Denton ISD trustees are looking at a map that would leave elementary zones alone and hold every student's campus assignment through the next two school years, then redraw middle- and high-school lines in 2028-29, when Mia Price High School is planned to open as the district's fifth comprehensive high school.
Assistant Superintendent Lacey Rainey presented the recommendations to the board for the first time at its regular meeting Nov. 10, Community Impact reported. Trustees are scheduled to vote on the attendance boundaries and feeder patterns Dec. 8. Until that vote, the lines are a proposal.
A Fifth High School, Built For A Full Roster
Price is planned to open for 2028-29 with grades 9 through 12, not a phased freshman class. Construction is funded by the district's voter-approved May 2023 bond package of more than $1.4 billion. Superintendent Susannah O'Bara said Rainey worked with the district's fine arts and athletic directors so the campus could open that way.
Rainey framed the rezoning around more than seats. "When we open a new school, we have to look at equitable access and ensuring that students have opportunities not only academically, but also for our extracurriculars and co-curriculars," she said.
The building sizes are not identical. Braswell and Guyer each have capacity for 2,800 students. Denton, Ryan and Price can each hold 2,400. In spring 2028, the district plans mascot and branding selections, welcome events and campus tours, so families would meet the school a semester before the first bell.
Where The Lines Would Actually Move
No elementary attendance zone would change. Middle-school feeder patterns and high-school boundaries would. Under the proposal, Rodriguez Middle School would feed Price instead of Braswell and absorb students from areas now zoned for Strickland. A small piece of Calhoun Middle's boundary would move to Strickland, and other Strickland areas would shift to Rodriguez.
On the high-school map, Denton's eastern section would go to Price, as would portions of Ryan's northern zone and a western portion of Braswell's zone. Some Calhoun sectors would feed Price instead of Denton High. Selected Strickland areas would feed Price instead of Ryan.
Guyer's zone would stay largely untouched. Rainey said growth in the Landmark and Cole Ranch communities, both inside that boundary, has to be handled through future bond programs. The proposal still includes a small southern sector of Denton High moving to Guyer and a small northern section of Guyer moving to Denton High. Guyer is the only campus whose proposed boundary changes are projected to increase enrollment, and it is expected to run slightly over its 2,800-student capacity in 2028-29.
District officials said the lines were drawn to give Price room for upcoming master-planned communities, including the 9,000-home Craver Ranch development, and to avoid redrawing attendance lines again in the near future. Rainey said the district has already taken feedback through public forums and an online survey sent to impacted families.
The Forecast Behind The Map
Zonda Education demographer Rocky Gardiner presented local housing trends and enrollment forecasts before the boundary review. He projected Denton ISD enrollment would approach 32,900 students in five years and 25,000 within 10 years. The second number is not a misprint of the first. In his projection, the district grows, then is smaller a decade out than it is five years out.
Gardiner has described how districts use those horizons differently. Short-term, one-year projections guide staffing and budgets. Longer projections help decide when to open or close a school. He has also said forecasting got harder after COVID-19, with virtual schools, homeschooling, charters and other options pulling students out of a simple houses-to-classrooms count. A district that once yielded 0.6 students per household, he said, is now yielding 0.4. Zonda's reports also show growth in neighboring Argyle ISD over the next 10 years, and Argyle, like Denton ISD, plans to open new schools in the next few years.
Craver Ranch is the development officials cited as a reason to leave Price some slack. The Denton Record-Chronicle has reported a 2,500-acre project near Ray Roberts Lake on Denton's far north side, with construction expected to start in 2028 and run 17 years, toward completion in 2045. The community is planned with two elementary schools and one middle school on site. Homes would be zoned to Denton ISD or Sanger ISD depending on location, so the full 9,000-home count is not a Denton ISD enrollment figure.
Who Can Stay, And How They Get There
If the board approves the plan, campus assignments would still be unchanged for 2026-27 and 2027-28. The district plans to open a Request to Remain application in fall 2027 so affected students can finish at their current schools. Current fifth- and eighth-graders are to be offered early transfer options in December for the 2027-28 school year, a year before the new lines would take effect.
O'Bara said students would keep varsity athletic and fine arts eligibility whether they transfer to Price or remain at their current campus. District policy typically does not provide bus transportation to transfer students. Rainey said administrators are exploring temporary shuttles if large cohorts choose to stay.
The Dec. 8 vote is the next formal step. A yes would lock in a two-year pause, a fall 2027 stay-put application, and a 2028-29 opening in which Price takes pieces of Denton, Ryan and Braswell while Guyer, already the largest building on the list, is the one campus projected to edge past capacity.
