The Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District is the latest North Texas district to consider closing schools in light of budget constraints, but parents of students enrolled at the four schools are opposing the proposal.
Furneax, McCoy and Central Elementary Schools and Long Middle School are all on the chopping block, the school board told parents at a recent meeting. The district decided consolidating campuses could be a path forward after a 2024 demographics survey found 9,800 empty seats across the district.
The closures would also help the district save almost $10 million in the first year, officials project, funds that could help relieve the current $19 million budget deficit.
In the school board meeting, parents of McCoy Elementary students gave their opinions about the “unacceptable” decision to close the campus. Though supporters for Central Elementary School were not present during the meeting, the school’s closure would be detrimental to the surrounding neighborhood, Blancgill Ruiz told the Observer.
Ruiz went to Central Elementary School herself, and both her son and daughter attended the campus. The area surrounding Central Elementary is primarily Hispanic, and Ruiz says its rare neighbors understand how to speak out on issues like a proposed school closure.
Language barriers or parents working hours that overlap with district meeting times make it difficult for the community’s voice to be heard.
“Just growing up here, being around the district and so forth, if you don't speak out they'll just run over you,” Ruiz told the Observer. “Central is one of the oldest schools, it's a safe haven for the community. I just felt the need to take initiative.”
Ruiz learned that McCoy Elementary parents had started a Change.org petition — which now has over 1,800 signatures urging the district to keep the school open — so she started her own. The Central petition has garnered more than 750 signatures, and now Ruiz is rallying Central parents and supporters to advocate for the campus at a Feb. 18 listening session with the district.
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD is just the most recent district in the area to turn to school closures as a remedy for budget constraints and plummeting enrollment.
Fort Worth ISD, the second largest district in North Texas, is debating the closure of as many as 25 campuses across the district. The district is projected to lose 10,000 students in the next decade. Coppell ISD, Richardson ISD, Irving ISD, Plano ISD and Lewisville ISD have also faced campus closures in the last year as North Texas’ population growth has crept northwards, into prospering Prosper and Celina.
Some civil rights groups, like the Advancement Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center, warn that students of color are disproportionately bearing the brunt of campus closures. Last year the organizations asked the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office to issue guidance on how districts should go about campus closures equitably.
“Research has for a long time shown that school districts target for closure schools in neighborhoods of color, and Black and Latin students disproportionately experience school closures and the well-established harms that result,” a letter sent to the department said.
In the Carrollton-Farmers Branch district’s case, three of the four schools proposed for closure — including Central — are Title I schools, meaning at least 40% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced lunch because of their family’s income.
On social media, Dallas City Council member Cara Mendelsohn said she is worried about what the school closures could mean for low-income students in the district. Long Middle School, which is slated to be closed, sits within Dallas’ city border, on the edge of Mendelsohn’s district.
“All 3 CFBISD elementary schools with 90% free/reduced lunch are zoned to Long,” Mendelsohn posted to X. “I'm concerned about access to before/after school activities, tutoring and summer lunch programs for disadvantaged kids.”
Ruiz doesn’t necessarily believe Central has been proposed for closure because it is a Title I school, but she does worry what the change will mean for a community that largely relies on students being able to walk to school each day. Even if the district supplies transportation alternatives for families unable to drive to a new campus, she worries a more distant campus will result in more students being tardy or absent.
She feels closing Central Elementary would be a decision that “doesn’t make any sense.” The district will hold a Central-specific listening session on Feb. 18, and is expected to vote on the closures in a March 6 school board meeting.
Ruiz will be attending both meetings and plans to share what the neighborhood school means to her community.
“Central is like the rock of the neighborhood. It's like the fundamental place for the children to go,” Ruiz said. “During the summer you can go and see children playing around. And it's fine because everybody in the neighborhood is watching.”
