The Primary/Elementary School building houses grades Pre-K through 5, the Middle School building houses grades 6 through 8, the High School building houses grades 9 through 12. The administration building and athletic facilities are on the same campus as the school buildings.
The U.S. Census Bureau considers this district to be an independent school district government.[2]
History
The majority of Stafford was initially a part of the Fort Bend Independent School District. Fort Bend ISD banned public bussing for students living two miles or less from their school, which proved to be unpopular in Stafford and initiated a movement to secede from FBISD. In 1977, after a municipal vote, Stafford schools broke away from the Fort Bend Independent School District,[3] which caused several rounds of federal litigation and by 1981 it was finally declared that the Stafford Municipal School District was constitutional. Almost all of Stafford was in the Fort Bend District, with a minuscule portion in the Houston Independent School District.[4] All of Stafford is now zoned to the Stafford Municipal School District, which is the only school district in all of Texas that is controlled by a city.
Politics and geography
While Stafford MSD is a part of the City of Stafford and took all of the land in the city in 1977 when it was created, Stafford MSD cannot annex any territory without the consent of the other school districts which own that territory. Because of this, the City of Stafford, for a period of over 20 years ending in 2006, did not annex any territory in its extraterritorial jurisdiction as that would mean portions of its territory would fall within these independent school districts: Alief, Ft. Bend, and Houston. The city government of Stafford wants its school district's territory to be the same as its city limits.[5]
Administration
Superintendent
The current superintendent of the Stafford Municipal School District is Robert Bostic. Before being appointed superintendent, Bostic was the Assistant Superintendent for Academic Programs for Denton Independent School District.[6]
Schools
Stafford High School
Stafford High School
Stafford Middle School
Stafford Elementary School
Stafford Early Childhood Center (SECC) (infants-Kindergarten)[7]
Stafford MSD STEM Magnet School (SSMA)
The school board approved a stricter dress code for the high school in 2005.[8]
Previously schools were divided as such: Stafford Primary School (Early education to grade 1), Stafford Elementary School (2-4), Stafford Intermediate School (5-6), and Stafford Middle School (7-8), and then the high school.
Athletics
In 2014 the district was considering whether it should install artificial turf in its sports fields. At the time it had residual funds from a $49.8 million bond passed in 2011. As of 2016 the school district has had artificial turf inside its stadium.[10]
^"Texas"(PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-11-01. - Stafford MSD is not specifically named as such in the document, but it is and was (circa 2002, approximate year of the document) the sole municipal school district in the state. Only the University of Houston Charter School (now closed) was named by the Census Bureau as a public school system dependent on another layer of government.
Cleveland ISD extends into portions of Montgomery and San Jacinto counties, and Tomball ISD extends into portions of Montgomery County. Other districts in those counties are served by Region 6 ESC.
