Georgetown ISD is considering adjusting its bell schedule next school year to improve the efficiency of its bus routes and reduce expenses.
District officials shared new start and dismissal times for elementary, middle and high school campuses at a Jan. 12 board workshop. The proposed schedule would shorten the school day by five minutes while adding two instructional days to the school calendar, Chief of Strategic Operations Lannon Heflin said.
The update
GISD officials have proposed adjusting start and dismissal times for the 2026-27 school year according to the following chart.
The updated bell schedule would reduce the current instructional day from 440 minutes to 435 minutes. To accommodate for the shortened school day, GISD would change two staff development days into regular instructional days for students, Heflin said.
The context
In 2025, GISD conducted a transportation study that found that the district’s current bell schedule resulted in inefficiencies for bus routes, Heflin said. The study recommended that GISD’s transportation department have a minimum of 50 minutes between elementary, high school and middle school start and dismissal times. The current bell schedule allots 20 minutes.
Adopting the updated schedule would allow GISD to reduce its total number of bus routes, which would help the district save money and combat a shortage of bus drivers, Heflin said.
An additional bus route to accommodate enrollment growth would cost GISD around $75,000 a year. The district is anticipated to save $750,000-$1 million in transportation costs through the new bell schedule, according to district documents.
What’s next
The GISD board of trustees is expected to vote on adopting the new bell schedule at its Jan. 26 meeting, said Melinda Brasher, GISD executive director for communications and community engagement.