Wakeland High School in Frisco, Texas, is moving up to Class 6A in the UIL realignment due to enrollment growth and the new cutoff numbers. This has sparked criticism from parents and state representatives regarding the Frisco ISD's management of school boundaries and potential for the school to be one of the smallest in the class.
Wakeland is moving up from Class 5A because of the UIL’s lower cutoff number for 6A schools in its next realignment cycle.The Frisco Wakeland students cheer on their Wolverines against Frisco Lone Star in a District 5-5A Division I high school football game played on October 24, 2025 at The Star in Frisco.
“It was extreme mismanagement by the Frisco ISD school board in the fact that the numbers don’t make any sense,” Wakeland parent Jason Kennedy said. “I don’t think it’s a good thing at all. Wakeland is going to be one of the smallest 6A schools in the state.” Frisco ISD’s approach to growth has been to spread enrollment across multiple high schools, opening 10 in the last 20 years for a total of 12, rather than creating mega-schools like Allen and Plano ISD. The number, as well as careful rezoning, allowed Frisco ISD to keep its schools out of the state’s highest classification for sports — until now.When the University Interscholastic League announces its biennial realignment Monday, Wakeland could end up in a district with schools twice its size. Its enrollment grew from 2,159 to 2,245 over the last two years, 30 students over the 6A cutoff of 2,215. Wakeland moving to 6A has become a hot-button issue in Frisco, with criticism directed at the district for failing to rezone so all schools could remain in Class 5A. But Wakeland’s time in 6A could be short-lived if Frisco ISD can redraw its school boundaries to keep enrollment numbers under the 5A cutoff for the UIL’s next two-year alignment.“The district knew this decision was coming and could have made changes earlier to ensure all schools remained under 6A,” state Rep. Jared Patterson wrote in a Facebook post last month. “FISD taxpayers pay exceptionally high property taxes — some of the highest in the entire state — for the ‘small school model.’ Taxpayers should have many questions to the district about who is ultimately responsible for such poor planning. I know I do.”had gone up in each of the four most recent UIL alignments, from 2,190 in 2018 to 2,275 in 2024.caused the 6A cutoff number to decrease by 60 students for the next cycle. The UIL wants to balance the number of schools in its top two classifications, and for the next two years, there are 251 schools scheduled to compete in 6A and 250 in 5A. “I’m not sure anybody could have predicted statewide the drop in enrollment that we have seen in public education,” Wakeland football coach and athletic coordinator Chandler Isom said.“The board, from the couple of people I have talked to, they blame the fact that the UIL lowered the number, but everybody saw that coming,” he said. “That was something that was going to happen. You can’t play with fire and being too close to that number, especially with one school, and expect something like this not to happen.”Kennedy said Frisco ISD could have better balanced enrollment across its 12 high schools, which range from 1,352 students at Panther Creek to 2,245 at Wakeland.“The mismanagement of the numbers is my whole issue,” Kennedy said. “Frisco High went down students since the 2022 , and Wakeland has gone up 103 in that same time frame. There have been neighborhoods that were rezoned from Frisco to Wakeland when there was no reason for that to happen. “This whole thing started because Reedy got too big a few years ago, so they actually had to rezone some kids from Reedy to Wakeland — kids that would literally drive past Reedy on their way to Wakeland driving to school. That started the whole process, and they just never corrected it.” Wakeland is among four Frisco ISD high schools with an enrollment over 2,000, along with Reedy , Lebanon Trail and Heritage . Half of the FISD schools saw their enrollment grow since 2024, including Wakeland, Panther Creek , Liberty , Emerson , Memorial and Independence . Combined, the 12 Frisco ISD high schools grew by 100 students from the enrollment numbers used for realignment in 2024. But the schools’ collective enrollment has dropped by nearly 600 students since 2022.with four of the largest schools in Texas — Allen , Plano West , Plano East and Plano . “On one hand, you are a little nervous about moving up to the higher level of competition. From the feedback that I have from most of our parents, they are a little apprehensive,” Isom said. “But on the other side of the coin, it’s exciting as well. “Many of our programs already play against 6A schools in nondistrict, and just the possibility of being able to compete at the highest level of competition that our state has to offer, it’s exciting. Wakeland has more student-athletes than any other school in Frisco, so we still have a pretty good draw to pull from.” In a prepared statement, Frisco ISD praised Wakeland’s athletics, fine arts and extracurricular activities and said, “The school being in Class 6A for the next two-year period will not change the benefits students receive through Frisco ISD’s longstanding student-opportunity model.”But can Wakeland be competitive in 6A? The football team has won eight or more games in four of the last five years, including setting a school record this year for most wins in a season when it finished 11-2, but it will return only six starters next season. Wakeland has won 15 state championships in team sports in its history, while the other 11 Frisco ISD high schools have combined for 25 state titles. Wakeland’s best sports have been boys soccer , girls soccer and boys swimming and diving . “I’m excited for the challenge. We like playing the 6A schools; we like playing the bigger schools,” Wakeland girls soccer coach Jimmie Lankford said. “For us, we will be very competitive. I think it will be good for our kids to showcase their talents against the bigger schools.” Lankford and Isom said they think Frisco ISD will work to put Wakeland back in 5A in the next realignment.“I think it was just an anomaly. I think in two years we’ll drop back,” Lankford said. “We had a lot of kids move in, in a short period. I think the district will realign, because we’ve got some pretty small schools compared to us.”Boys basketball stat leaders : See who has the best stats in D-FWI have worked at The Dallas Morning News since 2000. I cover high school sports as a reporter and help coordinate our coverage. I graduated from TCU, where I ran track and cross country. I previously worked at the Weatherford Democrat, Marshall News Messenger, Amarillo Globe-News and Arlington Morning News.
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