DSISD to begin rezoning process as enrollment grows

Public invited to first public meetings this week and next

Dripping Springs ISD will hold four community meetings in October to present initial options for new elementary and middle school attendance zones, as the district prepares for the opening of its sixth elementary school and the expansion of Sycamore Springs Middle School in August 2025.

The meetings are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17, and Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the boardroom at the Center for Learning & Leadership, located at 300 Sportsplex Drive.

At these meetings, district officials will provide an overview of the attendance zoning process and timeline, review board-approved parameters, and pres- ent demographic data and projected enrollments. Attendees will also see initial “starter option” maps, which have been developed by the district’s Attendance Zoning Committee with the help of a demographer.

Since August, the committee and district administrators have held three meetings to develop the initial zoning maps. Feedback gathered at the upcoming community meetings will be reviewed before a final recommendation is presented to the Board of Trustees in December 2024.

Elementary School No. 6, currently under construction in the Headwaters neighborhood, will accommodate 850 students in grades pre-K through fifth. The Sycamore Springs Middle School expansion, set to be completed in spring 2025, will accommodate 1,200 students.

In May 2023, Dripping Springs ISD voters approved a $223.7 million bond package to fund capital improvements, renovations, and the construction of new schools to address increasing enrollment. Construction of the new elementary school is budgeted at $66.26 million. The new campus will relieve overcrowding at Dripping Springs Elementary and Walnut Springs Elementary and will feed into Dripping Springs Middle School. The district is currently seeking community input on a name for the new campus.

Plans are also in the works for a new high school campus near Cypress Springs Elementary, off Darden Hill Road. While the area is sparsely populated, the Hays County bond election in 2024 will fund expansions of Sawyer Ranch Road and Darden Hill Road, doubling traffic capacity near the future high school site.

To see the current attendance zones, visit: dsisdtx.us/page/attendance- zones