Enrollment at Valley View Elementary keeps dropping. See options for the Eanes ISD school

The Eanes school district might have to make some changes to an elementary school that has seen enrollment drop by nearly half in the past six years.

District officials are still at the beginning of what could be a lengthy process to address the declining enrollment at Valley View Elementary School, off of Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360).

Only 279 students attend Valley View this year, a 10-year low, according to the district.

The district has been tracking enrollment for several years, but now “it now requires broader community conversation,” Superintendent Jeff Arnett said.

The school draws from students who live in areas around Cuernavaca Drive.

In 2013, Valley View’s enrollment was at 504 students, but that number started declining in 2018 and 2019. By 2020, only 385 students attended the school, according to data from the district.

Between 2017 and 2023, enrollment dropped 46%, from 514 to 279 students.

The next smallest of Eanes’ six elementary schools enrolls 513 students.

This means students at Valley View are getting more expensive to educate, Arnett said.

School buildings have fixed costs — such as electricity or a school counselor — no matter how many students attend, he said.

The district is spending about $11,862 per year to educate a student at Valley View. At the next most expensive school, the district spends $9,099 per student.

“While parents and teachers love having a small school like that, it becomes financially unsustainable for a long term,” Arnett said.

He pointed to changing demographics and fewer young students in the school’s attendance area. The school also doesn’t have a Spanish immersion program, so some parents might be transferring their children to one of the district’s four elementary campuses that have such a program, he said.

The district has floated several ideas to deal with the enrollment issues.

It could make the campus a magnet school, with specialized courses in areas such as art or technology. It also could convert the school into a kindergarten through second grade campus or an early childhood center. Or it could redraw the boundaries for all six elementary schools.

Redrawing boundaries could create some heartache for parents, Arnett said.

“That happens frequently in fast-growth districts where they’re constantly building new schools,” he said. “We’re not a fast-growth district.”

Unlike many other Central Texas districts, Eanes has maintained a relatively stable enrollment over the past 10 years. In 2022, the district enrolled 7,834 students, barely more than the 7,776 students in 2012.

Officials describe the district as “landlocked” since it doesn’t have vast swaths in which new housing developments are springing up, like in other suburban Austin-area districts.

Whatever the district chooses, Anabel Gutierrez hopes her second grade son can finish out his time at Valley View, she said Friday.

Gutierrez watched her son run around the campus’ colorful playground during a family involvement day at the school.

“I really hope he gets to experience everything his sister did,” Gutierrez said. Her daughter also went through Valley View.

Keeping the school together is her other priority, she said. A magnet school might not be a bad idea, but she’d hate to see the community broken up, she said.

“If we would be able to stay all together, I wouldn’t be opposed,” Gutierrez said.

Arnett hopes the district can honor both of those wishes, he said.

“We don't want to close Valley View,” he said. “We believe that campus has a purpose and a place in our school district. We don’t want to separate the communities that comprise Valley View. They're a very close-knit community.”

The district’s school board will hear the results of a public survey and further discuss options for the school during a meeting Friday.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Eanes ISD weighs options for Valley View Elementary low numbers