What divides east/west Plano? (Dallas, Fort Worth: sale, houses, neighborhood)

[Big G]

Originally Posted by DitsyD

They didn't use logic, they used politics.

IMO, that's probably a lot more true for the city boundaries than for the school district boundaries.

If you plot equidistant lines between the original downtowns for each school district, you'll get something close to today's school district boundaries. Why? Because, long before 90% of this land was part of any city or town, Farmer Brown would just send his kids to the closest high school, which was located in or near DT (insert town name).

For example - bust out Google Earth and draw a line connecting DT Plano with DT Richardson, then form its bisector - it's pretty close to McCallum Blvd - the actual cutoff between RISD and PISD.

Connecting DT Frisco with DT Plano gives a midway point between Hedgcoxe and McDermott. Today's FISD/PISD boundary? Parts are McDermott, parts are a goofy zig-zag line around Hedgcoxe.

DT Plano to DT Lewisville? A line about 18 miles long, with its midway point at, I kid you not - the Denton/Collin County line - exactly today's ISD boundary.

So, although they might not appear to be logical today, they were at one point. If you are zoned to Frisco ISD, you're probably closer to DT Frisco than any other DT, regardless of the "City of..." status of your house.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Big G

IMO, that's probably a lot more true for the city boundaries than for the school district boundaries.

If you plot equidistant lines between the original downtowns for each school district, you'll get something close to today's school district boundaries. Why? Because, long before 90% of this land was part of any city or town, Farmer Brown would just send his kids to the closest high school, which was located in or near DT (insert town name).

For example - bust out Google Earth and draw a line connecting DT Plano with DT Richardson, then form its bisector - it's pretty close to McCallum Blvd - the actual cutoff between RISD and PISD.

Connecting DT Frisco with DT Plano gives a midway point between Hedgcoxe and McDermott. Today's FISD/PISD boundary? Parts are McDermott, parts are a goofy zig-zag line around Hedgcoxe.

DT Plano to DT Lewisville? A line about 18 miles long, with its midway point at, I kid you not - the Denton/Collin County line - exactly today's ISD boundary.

So, although they might not appear to be logical today, they were at one point. If you are zoned to Frisco ISD, you're probably closer to DT Frisco than any other DT, regardless of the "City of..." status of your house.

The one exception I see to that in this area is the McKinney ISD. Other ISD's come well into the current McKinney borders: Frisco, Allen and Prosper ISDs cut way into McKinney. I have heard from long time locals that McKinney being the county seat and the only sizeable town for decades allowed these small rural (at the time) ISD's to come closer toward McKinney to give them a larger territory and thus enough student population to make a decent go of it. For instance, the new Baylor Hospital on 380 in McKinney sits in the southeastern corner of the Prosper ISD's boundary in McKinney. It is twice as far to downtown Prosper from this point than it is to downtown McKinney.

[Big G]

Yeah, that tract is a little goofy. Dunno what's up with that. I'm just a bit skeptical that all these school boards and landowners got together in the 1930s and collaborated for the greater good of all concerned.

An excellent point you bring up is that McKinney was a sizable city way back when Prosper, Allen, Frisco, etc. were all one-horse towns.

Riffing off that, I can envision that rural landowners would have tended to shy away from sending their kids to the "big city" of McKinney, preferring to stick with a small-town environment for schooling.

But who knows? Everyone involved has been dead and buried for decades.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Big G

Yeah, that tract is a little goofy. Dunno what's up with that. I'm just a bit skeptical that all these school boards and landowners got together in the 1930s and collaborated for the greater good of all concerned.

An excellent point you bring up is that McKinney was a sizable city way back when Prosper, Allen, Frisco, etc. were all one-horse towns.

Riffing off that, I can envision that rural landowners would have tended to shy away from sending their kids to the "big city" of McKinney, preferring to stick with a small-town environment for schooling.

But who knows? Everyone involved has been dead and buried for decades.

I have been asking about the determining factors for these ISDs for the 9 years I have been here, have never understood the whys. This is the best answer I have gotten from anyone, makes the most sense.

In my home state of Georgia, school districts were either county run or city run. If you had a city run system, the city limit boundaries were contiguous with the school system boundaries. If said city annexed unincorporated county land, the properties would change districts from the county to the city.

It took me a long time to get the reasoning on why I would be looking at a home in one city but in the ISD of a neighboring city. Still cloudy on it....

[MurphyPl1]

There's a good chunk of Murphy where the dividing line between districts is Maxwell Creek (actual creek, not the street or the subdivision). However, south of 544 it is not near so clear. There are even streets where the eastern portion of the street attends PISD (Plano is west of Murphy) and the western homes attend Wylie ISD schools to the east. From the way it was explained to me, the property owners (larger farm tracts) go to pick. And then when the land was sold and subdivided the homes went with the original designation.

[Saintmarks]

Does anyone know if an area can ask to be redistricted to a neighboring ISD?

[DitsyD]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Does anyone know if an area can ask to be redistricted to a neighboring ISD?

Apparently, you can, but it is a difficult process.

Not only must the area wanting to change districts get enough votes, but the other voters in the district they want to move from must also approve the change. (Not likely when that district would lose tax payers/dollars) Then, the new district would have to agree and vote to accept the changing area AND buy any assets of the old district that may lie within the changing area.

Very simplified version of events, missing petitions and other things I am sure.

[Brookside]

Just FYI -- Anyone who considers themselves from "west" Plano will tell you that the dividing line is Ohio St -- not Coit. We found this to be generally true when househunting a few years ago. There are exceptions -- and if you are speaking strictly about school boundaries, there are several neighborhoods east of Ohio that feed into Plano West High.

But in general, when one is referring to "east" vs. "west," whether it is McKinney, Allen, Plano or Richardson, the divding line is U.S. 75.

[Pama]

LOl!!! I consider myself from "West Plano" and count West Senior's boundary as our dividing line.

[Big G]

I think the people living in Deerfield would object to Ohio as the definition of West Plano.

As for school boundaries, I doubt that the people in the Andrews El. area near Custer/McDermott consider themselves as West Plano residents.