For master plans and new developments with a focus on families, potential schools can make up a large part of a home buyer’s decision to purchase. Regardless of the market conditions, great schools can draw prospective buyers, but the absence of great schools can slow sales.
School districts and developers can work hand in hand to plan for growth that is mutually beneficial. As vice president of Zonda’s school district segment, Texas-based Bob Templeton applies his years of experience in demographics and planning to forecast enrollment and advise on attendance zone planning, school site planning, and more.
BUILDER chatted with Templeton to learn the ins and outs of how education and housing collide.
Why is the relationship between school districts and home builders relevant?
Demographics and the age of the home buyer is a key piece of the puzzle, especially when there are families with school-aged children. The schools make up a large majority of why and where to buy a house. As much as 60% of their decision can be tied to the schools and it is very strong with elementary-age parents. These parents really do look at the ratings of the school, the age of the schools, and the location of the schools.
When you're talking about home builders and how it relates, it nails down to are we talking about a subdivision that is a 200 to 300 lots or a master-planned community. The builders typically don't have as much at stake around the schools for a smaller development, but for master-planned communities, it is huge, and it really is important for master plan community developers to have a good relationship and communication with the school districts.
How much space is needed for a school within a master plan?
Typically, an elementary school needs 15 usable acres and for a developer that can be a touchy issue, because for them they're looking at the number of houses or lots they would give up accommodating that school site.
I have seen a couple of situations where the developer and the school district worked together, and they were able to put an elementary school site adjacent to some park land or some area that really isn't suitable for lots so that the school district could take advantage of some of that for play space, for landscape areas, or for trails to add to the connectivity.
If a school district is developing on its own, it is going to look for 15 usable acres, but if it’s working with the developer and a builder, they might take up less space and make it work. It might only be 10 acres.
Have you seen any creative approaches to placing a school in a master plan?
I've got one developer and school district where they were able to build a two-story elementary school, but it wasn't your typical two stories. You would never think of it as a two-story elementary if you saw it from the street because it was on a sloped piece of property.
They built the upper half on street level and that was for parent drop-offs and as the main access point to the school. Then you drove around back down the hill, and you came to the lower level. It was also street level, but that was for their bus transportation and for staff parking, so both aspects had street-level entry into the building.
They were able to take advantage of a sloped piece of property on a smaller piece of acreage that would otherwise be a problem to put homes on and built it in a more efficient way because they worked together.
What are some ways developers and builders can blend the schools into the communities?
Developers of a master-planned community can tie the architecture and the design to match the theme of the master plan. Hillwood is good at doing this. I can think of several examples where they worked with the school district on architectural design, and we're able to then blend in the theme to match the brand of the community. Harvest outside of Fort Worth is one of those that they did very well.
In terms of numbers, how many elementary-aged kids can be expected in a master-planned community and what are some indicators for that?
For an elementary school—typically kindergarten through fifth grade—about 1,800 to 2,000 homes will fill up it. For some of these master-planned communities with 6,000 to 10,000 lots, it certainly depends on the different mix of houses. If you have a very expensive lifestyle, it is going to yield less students per home.
If the developer is really gearing it toward young families with kids, you can tell by the amenities. There’s a master-planned community in Keller, Texas, that has soccer fields and three swimming pools and a community building. The dues are substantial so if you don’t have kids, you don’t want to be paying $800 to $1,000 a year for something you are not going to use.
In that particular master plan community, it has an elementary school embedded in there because it matches the demographics that the developer was aiming for.
For the school itself, how many kids are usually in attendance?
For the roughly 1,600 to 1,800 homes that will fill an elementary school, the capacity is typically about 700 kids. I see most school districts are typically designing their elementary schools to hit between 600 and 800 students per campus.
What about secondary schools? Is there a need?
Some of the large master-planned communities might have a need for secondary schools, but from my experience, developers are not very keen to have them as part of their community because it is such a large tract of land and they're giving up too many homes. You can't make the numbers work.
You can make it work if it's a 10-acre deal [like an elementary], but a middle school needs to be anywhere from 30 to 50 acres. A high school needs to be 100 to 120 acres, so that is a lot of homes.
How does the process of planning for a school site work? Does the developer or school district take the initiative?
Usually, it's the developer that leads the way. Many times, the school districts don't know about these projects until they're going to the city for permitting. So if they haven’t talked to the school district, that’s when they will find out.
In Texas, there are no impact fee requirements for schools and there are no requirements that the developer must make allowances for the school districts. Often, cities will encourage the developers to talk to the school district, but there's no requirement.
If there is resistance in building schools to accommodate, how do developers overcome it?
The buses have already left, and the developments typically will just keep going, which can affect the rate of sales. That’s where the builders, if they have the knowledge and can be informed, can communicate to their customers or perspective families the timing of future schools. It really does help the developer and the builders with being able to market to those families with kids.
Trying to get the bonds passed to build a school requires an election of the voters. In most cases, there’s a limited window that can happen. In Texas, it can happen in the general election in November, and it can happen in May. So, if it’s missed or failed, it could be another six months or a year—just imagine what it does to the construction timeline.
Why are good schools a perk for builders in terms of sales?
Now the things that we see that do affect the rate of growth are interest rates and the cost. Affordability has slowed down some aspects, but it all depends upon the location. Areas that have really strong schools, affordability doesn’t seem to slow it down.
In Prosper, Texas, for example, they have a great reputation. Everybody is flocking to that school district, so it doesn’t really matter as much if the interest rate goes from 4% to 6%. We haven’t seen a slow in their enrollment, and we have not seen much of a slow in their housing.
Why do schools need builders and the families they bring?
It takes three to four years to build a school once the decision to build it is made. We do see situations where a school is built, and they don’t open it until the numbers get right because of operating expenses and those factors. There’s not a lot of wiggle room. They need to open with a certain enrollment—it has to do with the cost per student. If it opens too low, it could be a big problem from the operation side of the district’s budget.
You need the kiddos because most schools are funded on their enrollment and their attendance, which has been an interesting thing. In the last five years, the attendance rate post-COVID has dropped anywhere from 2% to 4%.
What has caused the drop in attendance?
We have a new mindset when it comes to sickness and sick kids. Prior to the pandemic, when both parents were working on site, they would send their kids to school sick if they had to. Now, that does not happen as much because there’s more flexibility with work. Some folks can work from home when their kids are sick.
This new awareness of health and safety is good, but it definitely has dropped the attendance rate. The average attendance rate has dropped 4% in some districts and so that's a significant change in their budget planning.
