Frequently Asked Questions 

School districts are required by state law to ask voters for permission to sell bonds to investors in order to raise the capital dollars required for projects such as renovations of existing buildings or building a new school. Essentially, the voters are giving permission for the District to take out a loan and pay that loan back over an extended period of time, much like a family takes out a mortgage loan for their home. A school board calls a bond election so voters can decide whether or not they want to pay for proposed facility projects. School boards then have the authority to sell bonds when facilities are needed.

Bond funds can be used to pay for new buildings, additions, and renovations to existing facilities, land acquisition, technology infrastructure, and equipment for new or existing buildings. Bonds cannot be used for salaries or operating costs such as utility bills, supplies, building maintenance, fuel and insurance.

The 2024 Argyle ISD bond proposal is a community-driven plan developed by a committee of AISD stakeholders who met in a series of meetings from October 2023 to January 2024. The committee was composed of 50 representatives with various perspectives, including parents, students, staff, business leaders and community members. The committee reviewed Argyle ISD’s demographic growth, finances, facilities, bonding capacity and educational programs to determine the long-term needs of the district. As a result of this process, the committee formed a recommendation for a May 2024 bond proposal that was presented to the Argyle ISD Board of Trustees. The recommendation was slightly modified to adhere to the vision of the 10-year growth plan and unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees on Feb. 5, 2024.

Due to fast growth in Argyle ISD, middle school enrollment (grades 6-8) in AISD is projected to eclipse 2,600 students within the next 10 years. The proposed Middle School #2 will allow AISD to prepare for this enrollment increase as well as allow the district to expand the current AMS, which was formerly a high school, into a second high school to accommodate the future high school enrollment growth. Middle School #1 is scheduled to open in August 2026 on the north side of FM 407. This campus was part of the voter-approved 2022 bond proposal.

Those facilities are currently only at AMS, which served as Argyle High School prior to the opening of the new high school at Canyon Falls in 2021. Bond 2024 proposes adding these facilities to the Canyon Falls campus, which currently does not have its own competition baseball and softball fields. This aligns with the 10-Year Strategic Growth Plan for two separate 9-12 campuses. Currently, the Argyle baseball;/softball teams travel from AHS in Canyon Falls to AMS to practice and play games. 

Fast growth in AISD among grades Pre-K through 5th over the next 10 years is projected to surpass 4,600 students in AISD elementary schools by 2033 - 2034. Elementary School #4, approved in Bond 2022, is scheduled to open this fall. Elementary School #5, approved in Bond 2022, is slated to open in Fall 2026. The Bond 2022 schools will ease capacity concerns at the district’s three current elementary schools. Projected growth in AISD will have the proposed Elementary #6 opening in the 2029 to 2031 time frame which is aligned with the district's.

Bond funds can be used to pay for new buildings, additions, and renovations to existing facilities, land acquisition, technology infrastructure and equipment for new or existing buildings. Bonds cannot be used for salaries or operating costs such as utility bills, supplies, building maintenance, fuel, and insurance.

In accordance with state law, athletic stadiums and other recreational facilities (Baseball/Softball complex at Canyon Falls) must be presented to voters as separate propositions. This gives voters an opportunity to vote for or against the three separate proposals. 

The Argyle ISD bond election ballot will include language that will state "this is a property tax increase." School bond propositions are required by state law to include this terminology. However, the Argyle ISD bond does not include an overall tax rate increase if the bond passes due to the Maintenance & Operations tax rate compression which offsets the Interest & Sinking tax rate increase.

No. If you have applied for and received the age 65 and older exemption on your homestead, by law, your school taxes cannot be raised above their frozen level.

Yes. Voters should record their vote in each of the three propositions on the ballot.

The last Argyle ISD bond was in 2022. Voters approved a $267,885,000 bond that included three propositions. Details of the propositions can be found here on the ArgyleISD.com website. The May 2022 Argyle ISD bond included a record turnout of more than 4,100 voters. AISD has a history of approving bond proposals in 2017 and 2014.

The current projections by the district's demographer include the first students enrolled in Argyle ISD from Furst Ranch in 2026. Furst Ranch is in Flower Mound and within the boundaries of Argyle ISD.

The Bond & Growth Planning Committee was presented with district demographer data, facilities assessments, capacities assessments, and financial advisors reports. They used all of these data points to make an informed recommendation regarding bond projects. The committee believes that, as a fast-growth district, Argyle ISD would benefit the most from a long-term bonding program to proactively address student growth over the next 10 years. The district faces approximately 36 months of planning and construction from start to finish on new schools and this timeline cannot begin until bond dollars are authorized and then sold when bonding capacity is available and projects are needed. Having a long-range bond program allows the district time to search and secure land acquisition and proactively plan for the projects based on the impact of future student growth.

A complete facilities assessment was conducted with architects and district staff to determine capital improvement needs for this bond program. The Bond & Growth Planning Committee was presented with prioritized capital improvements for aging facilities and the Meeting #4 presentation is found at this link.

The District’s financial advisor, RBC, helps the district plan for current and future bond issues. RBC provides detailed information to the administration, BGPC, and the Board. For the 2024 Bond process, a detailed tax analysis was prepared as a planning tool. Our community can review the report overview at this link. The actual structure and interest of a bond issue are determined at the time they are sold.

Yes, AISD is currently working through a budget deficit plan for the maintenance and operation (M&O) portion of the budget due to the school funding crisis in Texas. However, the M&O side of school budgeting is completely separate from the I&S bond side of school finance. You can view additional information at this link.

To learn more about the funding crisis, please visit https://www.takeactionargyle.com/. To learn more about the AISD budget process, please visit https://www.youtube.com/argyleisd to view the budget workshop recordings from February 5, March 4, and April 2. 

Texas public schools are funded with two separate buckets of funds. These buckets are independent of each other and day-to-day salaries are not allowed from bond funds. You can view additional information at this link. 

In 2014, Argyle ISD implemented a 1:1 technology program for students in grades 6-12. A 1:1 technology program means that each student, in grades 6-12, has a Chromebook to access instructional materials, resources, and state assessments. Students access their textbooks and instructional materials in all online formats. This is not a new program or initiative for AISD. Proposition C in this bond program allows AISD to continue the 1:1 technology program for students in grades 6-12 and accommodate future student growth in these grade levels. 

Bond authorization specifies the amount of bonds the district is authorized by voters to sell. Bond issues may occur over a period of time based on the current bonding capacity and schedule of projects.

The Sixth Grade Center will be paired with the new middle school being built on FM 407 for the foreseeable future. Once Middle School #2 opens in 2028-2029, the sixth graders zoned for MS2 would join 7-8th graders, making MS 2 a 6-8th campus. 

Argyle ISD does not currently own land aside from the 50 acres on FM 407. That land is dedicated to Middle School #1 and potentially a dual site for Elementary School #5. The needed land for a middle school is a minimum of 35 acres.

Argyle ISD does not currently own land aside from the 50 acres on FM 407. That land is dedicated to Middle School #1 and potentially a dual site for Elementary School #5. The land needed for a new elementary school is a minimum of 12-15 acres.

With the assistance of architects and financial planners, this long-range bond package includes projects that have adequately planned for escalation and inflation costs over the course of the program. By studying the market of recent bond projects in various school districts, the district included a ½% interest rate escalation per month for each project based on when student growth indicates the projects would be needed.

Middle School #2 New Construction - $114,690,000 - estimated for 2028-2029

Elementary School #6 New Construction - $88,720,000 - estimated for 2030-2031

Increased Capacity at Argyle High School to 2,250 Capacity - $34,760,000 - estimated for 2027-2028 

- $50,470,000 - estimated for 2031-2032

Increased Capacity at Argyle Middle School to 1,750 Capacity

Expansion to common areas at Argyle Middle School (cafeteria expansion & rebuild two competition gyms) - $73,790,000 - estimated for 2031-2032

Land/Buses/Technology Infrastructure - $82,000,000

Capital Improvements - $37,955,000 - Span throughout the 10-year bond program 

Argyle ISD is unique in that there are currently two fully functioning high school campuses within our district boundaries: The high school at Canyon Falls and the current middle school, which was originally a fully functioning high school campus. 

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AHS currently runs on the most efficient master scheduling, offering a 7-period day. When a school outgrows a facility and it requires 9th and/or 10th graders to move off of the site to their own site, the efficiency of a 7-period master schedule is no longer an option due to students traveling between facilities for courses and extracurricular activities. This scenario would require the district to move to an A/B block master schedule, which is 8-periods, 90-minutes each, alternating 4 each day. Staffing on a 7-period day, which two separate high schools can operate, requires a staffing model multiplier of 1.16. Staffing on an A/B block master schedule, which is necessary for two campuses operating as one high school, requires a staffing model multiplier of 1.33. 

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Based on AISD's projected enrollment year-over-year starting in 2027, the cost to operate an A/B block schedule for one operational high school is an additional $900K-$1.5M in staffing costs each year. That equates to approximately 15-25 additional teachers year-over-year. 

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Both the 377 and Canyon Falls campuses will be used as fully functional high schools for AISD 9-12th grade students. The district will budget for operating both facilities from an operational standpoint. Both facilities will require campus administration staff and utilities. Teaching staff for high school configuration is the cost difference, as explained above. 

Argyle ISD has provided a sample ballot for voters to understand the language and what to expect at the polls. This is a copy of the ballot for Argyle ISD voters on the Argyle ISD bond website. Click here to view the sample ballot for voters.

Per HB 3 amended Section 45.003, the State of Texas requires all bond propositions to include the statement “This is a property tax increase,” even though we can project the I&S tax rate will remain at $0.50 for this bond authorization. State law does not give districts the discretion to change any ballot language, regardless of the tax rate impact.

Please visit the Argyle ISD bond website for full details on all voting locations. Voters can vote at any polling location during early voting. Election Day voting is done by precinct.

The inability to secure functional future land sites for new facilities will create capacity issues at current facilities. 

The inability to secure bond authorization for future facilities to address growing enrollment will create capacity challenges in our current instructional and classroom spaces. Therefore, the Bond & Growth Planning Committee would reconvene to determine the next steps.

During the process, Argyle ISD shared all presentations from the meetings. These presentations and a list of committee members is located on Argyle ISD’s website. The BGPC met six times from October 2023 to January 2024. Click here to visit the webpage. 

A minimum of nine to 10 months should be allowed when planning. As an example, the new Argyle ISD administration building took eight months and Argyle South Elementary took nine months from initial submission to the town until we received building permits. The current middle school build is now on month 14 since we began the planning and design process. The middle school site plan has yet to be approved by the Argyle Town Council.

Since 2019, Texas school districts within the Education Service Center Regions 10 and 11 have held 39 successful bond elections over $250,000,000, totaling over $33 billion. Of the 39 successful bond elections, 67% were approved for over $500,000,000, indicating long-range bond programs. Fifteen of those long-range bond successful elections have been held by Texas Education Agency-defined fast-growth districts totaling nearly $14 billion. This information is sourced by the Municipal Advisory Council of Texas, Texas Bond Review Board, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, and the Texas Education Agency.

Voters have approved bonds in Argyle ISD in 2014, 2017, and 2022. The 2014 bond included Phase I of the Canyon Falls high school campus, the girls’ field house, baseball and softball turf, and the Indoor Activity Center all at the 377 campus for $45M. The 2017 bond included Phase II of the high school, Argyle West Elementary, Argyle South Elementary, and a 12-classroom addition at the 377 campus for $166M. The 2022 bond included elementary schools #4 and #5, Middle School #1, a stadium and Indoor Activity Center at Canyon Falls for $267,885,000.

The demographer presented the fall report in November 2023 based on the district’s state submission for enrollment snapshot. The demographer (Zonda Education) provided an update to the Bond & Growth Planning Committee in early January 2024 due to a new application for La Estancia that was filed with the Town of Flower Mound. La Estancia is located on the 250 acres directly south of AHS and administration building campus at Canyon Falls. Additionally, the demographer verified the number of single-family homes in the Hines Group position of the Bartonville ETJ development portion of Furst Ranch and added that adjustment to the fall report update. Since the district had a January update, the demographer has chosen to wait until the first full quarter was complete before providing another report. The district anticipates a spring update in May 2024.

The district remains in close contact with Furst Ranch developers regarding growth impact for AISD. Our demographer research team followed up with both the Oakstream Developer and Hines Development group this past Fall when evaluating the Furst Ranch Development. The Hines development group has approximately 1,000 acres under contract with half the development within the Flower Mound city limits and the other half is in the Bartonville ETJ. In the Flower Mound City limit portion, the developer plans for 400 large custom single-family lots. Once this portion of the development begins they are anticipating 75 to 100 homes being built per year. On the Bartonville ETJ land, the developer is currently planning 1,100 single-family lots. Groundwork on this portion of the development is anticipated to begin this summer (2024). The Oakstream developer reconfirmed the numbers of 3,000 single-family lots, 5,000 (max) multi-family units, and 1,000 senior living units planned within their portion of the development. The only time frame that was referenced for that portion of the development was a limit of 2,750 multi-family units built in the first 10 years.

The numbers that needed to be verified from the Fall demographer report were the number of single-family homes in the Hines Group portion of the development and those adjustments were made in the information that was provided to the BGPC in early January 2024.

The demographer's 10-year forecast includes the Bartonville ETJ portion of Furst Ranch. It also anticipates a portion inside of the Flower Mound section of Furst Ranch.

The most recent development map indicates the northwest portion of Furst Ranch as future school sites. The south portion of Furst Ranch has always been marked as a 95-acre park area. Although the development map from last year did not denote school sites, Furst Ranch, Argyle ISD, and Zonda Demographics have always anticipated school sites from the inception and prepared for that in growth projection. The location of those sites is now coming to fruition. Therefore, the overall 10-year forecast has included the anticipation of 50 acres of school sites.

Argyle ISD would replace the members who elect not to return to the committee. The district would also add new students as most of the students were seniors and will graduate in May.

The capital improvements include updates to aging campuses at Hilltop Elementary, Argyle Middle School and the Sixth Grade Center. This also includes HVAC and fixture replacements, flooring and artificial turf replacement. 

The only land Argyle ISD currently owns is the 50 acres on the north side of FM 407. Argyle ISD is actively seeking additional land for schools and works with its real estate broker in this process.

The first students from Furst Ranch are expected in the 2027-2028 school year. The development is expected to break ground this summer.

The middle school from Bond 2022 that is being built on 407 will open in 2026-27 and will be at or over capacity in 2027-28. The plan for Middle School #2 is to open in the 2028-2029 school year. At that time, the district will have 2,069 students in grades 6-8. The estimated cost of the 1,200-capacity middle school in Bond 2024 is $114 million. 

Registered voters in Denton County can vote at any early voting location. There are five choices in Argyle ISD for voters. 

Denton County ESD No. 1 Fire Station - 511 Gibbons

Bartonville Town Hall - 1941 E. Jeter Rd.

Denton Fire Station No. 7 - 4201 Vintage Blvd.

Denton County Southwest Courthouse - 6200 Canyon Falls

Northlake Town Hall - 1500 Commons Circle

In 2027-2028, Argyle High School will reach capacity. Simultaneously, the new middle school on FM 407 will also reach capacity. The only current facility in Argyle ISD that could provide relief to Argyle High School and the new middle school would be the campus on HWY 377. The 9th-grade class at this time is projected to be 597 students. The district’s demographer estimated enrollment for 6-8th that would need to be moved out of the middle school on FM 407 to accommodate for growth would be 712 students. The capacity of the 377 campus is 1,300 students, which could only house 6-9th for one year with an estimated total of 1,309 in 2027-28. 

Plano ISD is a large district with declining enrollment. Their enrollment will continue to decline for the next 10 years due to a number of factors in their area. That is the opposite of what Argyle ISD will face over the next 10 years. Argyle ISD will continue to grow at a fast-growth rate. 

During Plano ISD’s long-range facility planning process, they concluded that their high school campuses (9-10th grades only) are operating at less than 65% capacity. The most efficient and fiscally responsible campuses operate at 80-85% capacity. Additionally, their audit found that campuses operating at 80-85% efficiency or higher create the best scenario for maximum curriculum offerings. Their estimation of $4M to operate a high school is based on the fact that they continue to offer student experiences without maximizing the capacity of the building. Therefore, every empty seat, totaling 35% of the campus, adds to that operational cost.

In Argyle ISD, two high schools at full build-out provide the most efficient use of our facilities in the long-term. To explain further, once the Bond 2024 10-year projects for expansions to increase capacity at the 377 campus and AHS at Canyon Falls, the district will be operating high schools at 80-85% capacity and efficiency by 2033/34. This is the goal of a long-range growth plan. 

There are two buckets of money when dealing with public school district budgets, M&O and I&S.

It is a fact that this bond program will be funded at the current I&S tax rate of $0.50. The taxable assessed values in Argyle ISD have risen significantly over the years due to the growth of new homes and businesses, therefore, bonds will be funded with the existing tax rate. 

While many homeowners in our area are paying more in local property taxes, it is because the values of the individual homes are rising, not because the tax rate has increased. The increasing values of homes in our area are set and controlled by the appraisal district, not Argyle ISD.

The M&O bucket of the district’s budget is based on an amount per student, regardless of the amount of local property taxes paid. This is state law. For districts’ operating expenses, when more money is collected locally through property taxes, the state share decreases. 

Linked here is a video that explains the state’s share and the local district’s share of funding school districts. 

Argyle High School (at Canyon Falls) - 2,100 & reaches capacity in 2027-28

Argyle Middle School (at 377) - 1,300 & reaches capacity in 

Sixth Grade Center - 730 & reaches capacity in 2031-32

Hilltop Elementary - 750 & reaches capacity in 2026-27

Argyle West Elementary - 850 & reaches capacity in 2028-29

Argyle South Elementary - 850 & reaches capacity in 2026-27

Jane Ruestmann Elementary opening in 2024-25) - 850 & reaches capacity in 2027-28

Our principals and district leadership team selected the 50 committee members, ensuring a cross-section of community members selected and balanced to represent all elementary zones, (South, West, and Hilltop) in Argyle ISD. The committee included 26% of membership from West zoned parents, 45% membership from South zoned parents, and 28% membership from Hilltop-zoned parents.

This would not be possible on the property Argyle ISD owns at Canyon Falls. It would take approximately 15 acres for a shared site and 35 for a stand-alone facility. A shared site would require expansion at the AHS facility for common areas (gyms, cafeteria, library, field). That amount of land is not available on the 106-acre Argyle ISD property at Canyon Falls. Additionally, the properties surrounding AHS are accounted for with the current administration building and projected developments. AISD will break ground on the new stadium and indoor activity center on this property in June and will utilize approximately 14 combined acres that will also include parking. The remaining property is not developable due to drainage, a water well, and retention ponds.