| Stafford Municipal School District | |
| Address: | 1633 Staffordshire Road, |
| Zipcode: | 77477 |
| Country: | USA |
| Superintendent: | Dr. Robert Bostic |
| School Board: | Ash HamiraniManuel HinojosaDawn ReichlingJacqueline Jean-BaptisteAlicia Lacy-CastilleGreg HolsappleChristopher Caldwell |
Stafford Municipal School District (SMSD) is a school district based in Stafford, Texas, United States in Greater Houston. The district covers all of the city of Stafford and is controlled by the city, making it the only school district in Texas that is not an independent school district operated by an independent school board.
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 Stafford MSD area is served by the Houston Community College System
In 2018, the school district was rated an overall B by the Texas Education Agency.[1]
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,[2] 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.[3] 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.
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.[4]
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.[5]
The school board approved a stricter dress code for the high school in 2005.[7]
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.[9]