Voters in District 2 (North DeSoto Schools) rejected a bond proposal for capital improvements in a November 2023 election. Because of the urgency of overcrowding and growing enrollment, the DeSoto Parish School Board has approved an April 2024 election with a revised plan for voters to consider. In a recent survey, ​​78% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that the DeSoto Parish School Board needs to do something about the growth in the North DeSoto area. Another survey was conducted for staff in the North DeSoto schools where 100 staff members provided valuable insights and results that mirrored the opinions of parents and community members.

Rapid growth and overcrowding challenges are not going away. Action is needed to have a solution in place before both become bigger issues. The North DeSoto community and the DeSoto Parish School Board know that something needs to be done to best serve students in District 2.

The Louisiana Department of Education released the 2022-2023 School and District Performance Scores and DeSoto ranks 3rd in the state of Louisiana, and is one of only 10 school systems with an overall grade of “A.”

DeSoto received a District Performance Score of 93.7. The District Performance Score is calculated by combining performance in LEAP 2025 state assessments for grades 3-8 and high school courses, ACT scores, graduation rates, strength of diploma, and interests and opportunities. DeSoto Parish Schools ranks 4th overall in the Progress Index with a letter grade of “A” and an index of 96.8. This index is a measure of individual student growth when compared to their peers.

Schools in District No. 2 continue to stand out as excellent. North DeSoto Middle School and North DeSoto High School each earned an “A” letter grade for overall SPS, while all four North DeSoto schools earned an “A” in student growth and have exceeded 2019 pre-pandemic SPS scores.

The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) announced that North DeSoto High School is the recipient of the 2024 NIET Founder's Award and its $50,000 grand prize. The Founder’s Award honors one school in the United States each year for exceptional implementation of NIET’s principles: to build educator excellence and advance student success.

North DeSoto High School was just one of five schools across the country selected as finalists for the grand prize. Founder’s Award recipients are selected based on several factors, including their efforts to make instructional excellence the cornerstone of school improvement, plans for regular professional learning focused on the real-time needs of teachers and students, creating a culture of collaboration and reflection, and leveraging teacher leaders to drive student growth.

Schools in the North DeSoto area continue to face the challenge of accommodating the community’s rapidly growing population. The area has seen tremendous growth and there is more on the way. More than 143 new addresses have been approved and an additional 12 subdivisions with up to 431 lots are currently in the planning or development phase since January 2023. The DeSoto Parish School Board has had to increase capacity in District 2 before and is once again giving the community a chance to decide what happens in the future.

NDHS was built in 1980 when the district had 1,028 students, with additional facilities added in subsequent years to accommodate a growing population. The four North DeSoto schools are currently serving more than 2,700 students and the projected enrollment for 2027 adds nearly 1,000 additional students. Current facilities will be unable to accommodate this type of growth.