KATY, Texas — The Katy Independent School District is growing and fast. The district crossed a huge milestone Friday celebrating 90,000 students enrolled.
The 90,000th student was a first-grader named Jenna Mohamed Elshantaf who enrolled at Mayde Creek Elementary after her family moved to the Katy area from New Jersey.
“We just moved here three weeks ago,” said her mother.
Superintendent Dr. Ken Gregorski says it’s families like hers that are contributing to the increased enrollment numbers they’re seeing.
"The growth out here is just incredible," Gregorski said. "We continue to grow and continue to add kids."
Voters passed a nearly $700,000 school bond last May. The district says the funds are being used toward building an additional junior high, high school and three elementary schools.
"That northwest quadrant is really growing right now,” said Gregorski.
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Their newest school, Steve and Elaine Elementary is being built in the Cane Island subdivision. Gregorski says it’s to set to open next fall.
"All of our schools are already full as it is, those new schools are definitely needed.”
The district said they’re expecting the rapid growth to continue. Gregorski said current projections show they will have around 108,000 students by 2030.
“Many school districts didn't grow at all during the COVID time. We grew still at about 1%. We’re at a little bit over 5% growth. That shows you 1% to 5% that’s a big amount of growth,” he explained.
Katy is the third largest district in the Houston area and the fifth largest in the state.
Gregorski says they’re continuing to plan ahead,
“There will be more growth. We will need a few more schools, probably guessing the next bond 2024 or 2025."