Crowley ISD is among the fastest-growing school districts in Tarrant County, according to new figures.
A demographer from Dallas-based School District Strategies told Crowley ISD trustees Sept. 21 that affordable new homes are driving growth.
“These numbers are exciting,” demographer Brent Alexander told the school board.
As of Sept. 20, Crowley ISD had 17,036 students enrolled. Since 2017, the district has gained 1,726 students.
In the past five years, enrollment in Crowley ISD has grown 9.3%. Only Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD’s 20.1% growth rate and Northwest ISD’s 26.4% boom outpaced the south Fort Worth school district, according to the report.
Eleven Tarrant County school districts — including the largest, Fort Worth ISD — saw enrollment drop between 2017 and 2022.
Crowley ISD benefits from having a lot of land and homes available to purchase, Alexander said. In the past year, there were 1,808 home starts inside the district.
“Crowley continues to move up the list when you compare it to other districts in the DFW area,” Alexander said.
Alexander pointed to Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD in north Fort Worth for an example. The two districts previously had a wide gap in home construction numbers, he said. Now, Crowley ISD’s home start numbers are right behind those of Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD.
Additionally, Crowley ISD has a large number of affordable neighborhoods, Alexander said. The median new home price in Crowley ISD is $352,045. The median new home price for the greater Fort Worth area is $381,895; in the Dallas-Fort Worth area it is $398,164.
“Affordability is something the district has that other areas don’t,” Alexander said.
More than 21,000 homes are in the process or planned in Crowley ISD — with more expected — according to the demographics report.
All of this growth will put pressure on Crowley ISD’s current campuses as construction begins on projects from the 2022 bond. Voters OK’d a nearly $1 billion bond package that includes seven new schools and land purchases.
Later this fall, Crowley ISD plans to look at its school attendance boundaries to try to alleviate any pressure from its growing enrollment, Superintendent Michael McFarland told trustees. Town halls are in the works, and parents should know by February which school their students will attend for the 2024-25 academic year.
“We’re going to be busy in the next couple of months, for sure,” McFarland said.
Jacob Sanchez is an enterprise journalist for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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