TEMPLE, Texas — The Temple Independent School District welcomed students back to all 15 of its campuses for the first day of the 2025-2026 school year on Tuesday (August 19).
The district opened the doors to welcome students on the first day of classes in 2025. As always, enrollment will continue to climb over the next two weeks as additional registration forms are submitted. Students on several campuses returned to brand new classroom wings added to the main buildings to replace existing portables. These permanent wings do not account for growth but do replace existing portables at the following campuses: Hector P. Garcia Elementary School, Kennedy-Powell Elementary School, and Raye-Allen Elementary School. These were projects approved in the 2022 Bond.
New cafeterias and kitchens also opened at Scott Elementary School and Western Hills Elementary School to better serve growing student populations. Students across the district are now using state approved High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) in the classroom after some of those materials were piloted in TISD in previous years. Temple ISD also welcomed back a large number of alumni who returned to the district as teachers, coaches, and instructional aides.
“There is nothing more telling about your district than graduates wanting to come back, serve, and reinvest in their community,” said Dr. Bobby Ott, superintendent of schools for Temple ISD.
Another new feature for 2025-2026 is that for the first time in the history of the district, each of the three middle schools will be home to their own competition fields for boys’ and girls’ soccer, football, and boys’ and girls’ track. Students at multiple campuses also returned to classrooms and facilities featuring new furniture, new paint, and new roofs. And after three consecutive years of opening the school calendar with no teacher openings, Temple ISD opened this school year with just one teacher vacancy to be filled, which is unheard of for a district this size.
School board members, community leaders, church leaders, soldiers from several Adopt-A-School units, and district administrators were on hand to greet students at campuses throughout the district. There was a sense of excitement from students, teachers, support staff, and families, all looking forward to a strong start to the new school year.
“On the first day of school, I had the chance to visit all 15 campuses and witness smooth starts and student engagement day one,” Ott added. “I am proud of our staff and families for coming together to make this a seamless and exciting experience for our students.”