In an uncommon move designed to help close a budget crunch, Spring Branch Independent School District will allow 150 students living outside its boundaries to attend three schools next year through a lottery process.
Spring Branch’s recently-announced “Trailblazers” school choice program aims to fill space at neighboring campuses on the district’s north side — Westwood Elementary School, Spring Oaks Middle School and Spring Woods High School — by randomly accepting 150 out-of-district students who apply and pay a $250 fee.
The program’s announcement comes on the heels of Spring Branch leaders slashing $35 million from the district’s $387 million operating budget for the 2024-25 school year. Spring Branch eliminated roughly 300 of the district’s 4,550 full-time jobs, including all librarian positions. District officials also closed several majority-Latino schools, increased student-to-teacher staffing ratios and aligned all schools on the same seven-period schedule, among other changes.
Houston-area independent school districts rarely accept students who live outside district boundaries. Out-of-district transfer students make up roughly 1 percent of the population of Houston’s 10 largest districts, according to state data. Such transfers are typically limited to students whose parents work in the district but live outside of district boundaries, as well as children attending specialized programs.
About 580 students living outside Spring Branch attended schools in the district this year, roughly 1.7 percent of the district’s student enrollment, according to state data.
District spokesperson Linda Buchman said the Trailblazers program is an effort to increase student enrollment, which would boost revenue. Texas largely funds schools based on the number of students enrolled and their attendance rates.
The schools participating in the new choice program serve an overwhelmingly Latino and economically disadvantaged student population on Spring Branch’s north side. District spokesperson Melissa Wiland said the district has “targeted areas nearby” for applicants, but she would not specify which areas.
“We have had heightened inquiry about transfer opportunities from outside the district this year,” Wiland said.
The three Spring Branch schools are each under eight miles from the nearest schools in neighboring Katy, Cypress-Fairbanks and Houston independent school districts. Spring Branch will not provide transportation for students that participate in the Trailblazers program.
The district does not currently have a plan to expand the program in future years, Buchman said.
Daniela Sanchez, who has two younger siblings who attend Spring Oaks Middle, said her family has not received any communication from the school about the intention to fill seats with students from outside Spring Branch. Still, Sanchez said it doesn’t sound like a bad plan for the school, which her family likes.
But the non-refundable $250 application fee is a red flag for Nathalie Herpin, a local community organizer and parent of two students in the district.
“If the parents are responsible for a $250 transfer fee, then you are by definition excluding anybody who has a blue-collar working job that may not have $250 to spend on a tuition application,” Herpin said. “My big question is are we targeting only wealthy white families?”
The price matches the district’s regular fee for students transferring into the district while living outside of it. Spring Branch officials did not explain why the cost totals $250 in response to a question from the Houston Landing.
Buchman said the three campuses were chosen for the program because they have available space for more students in the 2024-25 school year. District records show most elementary schools and some middle and high schools have available space to accept student transfers next year. The records do not detail the number of open seats at each campus.
Families that take part in the choice program will bring their students to a district that has been in the limelight this year for their controversial budget cuts.
Spring Branch leaders have faced widespread community criticism about their methods for slashing $35 million. Many parents said administrators and school board members didn’t listen enough to community input, particularly complaints that families on the less-affluent north side of the district will suffer the most from the changes. Former Spring Branch superintendent Duncan Klussmann also argued the cuts were too drastic considering the district’s healthy rainy day fund.
Superintendent Jennifer Blaine and trustees argued the changes were a necessary response to Texas lawmakers failing to significantly increase public school funding during the 2023 legislative session.
“When we think about where to place the blame on very difficult budget conversations that nobody wants to have, it shouldn’t be with the seven people sitting here, and quite frankly it shouldn’t be me either,” Blaine said in a late October board meeting. “You should be talking to our governor and state leaders about the state of education and their unwillingness to fund it.”
No Houston-area districts have made changes as sweeping as Spring Branch’s to address next year’s budget challenges, though several are staring down tens of millions of dollars in deficits. Texas school districts must approve their budgets by the end of June or August.
