Community input will help establish long-term priorities and guide future decisions about programs, staffing, facilities and financial sustainability
In the next 10 years, what do you want Leander ISD to look like?
At its Sept. 3 meeting, the Leander ISD Board of Trustees received an introduction to Leander ISD 2037, a comprehensive future-focused planning process designed to help the district navigate changing enrollment, financial pressures and the evolving needs of students and families.
The work will bring together district data and extensive community input to establish shared priorities and ultimately create a 10-year roadmap for Leander ISD. The process is being facilitated in partnership with Civic Solutions Group (CSG).
Why now?
Leander ISD is changing.
“The challenges before us are not unique. The approach and solutions to these challenges will be unique to Leander ISD.”
Like school districts across Texas and the country, LISD is experiencing demographic shifts that affect how many students attend its schools and where those students live. Those trends include lower birth rates, changing housing patterns, increased school-choice options and rising costs.
Within LISD, those trends are showing up in different ways across the district. Some neighborhoods continue to grow while others are seeing enrollment decline. The district also has larger classes graduating and smaller groups of students entering school behind them. Kindergarten enrollment declined by approximately 300 students from 2025 to 2026, and the district’s demographer has projected that enrollment could fall to 38,000 or lower over the next decade.
Those challenges are not unique to Leander ISD. The goal of Leander ISD 2037 is to develop responses that are.
No predetermined outcomes
A central message of the Sept. 3 presentation was that Leander ISD 2037 does not begin with a predetermined list of solutions.
Instead, the district and CSG will spend the coming months listening, studying data and developing a shared set of long-term priorities with the community. Those priorities will then be used to evaluate potential strategies and scenarios.
CSG emphasized to Trustees that the process is beginning with community input rather than a predetermined outcome and that previous community engagement will also be incorporated rather than starting from scratch.
The work is connected to the Board’s September 2025 resolution on financial sustainability and long-range planning. Areas that may ultimately be considered include staffing, programs, revenue strategies, facilities and assets, reimagining campuses, expense reductions and other strategic decisions.
What will Leander ISD 2037 produce?
The process is intended to result in four major outcomes:
- a shared set of long-term priorities;
- a 10-year roadmap for innovation and sustainability;
- data-informed criteria for making decisions; and
- potential scenarios and recommendations for implementation.
Those priorities will also inform the development of campus overviews for every Leander ISD school. The overviews will bring together information about each campus and data connected to the priorities identified through the process. They will be available in multiple languages and formats, with sources and definitions provided for the data included.
Community voice will help shape the plan
Community engagement is a central part of Leander ISD 2037.
This fall, LISD and CSG will seek input from students, staff, parents, advisory committees, civic organizations and community members through multiple opportunities, including ThoughtExchange, community meetings, existing advisory groups, a dedicated Leander ISD 2037 website and a public email address.
The process will combine data with the context, values and experiences of the Leander ISD community to inform recommendations.
Initial engagement begins this month. Advisory-group conversations begin Sept. 10, followed by additional priority-development activities and an initial ThoughtExchange planned by the end of September.
Feedback will continue through October and November before proposed long-term priorities are presented to trustees for consideration in December.
From priorities to a 10-year roadmap
Once the priorities are established, the work moves into its next phase.
From January through May 2027, the district and CSG are expected to develop potential scenarios, gather another round of community input and conduct detailed financial and operational analysis before bringing final recommendations to the Board.
The Board will ultimately vote on the final Leander ISD 2037 plan. Trustees will also remain involved throughout the process through individual conversations, workshops, regular updates and community engagement.
Leander ISD 2037 is designed not simply to answer what the district should do next year, but to establish a framework for making thoughtful decisions as the district continues to change.
And the first step is listening.
Look for more information soon about Leander ISD 2037 and opportunities to help shape the priorities that will guide the district’s next decade.
