FBISD approves new middle school boundaries affecting 694 students

SUGAR LAND, Texas - Nearly 700 Fort Bend ISD middle schoolers are expected to attend different campuses next school year after trustees approved new secondary attendance boundaries.

The Board of Trustees approved the middle school plan 6–1 Monday night. The changes will take effect during the 2027–28 school year and are projected to affect 694 students.

What we know:

The approved plan changes attendance boundaries involving Baines, Coleman, Crockett, Dulles, First Colony, Fort Settlement, Garcia, Hodges Bend, Lake Olympia and Sugar Land middle schools.

Fort Bend ISD says the changes are intended to balance enrollment and align feeder patterns so more students can remain with the same cohort as they advance from elementary to middle and high school.

Students will remain under the current boundaries for the 2026–27 school year. The new assignments begin in 2027–28.

Families can enter their addresses into the district’s interactive boundary map to see their assigned elementary, middle and high schools under the approved plan.

Projected enrollment changes

The figures below compare projected utilization during the 2027–28 school year under the existing boundaries with projected utilization under the approved boundaries.

Baines would experience the largest projected decrease, moving from 79% utilization under its current boundaries to 60% under the approved plan.

Coleman is projected to increase from 58% to 75%, while Sugar Land Middle is projected to increase from 62% to 76%.

The district notes that these projections count students in the attendance zones where they live. Students attending another campus through a transfer or specialized program are counted in their home attendance zones rather than at the campuses they currently attend.

Trustees also considered two possible high school boundary plans.

Superintendent Marc Smith recommended Scenario 2, saying it would provide greater enrollment relief to Elkins High School while better maintaining student cohorts across elementary, middle and high school.

Scenario 2 failed in a 4–3 vote.

Trustees then voted unanimously to approve High School Scenario 1. The district’s boundary-planning webpage now lists Scenario 1 as the approved high school plan for 2027–28.

What we don't know:

Detailed bus routes and estimated commute times under the new boundaries have not yet been released.

Fort Bend ISD has also not provided FOX 26 with detailed guidance about whether any current middle school students will be allowed to remain at their existing campuses or whether transportation would be provided in those cases.

Actual campus enrollment could differ from the district’s projections by the time the plan takes effect. Enrollment can be affected by housing development, families entering or leaving the district, transfers, specialized programs and other school-choice options.

The district’s campus-level projections also do not represent the number of students physically attending each school through transfers or specialized programs. Those students are counted in the attendance zones where they live.

Because the plan changes only portions of some attendance zones, families will need to search their individual addresses to determine whether they are affected.

What they're saying:

During public comment, some speakers asked trustees to delay the vote, citing concerns about longer commutes, repeated boundary changes and whether the district’s enrollment projections fully reflect transfers and specialized programs.

A sixth-grader at Garcia Middle School told trustees that part of her neighborhood would be reassigned to Hodges Bend Middle School. She argued that changing a boundary affects more than where students attend class.

"When you move a boundary, you’re not just moving a line," she said. "You’re changing who kids go to school with. You’re changing friendships, activities, routines and the communities that families have built together."

Other speakers questioned whether all of the middle school changes should have been combined into a single vote.

Board President Kristin Tassin acknowledged concerns about transportation and longer commutes but said the district’s broader goal was to keep student cohorts and feeder patterns together.

"The primary purpose of looking at the middle schools was to keep the cohorts together, to align those feeder patterns, to keep those kids together," Tassin said before the vote.

Smith said the planning process lasted approximately nine months and included trustee meetings, School Boundary Advisory Committee meetings, surveys, public comments and roughly 800 written responses.

Smith also said enrollment projections cannot guarantee what campus populations will look like several years from now. He said the district plans to conduct demographic reviews annually and revisit boundaries if future enrollment data warrants additional changes.

Before Monday’s vote, Fort Bend ISD provided FOX 26 with the following complete statement:

"The Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees is expected to discuss secondary attendance boundary planning at tonight’s meeting, with possible consideration and action.

Fort Bend ISD has confirmed that no schools will close as part of the secondary boundary planning process. The planning effort focuses on boundary changes affecting select middle and high schools and is designed to address overutilization at Austin, Elkins and Travis high schools while aligning feeder patterns, where possible.

Over the past several months, Fort Bend ISD has conducted data analysis, review, and engagement with the School Boundary Advisory Committee to evaluate potential boundary changes."

How to see Assignments:

The approved secondary boundaries will take effect during the 2027–28 school year.

Families can review the projections, feeder chart and address-searchable map on Fort Bend ISD’s Boundary Planning and Enrollment Management webpage.

Questions can also be sent to boundaryplanning@fortbendisd.gov.