Stafford Municipal School District
Stafford, Fort Bend County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The city of Stafford, or Stafford’s point, was settled by William Stafford in the early 1820s. The settlers organized a place for their children to go to school, and by the 1830s, a one-room school was available with ten students attending. Later, classes were held in the local blacksmith shop. In 1895, the first official school was built on Louisiana Street in Missouri City with seven grades and one teacher. Students from Stafford, Missouri City and surrounding areas attended the Missouri City School District which was formally organized in 1938. In 1959, the Missouri City School District and Sugar Land School District consolidated to form the Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD). In 1976, a FBISD decision to reduce bus transportation for schoolchildren prompted the Stafford City Council to consider separating from the district to create a municipal school district, an extremely rare occurrence. As required, Stafford citizens presented a petition to the mayor and City Council calling for an election to form a municipal school district. The election was held, and the vote was approved on January 15, 1977. The State of Texas Commissioner of Education investigated and upheld the vote. FBISD appealed the decision to the Federal District Court where a judge ruled in favor of FBISD. On July 30, 1981, the Fifth Circuit Court of appeals in New Orleans ruled that Stafford Municipal School District (SMSD) was constitutional. Work quickly began to establish an exceptional educational environment for Stafford. on August 26, 1982, SMSD started grades kindergarten through 5th and the next year added 6th through 11th grades. SMSD had its first graduating class in May 1985.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Schooling at Stafford's Point began almost as soon as William Stafford settled here in the early 1820s, moving from a one-room schoolhouse to classes held in the local blacksmith shop. Over the following century the area's children were folded into ever-larger districts, culminating in the 1959 creation of the Fort Bend Independent School District. When FBISD moved to cut bus service in 1976, Stafford's citizens petitioned to break away and form their own municipal school district—an extremely rare step that survived a state review, a federal court fight, and a 1981 appeals-court ruling before Stafford Municipal School District opened in 1982.
Why it matters
Stafford's success in creating one of the nation's few city-run school districts is a striking case of local self-governance and community determination over public education.
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Related people
- · William Stafford
Themes & tags
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