Williamson County Schools (WCS) leaders are recommending allowing over 40 of the district’s 50 schools to have open zoning next school year “so families can have a choice,” according to an update from WCS Director Jason Golden at Thursday’s work session meeting.¶
According to a district memo, the list of schools will be posted on the school zones page of the district website prior to accepting applications for out-of-zone requests from families. The online out-of-zone portal for applications will be open on Feb. 4. The deadline for applications is April 15, except for requests related to residential moves.¶
The memo noted that in May 2021, Governor Bill Lee signed an amendment to state law regarding school zoning that requires districts to identify each school that has available space to enroll and serve additional students. The amendment allows the districts to reserve a reasonable number of enrollment spaces for various situations. The memo added that it does not specify how districts are to make those determinations but does require them “to conduct a lottery for each school where open enrollment requests exceed the number of spaces available.” All open zoned school applications are held until after the deadline to determine if a school lottery is required.¶
Golden noted that board policy allows some exceptions, such as when a high school student is moving to an area with a school that does not have certain career and technical programs.¶
Golden said that about 2,500 students are attending a school out of zone this year. He added that capital projects have played a role in allowing some schools to be listed as “open zoned.”¶
“[For] Brentwood Middle and Brentwood High School, we are recommending open zoning for the first time in over a decade, and it’s [partly] because of us finishing the building construction at Brentwood Middle,” he said. “We still have some work to do on the field and common areas that will be going on in the fall.”¶
