Frisco ISD administrators recommended that the school board decide to close Staley Middle School at the end of the 2025-26 school year due to aging infrastructure and dwindling enrollment. The board is likely to reach a final resolution at their October meeting.
Aging infrastructure drives decision-making
Staley Middle School, which has served the community for almost five decades, is facing numerous challenges. The university runs on a 52-year-old underground cast-iron plumbing system that has outlasted its average 50-year lifespan.
District staff anticipate that updating the system will take 18 to 30 months, essentially relocating children during that period and costing the district around $3.5 million. If the district updated the entire campus, it would cost $24.54 million.
The issue about Staley’s future follows the failure of the 2024 bond program, which would have funded improvements. Approximately 52.1% of voters rejected the bond, leaving district authorities with few choices for renovating the aging site.
Enrollment is declining and there are concerns about costs
District officials stated that the combination of expensive restoration costs and decreased student enrollment makes closing the school the most viable option. Staff have proposed retiring the school at the end of either the 2024-25 or 2025-26 school years.
Frisco ISD’s enrollment numbers fell short of estimates by about 1,300 pupils this year. This follows a modest drop in enrollment last year, showing a recurring pattern. In three years, the district expects to lose 980 middle school pupils, which is equivalent to a full middle school.
“We peaked around 2023,” Frisco ISD Chief Operations Officer Scott Warstler previously stated during Group One’s annual Frisco Forecast on February 26, 2025.
Along with prospective plans to remove older schools with falling attendance, Frisco ISD launched the Access Frisco program to bring more kids — and cash — into the district.
The aging of established areas, where fewer new families with school-age children are moving in, is the most significant factor driving enrollment declines. As long-term residents stay put, fewer new pupils enter the district.
To assist counter financial losses, Frisco ISD passed Access Frisco in November 2024, which allows children from outside the district to enroll in kindergarten through seventh grade. For every 100 children enrolled, the district anticipates receiving approximately $750,000 in state revenue.
What will happen to the students?
If the board accepts the closure, kids at Staley Middle School will be rezoned to other schools in the district. District officials noted that the board has yet to take official action, and that the October meeting will be the ultimate vote on the campus’s destiny.
