By unanimous vote at the November 13th meeting, Katy ISD Board of Trustee members confirmed that the district’s new high school #10, opening in 2024, will be named Freeman High School, in honor of one of Katy’s founding families. The Freeman family, deeply ingrained in Katy's history, has been prominent in civic leadership, with members serving as mayor, city council members, and contributing to the volunteer fire department and school board.

“The family name of “Freeman” is a familiar one in our community, as the family has a 125-year history in Katy that spans six generations,” said Victor Perez, Katy ISD Board President. “High School #10, now Freeman High School, was approved by our community as a part of the 2021 bond program and will provide enrollment relief to our schools in the northwest quadrant of the district,” added Perez.

Perez also announced the formation of a short-term special purpose committee, consisting of himself, Mary Ellen Cuzela and chaired by Amy Thieme, to study teacher job satisfaction and retention. Cuzela and Thieme have recent classroom experience, Perez said. He said that the committee’s work, which supports goal five of the district’s strategic plan, would last 90 to 120 days. Board members Rebecca Fox and Dawn Champagne questioned the choice of committee members and pointed to their own long-term experience as board members as qualifications for this assignment. Perez’s committee assignments remained as presented.

The board also heard an annual update on the demographics of the district, presented by Kris Poole and Angela Fritz of PASA (Population and Survey Analysts), a research firm which provides demographic studies, student enrollment projections, and long-range school planning for Texas school districts. Some highlights from the presentation included:

· District enrollment gain in KISD appears to have slowed in the past 12 months; the gain in 2022 was 4,299 students (the largest gain ever recorded for KISD, presenters said) while 2023 saw an increase of just 2,112 students.

· Over the next ten years the district will see an increase of approximately 46,089 housing units as follows: single family, 25,191 units or 54.7% of the total; 1,003 build-to-rent units or 2.2% of the total; 18,635 multifamily units or 40.4% of the total; and 927 manufactured housing units or 2% of the total.

· The largest single-family developments being built over the next ten years are concentrated in the northwest quadrant of the district and include Sunterra (3,604 units), Elyson (3,190 units), Anniston by Lennar (1,940 units), a Johnson Development Company project (1805 units) and Bridgeland (1750 units)

· PASA reported that only 25 square miles of land are left to develop in KISD and that there is less and less developable land left in the district. It will take longer than 10 years to complete build out the available land, presenters said.

· Low, moderate and high growth rate projections for the district over the next 10 years were given as 100,000 students on the low side; 102,664 students if moderate growth is assumed, and a possible enrollment of 107,000 students using the highest projection.

Future meetings of the board include a work study meeting on December 4th and a regular board meeting on December 11th.