The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in English language arts. The lowest is 29% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bob and Lola Sanford El
Bob and Lola Sanford Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Van Alstyne, a small North Texas town experiencing rapid growth driven by semiconductor investment in nearby Sherman and its position along the U.S. 75 corridor. The school sits within the Van Alstyne Independent School District, which has undergone significant recent change: a successful bond in 2021 funded a new high school that opened in 2024 and reorganized the district's grade configurations, while a more recent bond proposal failed at the polls in November 2025, leaving the district without planned funding for new schools despite projecting substantial enrollment growth.
The school's enrollment of roughly six hundred students spans the full early-grade band. About a quarter of the enrollment qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The racial and ethnic makeup is predominantly white, with Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students forming the next-largest groups; the school's population reflects the broader Van Alstyne area.
On state assessments, the school's performance is mixed. In English language arts, third and fourth graders showed proficiency rates in the upper-middle range, with stronger results in grade four than grade three. Mathematics proficiency data for those tested grades shows incomplete reporting, though an aggregated view across all tested grades and subjects places the school's overall proficiency index above the midpoint among Grayson County districts. Science results from the most recent available year were notably low, with about a quarter of fifth graders meeting or exceeding proficiency. The school's aggregate proficiency across all subjects sits at roughly the eighty-percent level when counting students at the "approaches" standard or above, but drops to about fifty-five percent at the "meets" level and twenty-five percent at the "masters" level, indicating that while most students are making progress, depth of mastery is concentrated among fewer students.
The broader context matters for families considering this school. Van Alstyne is one of the fastest-growing communities in North Texas, with city officials projecting the population could more than triple by 2030. Large new housing developments like Highpoint Village, which will bring hundreds of homes with groundbreaking in late 2024, are planned for the area. This rapid influx of families will strain school capacity. The district's 2021 bond money has built new high school facilities and reconfigured grade levels across buildings, but the failed 2025 bond means no immediate funding for the additional elementary schools the district anticipated needing. The district already carries substantial bond debt and operates at the maximum allowable property tax rate for debt repayment, which constrains future borrowing. Families should be aware that growth may outpace current facility plans.
Van Alstyne itself retains a small-town character centered on a historic downtown square, though it is increasingly oriented toward car-dependent subdivisions and the highway corridor. The town has a public library undergoing renovation, parks anchored by the historic square, and a preserved railroad heritage, but no fixed-route public transit. Civic and school life have shifted away from the downtown core toward campus-based locations on the edges of town.
For families new to the area or existing residents evaluating this elementary school, the key considerations are the solid but uneven academic profile across subjects, the dramatic growth context that will reshape school enrollment and resources, and the community's car-dependent layout. A parent may want to look into the district's near-term capacity plans with the failed bond now in question, and clarify how the school intends to address the science proficiency gap shown in recent data.
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