Every time Nichon Leonard’s rent crept up, it meant another sacrifice. The mother of two hit pause on pursuing an associate degree. She scrimped on groceries.
It felt worth it to keep the apartment so her 6-year-old son could continue attending Forest Lane Academy, a public school he loves that’s right across the street. When monthly payments pushed past $1,600, it became untenable.
“I won’t be signing a lease again,” said Leonard, who makes $20 an hour working at a call center.
It’s a story repeated often among Forest Lane families — and in other corners of the Richardson school district. Across low-income communities in Texas, campus enrollment is susceptible to evictions and rent increases.
This can have a profound impact on the schools the students leave behind. When enrollment declines, state funding drops, meaning fewer resources for the students who remain.
“It’s one of the things that we probably have the least control over: what’s affordable,” Richardson ISD Superintendent Tabitha Branum said.
A major budget shortfall — which officials once projected could reach $28 million — prompted RISD officials to close four elementary schools this summer.
A confluence of factors is causing budget pains for districts across Texas this year. The Legislature hasn’t increased the base amount it provides per-student since 2019. Attempts to do so in recent sessions were ensnared in a political fight over education savings accounts, a voucherlike program that would send state dollars toward private school tuition.
Federal pandemic aid that funneled billions to public schools is expiring, while inflation has made everything from bus fuel to insurance more expensive. Meanwhile, birth rates are steadily declining — and families are moving.
Richardson isn’t alone in confronting the cost of a smaller student body. Just this week, Plano ISD leaders announced they will consider closing a handful of schools. Officials cited the rising price of homes as one reason there are fewer students in the district.
The higher cost of living near RISD’s Forest Lane Academy is part of why Principal DeMarcus Goree-Watkins said his campus has about 200 fewer students today than it did when he joined eight years ago.
“They get priced out,” he explained.
When that happens, children are forced to start over at new schools, in new communities, without the friends they loved and the teachers who loved them.
Of the nearly 3,000 students Richardson ISD has lost since 2018-19, roughly 90% lived in multifamily housing, district officials said.
More losses are expected. Richardson served about 37,000 children last year. The student population is projected to decrease by roughly 3,600 students over the next five years, according to the district’s demographer report.
Families have other reasons for leaving RISD beyond affordability. Some would rather home-school or enroll in a virtual program. Others feel their local public schools aren’t equipped to handle their child’s needs.
The enrollment boundaries for RISD — which has a B rating from the Texas Education Agency — covers parts of the cities of Richardson, Dallas and Garland.
“We see the emphasis that our city governments are placing on renovating apartment complexes and creating luxury apartment complexes that often are pricing out a lot of our younger families,” Branum told school board trustees when she explained this year’s budget gaps.
Dallas City Councilwoman Kathy Stewart, whose district includes Forest Lane, said she’s concerned about the ramifications of less affordable housing.
“The rents have reached a point where we’re just not able to have as many families with school-aged children living in that area,” Stewart said. “I don’t have answers right now — or solutions. It’s a problem that needs some focus and some engagement with the community.”
Leaving Forest Lane
Goree-Watkins knows the beginning-of-the-year class pictures at Forest Lane Academy are going to look different from the end-of-the-year snapshots.
The school had a 40% student mobility rate, compared to 17% statewide, according to a 2022-23 Texas Education Agency report.
The district tracks where students go after they leave Richardson ISD.
Since 2019, thousands have switched to larger neighboring districts: Dallas and Garland. Hundreds, too, left for the suburbs — and outer ‘burbs — of Mesquite, Plano, Forney and Wylie schools.
Far more RISD students left for other Texas districts than opted for private schools or charters.
“When rents increase, [families] oftentimes move further out in a metropolitan area to the periphery, where land is generally less expensive,” said Richard Kahlenberg, housing policy director at the Progressive Policy Institute.
While rent prices have generally dropped in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex over the last year, monthly costs remain well above pre-pandemic levels.
As of April 30, the average rent for an apartment in D-FW was $1,468, according to a report from MRI ApartmentData, a firm that tracks such trends. Average rent was $1,116 in September 2018.
Texas saw a dramatic drop in the number of rental units on the affordable end of the spectrum, according to a report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
In 2012, the state had roughly 753,000 units with rents below $600. A decade later, that figure fell to about 452,000.
At the same time, the number of rental units priced between $1,400 and $2,000 exploded.
“Rent restrictions during the pandemic have created a pressure to raise rents — and the lack of affordable housing supply compounds that dramatically,” said David Dworkin, president of the National Housing Conference.
This trend means hundreds of thousands of households in North Texas are considered “cost-burdened” because they spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.
The region witnessed an apartment boom, but there’s a mismatch between what’s available and what many families can afford.
For example, the city of Dallas had a 33,660 rental unit supply gap for its lowest-income households in 2021, according to a recent Child Poverty Action Lab report. Families are particularly vulnerable in the rental market, said the group’s Ashley Flores.
“Not only are there not a lot of options available — larger rental units available to them that are affordable — but they’re spending a disproportionate amount of their income on rent,” Flores said.
Victoria Smith, 38, moved to an apartment near Forest Lane Academy with her three boys in 2012. She paid about $800 in rent. But she said her monthly payments kept rising, especially after 2020.
Despite the expense, Smith said the conditions in the complex didn’t improve. People broke into her apartment, kicking her door in and stealing her things.
By last year, Smith said she was paying about $1,600 a month. It was unsustainable as a single mother.
She searched for an affordable home for her family — eventually finding one that she could buy in Garland. Her new mortgage is cheaper than her old rent, she said.
The move meant her middle son, a freshman, had to start fresh in high school, without the boys he’d spent a decade hanging out with.
“He didn’t have many friends,” Smith said.
Her youngest son, in third grade, was able to remain enrolled at Forest Lane because Smith works at the campus as a special education teacher. She’s grateful for the stability.
“Change is horrible for him,” she said.
Budget shortfalls
When students go away, so does money.
The state gives public schools a basic allotment of $6,160 per student, plus additional funds depending on the child’s needs.
Forest Lane could no longer afford its community liaison this year because of such drops, Principal Goree-Watkins said.
The liaison had organized coat and food drives, while also pulling kids into small groups to work through anxiety or bullying. Those duties got piled onto other staff members’ plates.
And while Forest Lane students come to campus as native speakers of more than a dozen languages, the school couldn’t pay for two bilingual teachers in every grade anymore.
Students whose families want bilingual programming must get bussed to other campuses.
The campus’ cuts are reflective of difficult choices happening across the state.
A recent survey from the Texas Association of School Business Officials highlighted the problem: The poll, which included responses from more than 300 districts, found that more than half anticipate ending fiscal year 2024 in a shortfall. Most expect to institute budget cuts for next school year, which is often done by reducing staff positions, ending programs or closing schools.
Richardson ISD officials projected a roughly $28 million shortfall for next school year if the district gave employees a 3% raise and nothing else changed.
That led to a decision the superintendent described as deeply painful: Close Greenwood Hills, Springridge, Spring Valley, and Thurgood Marshall elementaries.
Trustees signed off on the plan after hearing emotional stories from families about how much their neighborhood school meant.
“Project Rightsize really was our strategy on: How do we deal with the fact that we’ve lost 2,500 students and that we’re predicted to lose more students?” Branum said. “We are responsible for our own efficiency.”
Under the school consolidation plan, Forest Lane is expecting to take in about 120 former Thurgood Marshall students, along with children rezoned from another school, next year. The influx is projected to bring Goree-Watkins’ campus closer to its capacity.
But could some of those families eventually move, too?
When Goree-Watkins thinks about potential solutions, it’s things that are beyond his power.
“Rent control could be something that would help the families in this particular area,” he said.
State law makes such an idea complicated.
Texas only allows rent control if a city’s governing body determines there’s a housing emergency caused by a disaster. Even then, the decision to implement this kind of policy requires the governor’s approval.
Housing experts stress the need for a higher supply of affordable units and an end to NIMBY — “not in my back yard” — attitudes that could thwart developments.
In the meantime, Goree-Watkins focuses on what he can influence.
He hires diverse staff members who reflect his students’ many cultures. He supports the campus garden. He ensures the school provides enrichment clubs after hours, with tutoring and hot dinner.
“What we try to do is make it a very nurturing, consistent, positive experience for our students. … Our motto is, ‘We are world class,’” Goree-Watkins said. “We tell them no matter what goes on outside there, it’s not going to impact you here.”
Staff writer Nick Wooten contributed to this report, as did staff researchers Erin Sood and Jennifer Brancato.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
