Frisco Independent School District is confronting a new reality: after years of explosive growth, the district is now landlocked and built out, leading to declining enrollment. In the July 9, 2026 episode of The Building Texas Show, titled "Frisco's Population Boom: What's Really Happening?", host Justin McKenzie spoke with two-term Frisco ISD Trustee Stephanie Elad about the implications for teachers, families, and taxpayers.
Elad, a corporate HR executive reelected last year to a term running through 2028, traced her political awakening to an April 2021 board meeting. The board president remarked, "this is our meeting, not the community's," which triggered a standing ovation from some attendees and statewide press coverage. Elad recalled: "The board president said, you know, this is our meeting, meaning theirs and not the community's. And that just did not sit right with me. I didn't like it. And so I was sitting waiting for my turn to talk, and I realized that what I really wanted to talk about at that point was what he had just said." That moment propelled her 2022 run for office.
Leveraging her HR background, Elad brought a confidential, third-party employee engagement survey into the district to improve teacher retention. She noted that tough conversations with staff and parents "have never really been foreign to me because I've just been doing it for so long." The survey aims to identify factors driving teacher turnover and help the board address them.
On workforce readiness, Elad emphasized expanding apprenticeship pathways in trades such as plumbing, electrical, and HVAC, alongside existing CTE tracks like medical terminology and e-gaming. She pointed to a neighbor who owns a plumbing business and "clears a couple hundred thousand dollars a year" but cannot find apprentice plumbers. Elad argued that Frisco high schoolers should be able to enter apprenticeship programs earning $60,000 to $70,000 within a year or two of graduation, without debt or a four-year degree. McKenzie connected this to his advisory work with the startup Founding Up and to PTECH welding programs in the San Antonio area, where students graduate with up to 60 college credit hours through community college partnerships.
Elad also discussed the district's new superintendent, hired roughly a month before taping, expressing renewed optimism about Frisco ISD's next chapter. She stressed the importance of families voting in low-turnout school board elections, saying that civic engagement is critical as the district navigates its inflection point.
The Building Texas Show, hosted by Justin McKenzie, profiles founders, operators, educators, and civic leaders shaping the future of Texas. New episodes release weekly across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This episode is available now wherever podcasts are heard.
