Galveston Independent School District

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Galveston Independent School District is a school district based in Galveston, Texas (USA).

1 Catchment area
2 History
3 List of schools
4 Former schools
- 4.1 Former elementary schools
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Catchment area

Galveston ISD takes students from the cities of Galveston and Jamaica Beach. Galveston ISD also serves unincorporated areas of Galveston County, including the communities of Port Bolivar and Bolivar Peninsula.

Each Galveston ISD house or residential area is assigned to an elementary school and a middle school. In Port Bolivar, the houses and residential areas are zoned to a K-8 center. All high school students in Galveston ISD attend Ball High School.

Galveston College serves the catchment area of Galveston ISD.

[edit] History

In 1881, the citizens of Galveston, authorized by the legislative act of 1879 which specified that all cities of a certain size could initiate and maintain their own school system, organized a public school district and elected a board of trustees. Some 20 teachers were employed to teach students in grades one through seven. Prior to this time, all education in Galveston was private or parochial.

In the summer of 1883, a local dry goods businessman, George Ball, offered to finance construction of new schools. Ball's offer was accepted, and the cornerstone for what would become Ball High School was laid on February 15, 1884. Ball died on March 11, 1884 without seeing his gift completed. Ball High School opened its doors to 200 pupils on October 1, 1884, with a building consisting of 12 classrooms, two offices and an auditorium.

Public schools in Galveston were operated by the city until 1949, when Galveston ISD was established by the Texas legislature [1].

In the 2000s skyrocketing tax rates created by the completion of many high-rise projects [2] have forced many middle class Galveston residents to move off of the island to many cities, including Texas City, League City, and La Marque. Galveston ISD's tax base grew by 13% in 2005. The district lost 12% of its students between the 2002-2003 school year and the 2006-2007 school year when Hurricane Katrina evacuees and out-of-district students are excluded; Galveston ISD lost students to mainland school districts such as Clear Creek ISD and Dickinson ISD [3]. District enrollment fell by 101 students from 2004-2005 to 2005-2006. The district missed 772 students on October 30, 2006. Elementary school enrollment had dropped about 2.3 percent from the 1996-1997 school year to the 2006-2007 school year. If the trend continues for fall 2007, the district would lose 300 students to the newly-opened Ambassadors Preparatory School, a charter school, in addition to 94 students [[4], translating to a loss of 10.6% of the district's total elementary school students.