Grapevine-Colleyville ISD Will Let Families Request a Different Campus Starting in 2027
GCISD trustees voted 5-2 to let families ask for a campus other than their zoned school for 2027-28, with limits on space, attendance and discipline.
Parents in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD will soon be able to ask to send their children to a school other than the one their address is zoned to.
The district's board of trustees approved a new intradistrict transfer policy on Oct. 26 by a 5-2 vote, Community Impact reported. Trustees Shannon Braun and Kathy Florence Spradley voted no. The policy applies to the 2027-28 school year.
Superintendent Jason Adams said the goal is to give families flexibility and to keep families who might be thinking about leaving GCISD inside the district.
"We're in an environment right now where the choices are going to grow," Adams said. "We have to be able to adapt to meet those needs."
Who can transfer
Transfers depend on room and staff at the school a family wants. A campus that already has 90% or more of its projected student capacity enrolled will not take transfers. Capacity is based on staffing projections by grade level.
Students also have to qualify. According to the policy as described in the report:
Attendance must be at least 90% at the time of the request.
Discipline history and academic record must be in good standing.
Only one transfer is allowed per school year.
Parents must provide transportation to and from school.
A student may return to the zoned campus at any time if there is space, but then cannot request another transfer that same school year.
A transfer lasts until the student moves up to a school at the next level. Families must apply again at each transition: pre-K to kindergarten, elementary to middle school and middle school to high school. When a request is granted, families have five business days to accept or decline in writing. If they do not answer, they lose the spot.
Colleyville City Hall in July 2018. Grapevine-Colleyville ISD serves Colleyville and Grapevine families. Photo: Iheartdfw / Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Key dates for 2027-28
Primary window: Jan. 4-24
Second window: March 22-April 11
Final opportunity: June 28-July 9
The debate
Braun worried about whether there would really be open seats, and about families "jockeying" students between campuses to land better spots on sports teams.
"The thought process that we actually have a system where you're going to be able to transfer to wherever you want to go isn't actually real," Braun said.
Trustee Darrell Brown supported the change. He pointed to the limits written into the policy and to the political climate around school choice.
"Choice is here and we have to adapt," Brown said. "Now is the time to change the policy and do the right thing for students and our community."
Our view
Parents, not ZIP codes, should have the first say over where a child learns. God gave children to their mothers and fathers, not to an attendance zone. A district that lets families choose among its own campuses is treating parents as partners, and that is to GCISD's credit.
Braun's warning is still worth hearing. A transfer policy that is used to chase playing time instead of a better classroom would miss the point. The 90% cap, the attendance and discipline rules and the one-transfer limit look like honest guardrails. Families should watch how many seats actually open up in January.
School choice is also a statewide fight this fall. Read how Abbott and Hinojosa are fighting over vouchers in the governor's race. Nearby, Keller ISD voters are deciding five bond propositions on Nov. 3.
