The Lake Travis (Texas) district has opened its third middle school as the suburban Austin system continues its steady enrollment growth.
KXAN-TV reports that Bee Cave Middle School was needed to accommodate student numbers that have been rising 4% to 6% in the last several years. The district expects to have about 11,000 students in 2019-20.
“Since I’ve been here the last 12, 13 years, enrollment has doubled,” says Marco Alvarado, communications director for the Lake Travis district. “When I got here it was about 5,800 or so students.”
The $76.2 million, 240,000-square-foot Bee Cave Middle will relieve crowding at Lake Travis Middle School, which last year had 1,600 students. Bee Cave is expecting about 900 students initially; it has a capacity of 1,200.
Lake Travis is one of several school systems surrounding Austin that are experiencing enrollment increases.
Round Rock has added 3,472 students since 2015 and projects that it will add another 2,000 students by 2023-24 for a total enrollment of 53,369.
Pflugerville and Manor districts also are growing. Pflugerville’s projects 2,000 additional students by 2023-24 after adding 2,000 in the last five years. Manor expects to have 2,780 additional students over the next four years.
Leander has been adding 1,000 kids every year, and the Hays district has grown by 2,000 students since 2014. It expects 2,000 more by 2023.
