Invisible Boundaries – The School District Effect

Ty Jacobsen
CDS Comunity Development Strategies

​Driving around the vast Houston region, you will see an abundance of green and white signs noting that you are now “Entering Houston City Limit”, or crossing the “Fort Bend County Line”. These helpful markers make the otherwise invisible borders of these important jurisdictions apparent to us without the aid of a map. Less apparent are the boundaries of a type of jurisdiction that is, in many cases, equally as important as cities and counties, the school district.

'​Texas school districts are independent* of municipal governments', and their boundaries quite often do not line up with municipal boundaries. A total of 64 different school districts are wholly or partially located in the 9-County Houston MSA, many crossing city limits, county lines, and even individual subdivisions. School districts also vary in quality, both real and perceived, making them one of the most powerful factors in residential development and property valuation in the Houston area and across the state. In some cases, this can even be seen on maps and aerial photographs that do not show school district boundaries.

Northeast Harris County School Districts – 
Development abutting, but not crossing the Humble ISD line

Last month, residents from the Village of Diamond Bay subdivision (part of the Shadow Creek Ranch master-planned community) petitioned to have their subdivision moved from the Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD) to the Alvin Independent School District (AISD). Residents cited the distance between their neighborhood and the FBISD schools to which they are zoned compared to their distance from nearby AISD schools as a primary reason. They also cited a difference in quality between their FBISD schools and the nearby AISD campuses.

Village of Diamond Bay – FBISD vs. AISD schools

Source: Houston Chronicle and Children at Risk 2016 “School Report Card” Note: AISD schools chosen are those with zones adjacent to the Village of Diamond Bay subdivision

​Several residents stated that they were not aware that they were zoned to FBISD schools when they purchased their homes. Builders and realtors, it was said, provided very little information about the area’s schools. One person stated that a salesperson drove them around to nearby AISD campuses, implying that the subdivision was zoned to these schools. Some who moved in from out of state were unfamiliar with Texas’ school district structure and puzzled as to how homes in the same development could be zoned to different schools and districts.

Village of Diamond Bay – Location, Districts, and Nearby Schools

​In order for the petition to succeed and transfer the Village of Diamond Bay from FBISD to AISD, it must be approved by the board of trustees of both districts. Last week, FBISD’s board of trustees voted against the proposal. AISD’s board has yet to vote. If the districts are split on approval of the petition, residents could then appeal to the Texas education commissioner to move them into AISD. 

​There is recent precedent in the Houston area for attempting to transfer a subdivision from one district to another, but not for such a move taking place. In 2007, when the north Harris County subdivision of Northgate Forest in Spring ISD petitioned to be moved to adjacent Klein ISD, the petition failed. Spring ISD’s board voted unanimously against the proposal and Klein ISD also voted down the request, citing issues they found with the legal requirements of the petition. Northgate Forest remains a part of Spring ISD.

​It is evident that knowledge and understanding of school district boundaries in the Houston area and across the state of Texas is not sufficient, given their importance to residents, homebuyers, realtors, and developers. The ultimate responsibility of knowing what school district a home is located in rests with the resident themselves, however, efforts to better inform residents should be made. The Texas Education Agency’s tremendously helpful School District Locator website should be widely publicized. Putting up some of those green and white roadside signs to mark school district boundaries would not hurt either.

* There is one exception, the Stafford Municipal School District in Fort Bend County is the one and only municipal school district in the state of Texas. Feel free to use this factoid next time you host trivia night.

About the Author: Ty Jacobsen is a GIS and Market Analyst with CDS Community Development Strategies. He has worked on several studies that involved determining the effect of school districts on a development and continues to be puzzled by one of the outside source maps in the CDS data library that claims the existence of a Manvel ISD.