Plano City Council recently approved the $8.4 million purchase of two former elementary school properties from Plano ISD. The deal, part of an interlocal agreement with the district, includes the sites of Davis Elementary and Forman Elementary schools.
The city paid roughly $3 million for the Davis campus and $5.4 million for Forman. Both properties will be cleared before the city takes ownership. The agreement also includes future plans for the city to acquire Armstrong Middle School. Carpenter Middle School, however, will remain under PISD ownership.
Why the Schools Closed
Davis and Forman, along with Armstrong and Carpenter Middle Schools, were closed at the end of the 2024–25 school year following a unanimous decision by the Plano ISD board in June 2024. The closures were driven by declining enrollment across the district.
Several factors contributed to the drop in student numbers. Plano ISD pointed to the city’s rising cost of living, specifically the average home price of $584,000, as one reason fewer young families are settling in the area. At the same time, declining birth rates have led to smaller kindergarten cohorts. Carpenter Middle School, for example, had a capacity for nearly 1,400 students but only enrolled about 500…