Work will soon begin on a new addition to an elementary magnet school campus in a local independent school district.
Richardson ISD is expected to begin construction at Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet Elementary School in May. The project involves the addition of a 3,000-square-foot building connector and has an anticipated completion date of August 1, 2025.
Dallas-based HKS Architects is listed as the design firm on the state filing. This firm was also behind AT&T Stadium’s original construction as well as a $180 million renovation project announced late last summer, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
This new project at Richardson ISD is part of the $750 million bond package voters approved in May 2021.
The 2021 bond was split into Proposition A and Proposition B. The former provides $694 million in funding for infrastructure and safety constructions and renovations at Northrich, Stults, Brentfield, Mohawk elementary schools, Hamilton Park, Lake Highlands, and Forest Meadow junior high schools. The latter provides $56 million for technology devices for students, teachers, and staff.
The transformations planned by the district aim to address the advanced age of several campuses, with those targeted for major construction efforts having been built between 1953 and 1980. It also seeks to respond to the need to expand school facilities to accommodate student enrollment growth, according to the bond document.
However, like a number of other North Texas school districts, the latest projections of enrollment at Richardson ISD suggest falling numbers of students each term. It could lose around 4,000 students within the next five years. Currently, the district serves about 37,600 students from Richardson, Garland, and Dallas across 55 campuses.
Richardson ISD has not performed well academically, with only 50% of its students passing at grade level on the 2021-2022 STAAR exam, while only 92.6% of its seniors graduated within four years, according to the latest Texas Education Agency accountability report.
At Dallas ISD, which has also seen declining student numbers but still boasts a growing multi-billion-dollar budget, only 41% of students scored at grade level on the same test. Additionally, almost 20% of seniors did not graduate within four years.
