The Donna Independent School District held a ribbon-cutting on Monday for its shared campus of two elementary schools.

Students in grades PreK-3 to second grade start out at M. Rivas Primary Discovery Academy. They then make the short jump over to J.W. Caceres Intermediate Discovery Academy for third through fifth grade.

The students will get to take advanced courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as agriculture and fine arts. Donna ISD Superintendent Angela Dominguez says the program was needed because there had been a decline in enrollment.

"Our kids had a lot of challenges with COVID and school closure, remote learning,” Dominguez said. “This is an opportunity to accelerate learning and we're seeing it first hand in the classrooms here."

Dominguez says since the program was implemented in August, there has been a 194 enrollment increase at the campus.

The advanced learning and upgrades to Rivas cost the district $1.5 million. The superintendent says the money came from a mix of local and ESSER funds.

The district encourages all Donna ISD parents with young children to apply.