Des Moines, Iowa: School Board Sets Nov. 17 Vote on Boundaries That Could Send Students to Farther Schools

Des Moines families will learn within two weeks whether the school their children attend changes under the largest reorganization in the district's recent history. Des Moines Public Schools is moving toward a November vote on new attendance boundaries, the Des Moines Register reported on Monday, and the plan would redraw which students go to which schools across the city.

The boundaries are part of Reimagining Education, the district's $265 million plan backed by the largest school bond in Iowa history, approved by nearly 74 percent of voters in November 2025. The proposal replaces the district's current feeder patterns with three regions, Northeast, Northwest and South, divided by the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

Three regions, three high schools

Under the plan, students would move through elementary and middle schools inside their region and finish at one of three comprehensive high schools: East High School in the Northeast, Lincoln High School in the South, or Roosevelt High School in the Northwest. More elementary schools would add sixth grade, and some buildings would become signature schools.

North and Hoover would no longer operate as traditional neighborhood high schools. They would become opt in signature schools with specialized programs in STEM, the arts, Montessori or dual language, and families could apply to attend. Applicants from the school's original attendance area would get priority, planning consultant Robert Schwarz of RSP and Associates told the board.

The school board holds a public hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and votes on the boundaries on Nov. 17. If approved, the changes begin in the 2028-29 school year and phase in through 2032. Students already enrolled could stay at their current schools through the highest grade offered.

Families raise distance and transportation questions

The Reimagining Education Boundary Committee gathered feedback at public meetings this summer and presented its findings at the Oct. 20 board meeting. Families asked the district to preserve the Hanawalt and Hubbell elementary boundaries, raised capacity concerns at Studebaker Elementary, and pressed on walkability, transportation and the North High School transition. In survey results presented Oct. 20, 46 percent of respondents supported the proposed boundaries.

Most requests did not change the proposal. Hanawalt's attendance area would expand and Hubbell's would shrink. Studebaker is projected to enroll 500 to 570 students by 2030-31, and an addition funded through Reimagining Education and SAVE projects would raise its capacity to 640, district project lead Bekah Harris said.

Parent Alyssa McDonald, who served on the 25 member committee, criticized boundaries that shift hundreds of students out of the Northeast and send some children to schools farther from home. Kiara Warner, who works at Harding Middle School, warned that some students could change schools in three straight years under the new pathways.

Transportation remains the open question. Board member Sara Hopkins said every district with signature schools says transportation decides whether the model works. Board member Ryan Howell noted the $265 million bond pays for buildings, not buses or drivers. The district presented no transportation plan or cost at the Oct. 20 meeting and plans to share more in January and April 2027.

Superintendent Matt Smith acknowledged that new boundaries disrupt family routines. Board Vice Chair Skylar Mayberry-Mayes summed up the board's choice: doing nothing was the easy decision, and the district is trying something different.