiguration model.  Most notably, teacher collaborative planning and instructional consistency are more easily accomplished when all teachers responsible for the same grade level are at the same campus.  All of these areas have a significant positive effect on learning.  However, the Board and administration recognize the tremendous logistical challenges that are created or exacerbated by this most efficient model and have drafted plans for a shuttle service to assist with transportation from Hart to Puster and vice versa if the model is implemented.   

If the K-2 and 3-4 model is adopted, each school will coordinate events to ensure parents with children on both campuses have opportunities to fully participate in the events at each school.

Lovejoy ISD has managed such transitions in the past (when all fifth-grade teachers were moved to Sloan Creek Intermediate School and when all 7th and 8th grade teachers were moved to Willow Springs from Sloan Creek or when all 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers were moved from LHS to Sloan Creek).  Teachers are required to box and label their items and the District has other employees or contracted services who move the boxes and furniture to the new location.  We are confident that we can create a plan that is as successful as prior teacher transitions to a new campus.  

I am getting different numbers than the presentation. Please help me understand what I am missing. The two biggest difference I see are 1. The current utilization at each school is slightly better than presented and 2. If a K-2/3-4 model is approved the campuses will be over the total capacity available at each school. (April 18, 2021)

21-22 Enroll + Presentation

Curr. Enroll Open Seats Total Capacity 20-21 Util. 21-22 Util. Curr. Enroll Util.

HES 444        484                     600                  74%          81%              66%

LES 345        396                     600                  58%         66%               54%

PES 418        462                      650                  64%         71%               59%

Total 1207      1342                 1850                 65%          73%

LES + PES     763 858           1250                 61%            69%

HES + PES     862 946           1250                 69%            76%

LES + HES      789 880           1200                66%             73%

K-2    646            748              650                  99%            115%              86%

3-4     561            594              600                   94%             99%              91%

The presentation only uses the percent utilization for the 2021-2022 school year by campus. The presentation shows LES 54%, HES 66%, and PES 59% for 2021-2022 with a total K-4 enrollment of 1,101. As discussed during the presentation the 1,101 is derived by ageing up the existing students and assuming a kindergarten class equal to the current kindergarten level. It is unclear from what you have provided to understanding how you are calculating your percentages. For the K-2 / 3-4 model, the presentation shows a percent utilization of 86% for K-2 and 91% for 3-4 for the 2021-2022 school year. As discussed during the presentation the enrollment for the K-2 and 3-4 campuses are derived by ageing up the existing students and assuming a kindergarten class equal to the current kindergarten level. For PES, the aged-up students for current K-1 is 379 plus 178 current kindergarten students for a total of 557 K-2 students for 21-22. This amounts to 557 divided by 650 capacity, equaling 0.85692 or 86%. Similarly, the 3-4 grade campus would have 267 current 2nd graders plus 277 current 4th graders when they are aged up. This is a total student enrollment of 544 students, divided by 600 student capacity is 0.90667 or 91%.

The proposed expansion for the pre-k program would include opening up the program to receive infants through four year olds. Currently the preschool program at Puster only accepts students who are four years old. Expanding the age range of the program will allow for additional revenue opportunities. The open classroom in the kindergarten wing at Puster this year was due to the number of students that opted to be virtual learners. Since parents were able to determine if their child would be virtual or face to face each nine week reporting period, taking over an open class was not acted upon. The 20 - 21 school year has one student on the waitlist with the limited enrollment numbers in place due to COVID restrictions. 

Lovejoy ISD receives just over $1 million in tuition from our K-12 Lovejoy Scholars program. This program began in 2013 as a result of severe reductions in state funding and the district implemented this stream of local revenue to fund the excellent enhancements provided to our students. Lovejoy ISD must develop a budget this Spring and will adopt the budget on June 14th. Because over 85% of our budget is comprised of payroll costs and teacher contracts are issued on May 10th, we cannot wait until the final bill is decided late in the legislative session (likely in a Conference Committee). This decision must be made early for two reasons:

1. 1. In order to either cut $1 million in personnel or create another revenue stream through the state funding we receive from limited transfers who fill the available open seats within the district and

1. 2. To allow potential transfer students to apply and be evaluated to see if they meet the criteria for enrollment in Lovejoy ISD. We have frequent and valuable conversations with our network of legislators and legislative staff during and between legislative sessions. This allows us to advocate for issues which are in the best interest of Lovejoy ISD.

The School Board adopted a maximum cap of no more than 350 students in grades K-12.  This cap is not necessarily designed with a cap for each grade level because we closely monitor the enrollment of our resident students and ensure we have enough capacity at each grade level for them before considering the addition of any transfer students.  At this time we are confident that we could accept 80 students in grades K-4.  This cap of 80 students (with specific grade level adjustments made as needed) is also important in order to ensure transfer students could remain until high school graduation as long as they continue to meet all academic, behavior, and attendance requirements.  The enrollment cap for SCIS will be 80 (approximately 40 in each grade level).  The cap for WSMS will be 70 (approximately 35 in each grade level).  The cap at LHS is 120 students.  This total number of students across our K-12 program is approximately 1 additional student in each elementary class or class period in grades 5-12.  The impact on the class sizes is extremely minimal.

The Board of Trustees has approved for the continuation of the Lovejoy Scholars program without tuition due to pending legislation. The Lovejoy Scholars program will still be available for students who apply. As a reminder, students must continue to meet criteria on an annual basis through a renewal application process. If students meet criteria, approval will be based on available spots.  

Yes, in-district transfers are still available through the appropriate process. 

The Lovejoy Scholars Limited Application-Based Enrollment is not based on a students geographical location. Students applying to be admitted into Lovejoy ISD must met criteria established by the district that includes but is no limited to:

• • • 95% attendance for each class for the previous school year

• • • Passing all classes currently enrolled and for the last semester completed

• • • Students from home school, private school, non-accredited school, or school outside of Texas, must show satisfactory scores on standardized achievement test and/or successful achievement on district delivered academic test

• • • No serious infractions on the disciplinary record for previous school year

• • • Compliance with the LISD Student Code of Conduct, Parent Code of Conduct, district policies and regulations, and expectations for behavior of the student and/or parent(s)

During the March 2nd budget workshop, the board discussed the option of restructuring elementary operations, charging fees, and implementing deep staff reductions. They also considered expanding tuition enrollment of ~ 500 students, without extra-curricular fees, and fewer staff reductions. Through the board’s questions, dialog, and discussion, the budget development direction to the administration was a combination of additional revenue from expanded tuition student enrollment and efficiency reductions. On March 12th in the Texas legislature, there were two bills filed that repeal the allowance for districts to charge tuition to transfer students; House Bill 1525 (Representative Dan Huberty R-Humble) and Senate Bill 1536 (Senator Larry Taylor R-Friendswood). 

The impact of these two bills would increase our projected shortfall by approximately $1M from tuition collections and significantly limit the anticipated revenue from expanding the tuition program discussed on March 2nd. As the administration prepared for the March 15th board meeting, the Texas Governor removed the facemask executive order in public, but TEA left the requirement for schools, unless the school board chose to lift the restrictions for their district. Unfortunately, the facemask debate monopolized the March 15th board meeting and delayed the budget workshop discussion for a new meeting set for March 25th. 

For the March 25th budget workshop, the administration developed options for the board’s consideration, a student transfer program without tuition (fully anticipating Senator Taylor’s bill will become law) and programmatic changes to reduce inefficiencies, including the restructuring of our K-4 campus configuration.

Any employee in a position included in the Reduction in Force (RIF) due to programmatic changes will have the ability to keep their currently enrolled students in Lovejoy for one year.  All other applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis to determine if a student meets our academic, attendance, behavior, and parental code of conduct expectations.  The Lovejoy Scholars program has a cap of 350 new students for grades K-12.  Our admission process has been approved by our legal counsel and we would anticipate that the requirement for a student to be “sponsored” by a current resident family would not create an equal opportunity as required within our student transfer program requirements.  

Our Lovejoy Scholars program has been in place since 2013 with approximately 100 students earning admission with tuition for each of the last few years.  The benefit of employees enrolling their children has existed for the last several decades.

Our current 100 Lovejoy Scholars reside throughout Collin County and neighboring counties.  We are not aware of any negative impact on the District culture since the inception of this program in 2013.

Lovejoy is one of only four districts of the 1,040+ districts in the State who charge a tuition for enrollment and have charged the highest amount per student in Texas.  Although many districts in Texas accept transfer students, our study was focused on academic and demographic peer districts which included Alamo Heights ISD, Carroll ISD, and Eanes ISD.  We examined their program parameters and any negative impact on the resident students or community within the District boundaries.  No negative factors were identified.