Projections estimate 7.5% growth over decade

Student enrollment at Sulphur Springs ISD saw a drop last year likely due to COVID-19 concerns, but enrollment this year saw a bounce-back and looks to keep increasing steadily, the SSISD school board heard in a report Monday night.

“What we projected this year for many of our clients was what we called a COVID bounce-back,” Rocky Gardiner with Zonda Education said. “But we didn’t expect the Delta variant to raise its head, so many of our clients are not seeing that bounce-back as much as we though they would. I feel like in Sulphur Springs you guys had a pretty nice bounce-back.”

After shrinking about 2%, the district saw growth this year to almost the same level, Gardiner said. The state had lost about 122,000 enrolled students, according to Gardiner, and while it was hoped most or all would return this year, COVID concerns continue.

The local economy has a low unemployment rate at 4.7% in Hopkins County, which Gardiner believed to be close to full employment, but any large industrial developments, which would likely bolster enrollment, are years down the line.

“One of the biggest things the city manager [Marc Maxwell] talked about was this industrial development of an old Luminant property they’d like to see redeveloped,” Gardiner said. “It’s one of those things that even he agrees it’s probably at least three, maybe five-plus years out, but once that hits, that could be significant employment.”

For that reason, the last five years of the 10-year enrollment projection for SSISD is much more positive. The district has an enrollment of 4,363 students this year, and the estimates gave 4,544 students by the 2032-2033 school year, a growth of about 7.5%. The district is expected to hover around that number, Gardiner said.

“Based on this, you look pretty good [on campus capacity for students],” Gardiner said. “I feel that maybe your principals of maybe Bowie Primary and Johnson Primary could be nervous in four or five years. Most of your other areas becomes taking care of campuses and utilization.”

Board member John Prickette raised a concern that challenges may not so much lie in having industries move to the city, but rather having enough people to fill the open positions.

“There’s no way this town could support some company coming in here and hiring a thousand people,” Prickette said as board president Robert nodded. “It just can’t happen. There’s no housing for it. I think the school can accommodate 200 more students, but there’s some other challenges from a demographic standpoint that are much more serious.”

Board member Leese Toliver asked if the eastward expansion from Dallas would have any longe-range impact in the area, and Gardiner answered it would depend on the labor situation over the coming years.

“A lot of families seek out a nice school district, and maybe they can work off one income and make that work,” Gardiner said. “And sometimes you have move a little farther east and be a little farther from work.”

In other items, superintendent Michael Lamb presented the outcomes of the board goals set in 2019 and said while the goals had fallen very short of the mark, he wanted to stay the course and not adjust the goals. COVID-19 measures made last school chaotic, and the test scores reflected that as the district had drops in their scores. However, their schools remained above the school in most areas, Lamb said.

“This is pervasive throughout the state and throughout the country, is the byproduct of going through a pandemic” Cody said in comment. “If this tells us anything, it tells us how important it is for kids to be in school.”

The board also approved the School Health Advisory Council members for the school year and renewed the membership of Walsh, Gallegos, Trevino, Kyle & Robinson, P.C. in the school’s legal retainer program.