Plano City Council recently approved the $8.4 million purchase of two former elementary school properties from Plano ISD. The deal, part of an interlocal agreement with the district, includes the sites of Davis Elementary and Forman Elementary schools.
The city paid roughly $3 million for the Davis campus and $5.4 million for Forman. Both properties will be cleared before the city takes ownership. The agreement also includes future plans for the city to acquire Armstrong Middle School. Carpenter Middle School, however, will remain under PISD ownership.
Why the Schools Closed
Davis and Forman, along with Armstrong and Carpenter Middle Schools, were closed at the end of the 2024–25 school year following a unanimous decision by the Plano ISD board in June 2024. The closures were driven by declining enrollment across the district.
Several factors contributed to the drop in student numbers. Plano ISD pointed to the city’s rising cost of living, specifically the average home price of $584,000, as one reason fewer young families are settling in the area. At the same time, declining birth rates have led to smaller kindergarten cohorts. Carpenter Middle School, for example, had a capacity for nearly 1,400 students but only enrolled about 500.
Despite the closures, PISD emphasized that no staff members would be laid off. Programs housed at the affected campuses, including Davis’s Regional Day School Program for the Deaf (RDSPD), were relocated. The district anticipates saving $5.2 million annually through the closures.
Fire Station Planned for Forman Site
While plans for the former Davis Elementary campus remain undecided, the city announced a new use for part of the Forman property. Three of the site’s 9.5 acres will be used to build a new Fire Station 3. The city has not yet determined what to do with the remaining land.
A Sign of Changing Times
The land purchases reflect a broader shift underway in Collin County, as more cities confront changing demographics and declining school enrollment. Frisco ISD is experiencing similar challenges. In response, the district is launching a new initiative called Access Frisco, which will allow non-resident students to attend its schools for the first time in its history, starting in the 2025–26 school year.
As Local Profile previously reported, the district first announced the program in November 2024 as part of a broader effort to address declining student enrollment, which has become a growing concern in recent years. While Frisco ISD was once one of the fastest-growing school districts in the nation, enrollment numbers have begun to drop.
Frisco ISD’s student enrollment is down by about 1,300 students compared to projections this year, continuing a downward trend that began with a slight dip last year.
“We just are not seeing a regeneration happening,” Frisco ISD Chief Operations Officer Scott Warstler previously said. “When it does happen, it seems to be happening with older families that are bringing in middle school and high school students, not the pre-K, kinder one that we used to see for years and years in Frisco.”
The lack of younger families moving into the districts could mean continued flat or declining enrollment. That trend has sparked conversations about long-term planning, resource allocation and the potential for reduced funding.
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