6 August 27 - september 2, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Sustained declines It may be an understatement to say public schools in North Texas have had a rough go of it. Despite regional growth, more school districts are facing sustained enrollment de- clines fueled by falling birth rates and built- out attendance zones, including RISD, which has seen total enrollment decline by 7% since 2019. Significant post-COVID trends toward homeschooling and charter schools had an impact, as did housing costs. And with state funding—which many educators have long argued is inadequate—contingent on atten- dance, those factors painted an already wor- risome financial outlook for administrators forced to consider mass layoffs and campus closures. Then, in May 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Ab- bott finally got his wish. After the House of Representatives blocked five school choice bills from 2015 to 2024, both houses of the state legislature passed a $1 billion landmark bill to create Texas Education Freedom Ac- counts. Under the program, which will dis- burse funds for the first time this school year, families can use just over $10,000 to- ward private school tuition and other asso- ciated costs outside the public school system. That total rises to around $30,000 for special education students, although an analysis of state records by The Dallas Morning News found that fewer than 25 of 28,700 students with special needs received the full amount. Over 100,000 students are expected to re- ceive funding through the program in its inau- gural year, Texas Comptroller Don Huffines announced earlier this month. Based on an earlier funded account total of 85,344 from the comptroller’s office, 43% of participating students previously attended public schools, roughly totaling 30,500 students. Homes- chooling participation also hasn’t slowed since the end of COVID-era restrictions. With TEFA accounts, families can receive up to $2,000 annually for homeschool expenses. “I think I’ve had to reconcile that at one time public ed was the monopoly, and we’re no longer a monopoly,” Branum said. “And so the work that we do around telling our story, marketing our identity, who we are, and what makes us special, we recognize we have to make some investments in that.” The One After an exploratory phase, RISD tapped a marketing firm to lead its marketing cam- paign: “RISD is the One.” The campaign will target three goals: student recruitment, re- tention, and recovery. All three matter at a time when choices are plentiful, Branum said. In March, CBS reported that 1,803 fam- ilies zoned within the district’s boundaries have applied for TEFA accounts. Recovery could mean connecting with a family to understand why they left and what it would take to bring them back, while re- tention requires effort to ensure families un- derstand why they chose it in the first place, she said. “Marketing also means really making sure our parents who have chosen us know why we need to continue to be their choice. If they’re an elementary student, how are we making sure that we are just feeding them, ‘Hey, when your kids get to secondary, these are all the things that will be available to them. Like greatness is ahead, so stay with us.” Districts can struggle to reach families who live in the district but haven’t enrolled because they chose private or charter school alternatives, Branum said, which is why geofencing and targeted marketing repre- sent such an opportunity for the district in recruitment. Richardson is also one of a growing num- ber of ISDs that have opened enrollment to a limited number of out-of-district students in recent years as budgets have shrunk and campuses have closed. Frisco ISD, McKin- ney ISD, Garland ISD, Arlington ISD and Grand Prairie ISD all offer options for stu- dents to transfer from out- side their zones. All five have closed or consolidated at least one campus in the last two years. It is a competitive environment, but Branum said they won’t pursue those students “at all costs.” “I very much value the re- lationships that we have with our surrounding districts, and I very much have mad respect for what they do for their kids every day, and I’m not going to go out and try to poach kids. We’re focused on creating and telling the best story we can of who we are.” Connecting to new families Azure Angelov, a former professor at the Uni- versity of Indianapolis and CEO of the Para- mount Health Data Project, has studied school marketing nationwide. She has written five books on the subject, and her research roughly began around the time Indiana im- plemented its own voucher system in 2011. Not investing in messaging is no longer an option for most districts and will remain critical as long as school choice remains in place, she said. Needless to say, adding a massive new expense like marketing to any budget isn’t ideal when there’s less money to go around to begin with. Other North Texas school districts have also leaned into marketing over the last five years, some with mixed results. In 2022, Fort Worth ISD invested $1.2 million in a campaign to combat charter school growth. Coppell ISD poured roughly $50,000 into its “Cowboys United” campaign last year, and this month, officials told NBC 5 it is working as the district recorded 100 new enrollments. Arlington ISD invested in its own marketing campaign in 2024 and 2025, but an audit by the National School Public Relations Association found that it failed to connect with its target audience and fo- cused too heavily on parents and teachers rather than the wider community. The transition into marketing can often come with hurdles, Angelov said, which is why consulting firms may make sense for districts with smaller budgets or those newer to the approach. She also said that while high-vis- ibility marketing and adver- tising tools like billboards have their place, districts should remember where parents spend their time. “We see a lot of places door-knocking and flyers. But I would say do not forget the grassroots places. Do not forget nail salons, barber shops, beauty salons, like places where peo- ple of childbearing years are going, because those are the places where they’re seen the most, so I think that I think that’s important.” Instead of comparing themselves to oth- ers, she said, focusing on a district’s strengths and not overselling is crucial to designing an effective campaign. She added that listening to families is also key to effective marketing, and that outreach should take a more holistic format that goes beyond the standard survey. One school district improved the process by hiring people to call front desks and act as parents interested in enrolling their children at the school, Angelov said. School districts are likely to hear that families want more bang for their buck and flexibility with their children’s education, she said, which is why school choice won’t just be about the strongest sales pitch. More than anything, setting themselves apart from charter schools or neighboring dis- tricts comes down to what they offer. “I think a lot of times school choice gets defined as I have a public school over here, but I choose to go to a private school. When the reality is, I have a public school, but I like this other public school better because they have more resources.” Programming and listening One way districts can make themselves more attractive, especially in retaining stu- dents and attracting new families who have more options than ever, is by offering strong pre-K programming, Angelov said. In Texas, many districts offer free pre-K for students who meet certain eligibility requirements, such as being economically disadvantaged or being non-English speakers. Dallas ISD, the largest school district in North Texas, is offering tuition-free pre-K to all families living within the district’s bound- aries for the first time this year. Since 2019, the district’s enrollment has declined by over 20,000 students. The program’s cost is mini- mal because it fills empty seats in classrooms that are already sufficiently staffed. Previ- ously, the district had roughly 270 students paying tuition for 3- and 4-year-old pre-K. Debbie Ramos, the district’s assistant su- perintendent for early learning and central- ized enrollment, said the decision was a no-brainer as families decide where to en- roll their children. “There are so many options out there; we wanted to make sure that families had ac- cess, and so that was our decision to go with universal pre-K because we know it’s so im- portant for students to start early on, and we just wanted to remove any barriers that may stop a family from enrolling their child.” Another initiative designed to give fami- lies more options for their children’s educa- tion is the pre-primer initiative. Unveiled alongside universal pre-K, the optional pro- gram adds a gap year between kindergarten and first grade, targeting students who need additional support or who did not attend DISD before grade school. Dallas ISD designed pre-primer, Ramos said, after studying competing non-public options in the area. “We were out visiting our neighboring private schools and looking at what they have that we can offer, and the thing that bubbled up was this pre-primer program, and it’s a bridge between kindergarten and first grade, and so it’s a mix of students who may want the academic advantage and students who may need additional time.” Students enrolled in the program con- tinue with standard subjects such as lan- guage arts and social studies, with a specialized curriculum that minimizes repe- tition from their previous grade level through hands-on experiences. Character building is a part of the curriculum, Ramos said, with book clubs and leadership exercises built in. The program is being launched at select pilot campuses across the district, but will ex- pand in the future. Around 100 students have already enrolled. The district will continue to invest in early education programs and push to increase pre-K enrollment, she said. 6 Month XX–Month XX, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | Reeling them in from p4 >> p9 This billboard sits firmly within the Fort Worth ISD boundaries. Photo by Lauren Drewes Daniels “We’re focused on creating and telling the best story we can of who we are.”
