SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Where the dragon mascot reigns supreme, so too do sales of the specialty license plate sporting its image.
But Carroll ISD is the only district in the state not facing discontinuation of its license plate because of poor circulation numbers.
"They really are the only one, including even Dallas and West Texas schools," said Steve Farrar with MyPlates.com.
His company is the state contractor for 200 different designed license plates.
He said the state's 14 other districts are all below a newly-required circulation of at least 200 plates.
But they aren't alone.
More than 55 specialty designs, including the Fort Worth Zoo, the Fort Worth Cats baseball team, and Dr. Pepper are also in jeopardy of being discontinued this year.
"We're trying to work with them all," Farrar said.
Some of those on the chopping block are as low as single-digit distributions.
Others see mediocre sales of 30-to-40 plates, but not nearly enough to justify a unique template.
"Texas Motor Speedway and NASCAR are under the 200 -- that is a surprise," Farrar said. "Fort Worth Cats baseball team is under the 200."
Carroll ISD continues to be the best local model.
Parking lots across Southlake and Carrollton are filled with the dragon mascot.
Teacher Michael Garvey, who spends his days with first graders at Johnson Elementary, said he bought one years ago.
"The '0-1' is my first year in the district, 2001. And then JES is my school, Johnson Elementary [School]," he said.
The most popular, generalized design continues to be the black Lone Star plate. There are more than 55,000 of those alone on the roads.
Some of the least popular designs may be discontinued by mid-March. Each plate must meet a benchmark of at least 50 sold by then, according to Farrar.
Military plates and vanity plates are not in danger of being removed.
