Leander ISD is working to rezone elementary schools for the opening of Tarvin Elementary School in August 2021 (currently under construction near the Palmera Ridge subdivision off Ronald Reagan Blvd. in Leander) and Elementary School 29 in August 2022 (planned for the Bryson subdivision near 183A and south of TX-29 in Leander). ES 29 is expected for the 2022-23 school year but has not been approved for construction as we monitor enrollment growth and state public school funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The district is also considering changes to our zoning for assignments for bilingual services.
The Board of Trustees approved a charter setting the parameters and process for approving a change, collecting community feedback, and prioritizing the elements for a new plan.
Priorities for Zoning
Earlier in the year, families and staff shared their priorities for making a zoning change to school attendance areas. That report found the following themes for our charter.
- School Size – relieve overcrowding, reduce class sizes and student-to-teacher ratios
- Proximity – keep students as geographically close to their assigned school and keep neighborhoods together
- Minimize Change – minimize rezoning a student multiple times within the same school level
- Feeder Patterns – keep students together as they transition to the next level (elementary to middle school, middle to high school)
Additional Resources
- Contact Us
- Neighborhood Codes: By Subdivision (opens in a new window)| By Street
- 2021–22 Enrollment Projections by Neighborhood Code(opens in a new window)
- Demographic Update(opens in a new window)
- Attendance Zoning FAQ
- Zoning Process Flow Chart
Scenarios 28B and 29B
Overview Scenario 28B
Feedback concerning our scenario 28A centered around issues of proximity and minimizing change, specifically regarding the Cold Springs (1675) and Hazelwood (1680) neighborhoods. Both of those neighborhoods, which will remain at Akin Elementary in Scenario 28B, moved in 2017 from Pleasant Hill to Akin, as well as in 2020 from Stiles Middle School to Danielson Middle School.
This scenario does not provide enrollment relief for Akin until the opening of Elementary School 30, planned for a site near the Ranch at Brushy Creek neighborhood in Cedar Park for August 2023. The district would probably need to pass a new bond election to fund the construction of that school.
School Size
- Relieves Parkside by 242 students.
- Relieves Pleasant Hill by 169 students.
- Akin does not see relief, growing to 1,011 students by 2023.
Proximity
- Keeps Cold Springs and Hazelwood closer to their elementary school.
- Could move Vista Oaks East (1425) and Mayfield Ranch (1450) further from their school with ES 30 (moving from Akin to ES 30 in Ranch at Brushy Creek).
Minimize Change
- Does not move neighborhoods who were impacted when Akin opened in 2017 a second time.
- Cold Springs and Hazelwood could be rezoned from Akin in 2029, based on current growth projections.
Feeder Pattern
- Cold Springs and Hazelwood would remain the only neighborhoods going from Akin to Wiley instead of Stiles Middle School. All of Akin goes to Rouse High School. The feeder pattern is still 25% of all Akin students attend Wiley, so it’s not a small cohort of students.
Students Moved in Scenario 28B
| NBCD | From | To | # Students |
| 1175 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 66 |
| 1180 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 95 |
| 1185 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 6 |
| 1210 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 2 |
| 1200 | Parkside | Tarvin | 32 |
| 1205 | Parkside | Tarvin | 56 |
| 1225 | Parkside | Tarvin | 20 |
| 1245 | Parkside | Tarvin | 134 |
Overview Scenario 29B
This scenario allows Elementary School 29, scheduled to open as early as 2022 near the Bryson neighborhood of Leander, with room to grow, relieving Larkspur and Plain elementary schools. The update between scenario 29A and 29B includes keeping part of the Summerlyn neighborhood (1105) at Larkspur to give the new school more space to grow as Bryson adds new homes.
School Size
- Opens ES 29 with space to grow over the next 10 years.
- Relieves Larkspur by 301 students, giving it space for the next decade.
- Relieves Plain by 211 students. Plain will need more relief as its attendance zone continues to add new homes.
Proximity
- The Summerlyn neighborhood (NBCDs 1120, 1100, 115) will need to drive past the Larkspur subdivision down 183 to ES 29.
Feeder Pattern
- ES 29, Larkspur, and Plain all feed into Danielson and Glenn.
Students Moved in Scenario 29B
| NBCD | From | To | #Students |
| 1100 | Larkspur | ES29 | 131 |
| 1115 | Larkspur | ES29 | 105 |
| 1120 | Larkspur | ES29 | 65 |
| 1150 | Plain | ES29 | 211 |
Scenarios 28A and 29A
Click here to watch our webinar and submit questions and comments about Scenario A.
Exercises and Scenario Naming
For each new campus, we create exercises to look at different potential catchment areas and study their impact. Once our team identifies the exercise that we feel is most aligned with the attendance zoning charter, that exercise becomes the scenario for consideration. That scenario then becomes the base, or foundation, for the next new campus exercise(s). For reference, any scenario published for consideration for Tarvin Elementary School will begin with the number 28, and any scenario published for consideration for Elementary 29 will begin with the number 29.
In order to be as transparent as possible, we are publishing the PDFs to our zoning exercises to show our work.
Summary of the Scenarios
We completed three different exercises to relieve enrollment at Akin, Parkside, and Pleasant Hill Elementary Schools with the zoning scenario 28A. Scenario 29A relieves enrollment at Larkspur and Plain Elementary Schools.
Our biggest challenge is to address the conflict between priorities 1 (School Size) and 3 (Minimize Change). Neighborhood codes (NBCDs) 1675 and 1680 (Cold Springs and Hazlewood neighborhoods) were rezoned to Akin Elementary School from Pleasant Hill Elementary School in 2017. Scenario 28A moves them back to Pleasant Hill in 2021. These neighborhoods were also moved from Stiles to Wiley during the middle school rezoning in 2020.
Overview Scenario 28A
- School Size
- Opening Tarvin ES with an efficient enrollment
- Provides some crowding relief at Parkside ES, Pleasant Hill ES, and Akin ES
- School Size: Akin ES maintains a healthy enrollment for future years.
- Proximity: To provide relief to Akin, NBCDs 1675 (Cold Springs) & 1680 (Hazlewood), projected to have 248 elementary students in 2021-22, had a close alternative school with capacity (Pleasant Hill Elementary) which also provides potential future stability to NBCDs 1675 and 1680.
- Feeder Pattern:
- Middle School feeder percentages better aligned due to 1675 and 1680 moving to Pleasant Hill ES which feeds Wiley MS.
- Tarvin ES will feed Danielson MS (30%), Stiles MS (39%) and Wiley MS (31%) until MS 10 opens in 2024-25.
Students Moved in Scenario 28A
| NBCD | FROM | TO | # |
| 1680 | Akin | Pleasant Hill | 113 |
| 1675 | Akin | Pleasant Hill | 135 |
| 1205 | Parkside | Tarvin | 56 |
| 1245 | Parkside | Tarvin | 134 |
| 1200 | Parkside | Tarvin | 32 |
| 1180 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 95 |
| 1185 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 6 |
| 1210 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 2 |
| 1230 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 126 |
| 1260 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 16 |
| 1320 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 34 |
| 1175 | Pleasant Hill | Tarvin | 66 |
Overview Scenario 29A
- School Size
- Opening ES 29 with an efficient enrollment (under capacity)
- Provides crowding relief to Larkspur ES and Plain ES
- Plain ES will get additional relief with ES 32 opening in 2024-25
- School Size: Larkspur ES maintains a healthy enrollment for future years.
Feeder Pattern: Middle School feeder percentages for ES 29, Larkspur ES and Plain ES are 100% to Danielson MS.
Students Moved in Scenario 29A
| NBCD | FROM | TO | # |
| 1100 | Larkspur | ES 29 | 131 |
| 1105 | Larkspur | ES 29 | 166 |
| 1115 | Larkspur | ES 29 | 105 |
| 1120 | Larkspur | ES 29 | 65 |
| 1150 | Plain | ES 29 | 211 |
Exercises showing impact to future elementary schools
The administration also looked at possible catchment areas for ES 30 and ES 31, projected to open 2023-2024. These exercises were used in combination with each ES 28 exercise (Exercise 28_A1 – Exercise 30_A1, Exercise 28_A2 – Exercise 30_A2, Exercise 28_A3 – Exercise 30_A3) to study their impact on the potential future ES 30 and 31. ES 30 and 31 exercises are not scenarios for consideration and are only being used to show potential catchment areas.