The district missed 772 students on October 30, 2006. Galveston ISD lost students to mainland school districts such as Clear Creek ISD and Dickinson ISD. The district lost 12% of its students during the same years when Hurricane Katrina evacuees and out-of-district students are excluded. Including all students, GISD lost 8% of its students (780) between the 2002-2003 school year and the 2006-2007 school year, with a 7% loss (610) in 2006. Galveston ISD's tax base grew by 13% in 2005. In the 2000s skyrocketing home prices created by the completion of many high-rise projects have forced many middle class Galveston residents to move off of the island to many cities, including Texas City, League City, and La Marque. The enrollment declined by 1,147 from 1995 to 1996. Public schools in Galveston were operated by the city from 1884 until 1949, when Galveston ISD was established by the Texas Legislature. Central High and Ball High merged into one high school in 1968. Susan Wiley Hardwick's 'Mythic Galveston: Reinventing America'a Third Coast' documents that Central High School was opened as a high school for black students in a storefront in 1885. At first, the school board agreed to do that, but changed its mind when Ball's heirs offered to give another $10,000, if the high school was only for white students. According to Gary Cartwright's 'Galveston, A History of the Island', two alderman pressured the school board to open the new school to all races. Ball High School opened its doors to 200 pupils on October 1, 1884, with a building consisting of 12 classrooms, two offices and an auditorium. Ball died on Mawithout seeing his gift completed. Ball's offer was accepted, and the cornerstone for what would become Ball High School was laid on February 15, 1884. In the summer of 1883, a local dry goods businessman, George Ball, offered to finance construction of new schools. Prior to this time, all education in Galveston was private or parochial. Some 20 teachers were employed to teach students in grades one through seven. In 1881, the citizens of Galveston, authorized by the legislative act of 1879 which specified that all cities of a certain size could initiate and maintain their own school system, organized a public school district and elected a board of trustees. Austin Junior High building now houses a middle-school level magnet school. Galveston College serves the catchment area of Galveston ISD.Д¬onstructed in 1939, the Stephen F. All high school students in Galveston ISD attend Ball High School. In Port Bolivar, the houses and residential areas are zoned to a K-8 center. Д®ach Galveston ISD house or residential area is assigned to an elementary school and a middle school. Galveston ISD also serves unincorporated areas of Galveston County, including the communities of Port Bolivar and Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula. Galveston ISD takes students from the cities of Galveston and Jamaica Beach.

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