The Lubbock Independent School District is no stranger to having to close and merge schools in the past for various reasons.
But moving forward, LISD leaders say they will follow a District Optimization Plan to monitor and determine future school mergers and closures in an effort to be transparent and authentic with parents and the public.
Earlier in January, LISD administration presented to the district’s Board of Trustees the plan that had been developed to determine how the school district will grade its campuses to determine if future school closures are needed.
“This is 13 months in the making,” Board President Ryan Curry said. “This board demanded in late November, early December of 2024 that criteria be established that the community could see, and it be out in front.”
Here’s an overview of the framework the Board of Trustees unanimously approved to start implementing in the fall of 2026.
What are the primary metrics LISD will consider for school closures?
According to a presentation given to board members on Jan. 22, 2026 by LISD Chief Innovation Officer Kenneth Casarez, here are the primary metrics the district will grade schools by.
Overall school enrollment
The threshold is 450 students based on a three-year average.
This will be calculated by the prior years’ Texas Education Agency Texas Academic Performance Reports. For the year that the district will make its decision on the school, it will use enrollment numbers as of the third Friday in September per internal records.
“I want to also clarify that when we’re looking at this right now, we’re only looking at elementary and middle school. High school is not being looked at at all,” Casarez said.
Facility Utilization
The threshold is a school utilizing 70% or less of available facility capacity, defined by LISD based on a three-year average.
This will be calculated by the school’s enrollment — defined under overall enrollment figures — divided by facility capacity — defined by LISD in 203-24 and is revisited every five years.
Per-pupil spending
The threshold is a school with per-pupil spending more 5% above the district average based on a three-year average.
This will be calculated by including all spending on campus — including salaries — divided by overall enrollment. The district average will be based on elementary and middle schools only.
Alternative options
If a campus hits all three metrics, then the board is given additional factors to consider before making a final decision.
“We want to make sure that they’re also making sure that if a move has to be made, then students are not facing significant geographic boundaries when we’re looking at potential campuses to move students into,” Casarez said. “And then we also want to make sure that we are keeping the students together as much as possible, with at least 30% of the students being put together in a campus if that were to happen.”
The board will also look at program offerings when making the consideration — i.e., if the school is offering unique programming like STEM and IB, which draws in enrollment outside of the attendance zone.
The other contextual contexts include:
How would LISD’s optimization framework work?
Here is the annual timeline:
How can you monitor your student’s school during this process?
“We want to make sure that we have transparent data sharing, so a public-facing dashboard updated annually for all the schools that show performance relative to these primary metrics,” Casarez said. “And then we also want to make sure that whatever process we do, it’s community-centered.”
All three primary metrics would be front and center, with parents able to see the three-year averages and the difference from the district average in those three areas as well.
Also, there will be the will be the thre year state accountability report and a map of where the school is located, along with nearby LISD campuses.
Casarez said that the dashboard would be released some time in February 2026.
“We’re doing some testing, making sure we’re meeting with some different departments to make sure the data is accurate, because, again, we’re pulling 1000s of data pieces together, so we hope to have everything ready and up and running in a few weeks,” Casarez said.
When will this framework be implemented at LISD?
This framework will start being implemented in fall 2026.
However, LISD Superintendent Kathy Rollo reiterated a reassurance to families and students.
“There will be no schools closed at the end of this school year,” Rollo said. “We’re not bringing any recommendation to (the board) for closing schools at the end of this school year.”
Mateo Rosiles is a reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and USA TODAY Network in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him: mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock ISD unveils framework, timeline for district schools optimization
Reporting by Mateo Rosiles, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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