Above: Front Porch Park in Grange. Look past the pavilion at the graded dirt and open prairie on the other side of the road, because that is the honest picture of this community right now: the amenities are real and finished, and most of what is coming is still ground. Photo courtesy of David Weekley Homes.
I work Fort Bend County. So when I write about a Katy community, it is usually because a client is cross shopping it against Sugar Land, Richmond or Fulshear, and I have been asked about Grange three times this summer.
Here is the thing worth crossing county lines for.
Grange has two Katy ISD schools coming. One of them is real in the way a board approved construction contract is real: a named campus, a budget, a start date and an August 2028 opening. The other one is 16 acres of dirt and a sentence from the district's own chief operations officer saying its funding depends on a future bond that voters have not yet approved.
Both get described as "two new schools coming to Grange." A sales office is not going to walk you through the difference. It is the single most useful thing to understand about this community, and the lesson generalizes to every new development in this region, including the ones in my own backyard.
Second thing worth knowing, and it surprises almost everyone: Grange has a Katy address, but it is in Waller County. Not Harris. Not Fort Bend.
Here is the full picture.
Key takeaways
- Grange is in Waller County, with a Katy mailing address in 77493. Its taxing entities include Waller County MUD 55A, Waller County, Waller County FM, Katy ISD, Waller-Harris ESD 200 and the Brookshire-Katy Drainage District.
- Johnson Development is developing it in collaboration with Plow Realty. The master plan page states 1,130 acres, and reported figures elsewhere run as high as 1,300.
- About 2,400 homes are planned. Phase one covers 301 homes.
- Reported pricing runs roughly $400,000 to $800,000.
- Katy ISD closed on 51 acres inside the community: 16 for an elementary school and 35 for a junior high, across the street from each other along Schlipf Road south of Franz Road.
- ⭐ Junior High #19 is funded and scheduled: 2220 Schlipf Road, Bond 2023, capacity 1,600 students, designed by PBK Architects, construction summer 2026 to June 2028, opening August 2028. Published cost figures range from about $60 million for the board approved construction contract up to $77.5 million in the state filing.
- ⚠️ The elementary school has no timeline. Katy ISD Chief Operations Officer Ted Vierling: the timeline "remains uncertain, as funding will depend on a future bond being approved by voters."
- Today's zoned schools are Robertson Elementary, Katy Junior High and Katy High School.
- Ricestead, a 20 acre amenity complex with pools, sport courts and retail, is expected to start construction in Q2 2026 and open in 2027.
The two schools, side by side
This is the whole post in one table.
| Junior High #19 | The elementary school | |
|---|---|---|
| Land | 35 acres, secured | 16 acres, secured |
| Location | 2220 Schlipf Road | Across the street, same corridor |
| Funding | Bond 2023, approved by voters | A future bond, not yet called |
| Budget | Board approved, about $60 million contract | Not established |
| Construction start | Summer 2026 | Not established |
| Completion | June 2028 | Not established |
| Opening | August 2028 | Not established |
| Capacity | 1,600 students | Not established |
| Architect | PBK Architects | Not established |
| Confidence | High. Money is appropriated and the contract has a date. | Unknown. Depends on a future election. |
Katy ISD announced both at the same time, in the same release, and both are genuinely planned. The district bought the land for both. That is real.
But a bond that passed and a bond that has not been called are two different financial objects, and only one of them can be relied on when you are deciding where your six year old goes to school in 2029.
Texas school bonds go to a public vote. They pass and they fail. The elementary school at Grange sits on the far side of an election that has not been scheduled, in a district whose growth and whose funding environment will both look different by the time it is called.
What I would tell a buyer: count the junior high. Treat the elementary as upside. If your decision to buy here depends on that elementary school opening by a specific year, you are making a bet on an election result, and you should know that is what you are doing.
What Junior High #19 actually is
It is a 1,600 student campus at 2220 Schlipf Road, funded through Katy ISD's 2023 bond, designed by PBK Architects, with construction running summer 2026 through June 2028 and an opening in August 2028.
Note the capacity, because it is the detail that tells you what the district actually expects out here. 1,400 students is Katy ISD's typical junior high size. This one is being built larger than typical, at 1,600. Districts do not overbuild by accident. They build to enrollment projections, and the projection for this corner of Waller County is steep.
On cost, I am going to give you the honest version instead of one confident number, because the published figures do not agree. The board approved construction at an estimated $60 million in November 2025. A March 2026 report put the figure at $69 million. The state licensing filing lists $77.5 million. Those are almost certainly measuring different things, a construction contract versus total project cost including land, design and furnishings, and I have not found a district document that reconciles them.
What matters for a buying decision is not which number is right. It is that a bond passed, a board voted, a contract exists and the dates are on a calendar. That is what separates this campus from the one across the street.
One detail worth knowing if you have kids or you run: the track and tennis courts are planned to be open to the public when the school is not using them. That is a genuine neighborhood amenity attached to a school building, and it is not something every campus offers.
The 35 acre junior high site and the 16 acre elementary site sit across the street from each other along Schlipf Road south of Franz Road, which means that if and when the elementary is built, the community ends up with an unusually tight school cluster inside its own boundaries. That is the vision. Half of it is currently under contract.
Where your kids go until then
Robertson Elementary, Katy Junior High and Katy High School.
Per the developer's own schools page:
| Level | Campus | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary | Robertson Elementary | 400 Innovation Drive, Katy, TX 77493 |
| Junior high | Katy Junior High | 5350 Franz Road, Katy, TX 77493 |
| High school | Katy High School | 6331 Highway Blvd, Katy, TX 77494 |
Katy ISD is one of the most sought after districts in the Houston region and Katy High School carries real weight with buyers. That is a legitimate part of the value here and I am not going to undersell it.
The usual caution applies with more force than normal in a brand new community: verify the exact address with the district, not with a listing site or a builder handout. Katy ISD spans three counties, is growing fast, and rezones as campuses open. When Junior High #19 opens in 2028, boundaries in this area will be redrawn. That is the entire purpose of building it.
If you are weighing this against Fort Bend, the Lamar CISD school construction pipeline is the equivalent picture on the other side of the county line, and the Fort Bend ISD rezoning shows what happens when a district goes the other direction.
The county thing
Grange is in Waller County. Not Harris County. Not Fort Bend County.
Katy is famously split across three counties, so a Katy address tells you almost nothing about which one you are in. Grange sits in the Waller County portion, out along Morton Road and FM 2855 in northwest Katy, with the main entrance on Franz Road near Cane Island Parkway.
The taxing and service entities Johnson Development lists for the property:
- Waller County MUD 55A
- Waller County
- Waller County FM (farm to market road tax)
- Katy ISD
- Waller-Harris ESD 200 (emergency services)
- BKDD (Brookshire-Katy Drainage District)
Why this matters practically:
Your property tax protest goes to the Waller County Appraisal District, not Fort Bend or Harris. Different office, different deadlines to keep track of, different informal process. If you have protested in Fort Bend before, the mechanics I laid out in the Fort Bend protest guide are conceptually the same, but the county is not.
Your county services come from Waller County. Sheriff, roads, permits.
Your homestead exemption is filed with Waller CAD. Same right, different counter. The framework in the homestead exemption guide still applies.
And the drainage district is a real line. BKDD is not decoration. The Brookshire-Katy Drainage District exists because that prairie has to move water somewhere, and the developer's own materials note that regional drainage is provided.
Which brings up the thing I will not guess at: I have seen third party sites claim floodplain runs through parts of the property. I have not verified that at FEMA and I am not going to repeat it as fact. What I will tell you is to pull the flood map for the specific lot before you write an offer, every time, in any new community on flat prairie. The method is the same one in the flood zone guide, and on a new build in an unbuilt area it is not optional.
The community itself
Johnson Development broke ground in March 2024 and cut the ribbon on June 20, 2025. First residents are in.
The numbers, with the honest caveat that published acreage varies by source:
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Acreage | 1,130 per the developer's master plan page; reported elsewhere as high as 1,300 |
| Planned homes | About 2,400 |
| Phase one homes | 301 |
| Reported price range | About $400,000 to $800,000 |
| Ground breaking | March 2024 |
| Ribbon cutting | June 20, 2025 |
| Model address | 405 Dove Meadow Lane, Katy, TX 77493 |
Builders in the community include Chesmar Homes, David Weekley Homes, Drees Custom Homes, Newmark Homes, Perry Homes, Westin Homes and Highland Homes. That is a strong, deep builder list, and it matters more than people think: a community with seven builders competing on the same street has better pricing discipline than one with two.
Amenities. Henley Park is open, a one acre park with three playgrounds and an open lawn. The bigger piece is Ricestead, a planned 20 acre amenity complex with pools, sport courts, open space and retail storefronts along Franz Road, organized around a village green intended for concerts, farmers markets and seasonal events. Construction is expected to begin in Q2 2026 with an opening in 2027.
The rice farming theme is not arbitrary. This part of Waller and Harris county was rice country, and the developer built the identity around it.
Johnson Development also runs a scholarship program tied to the community, awarding $5,000 to two Katy ISD high school seniors annually, with a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA required.
The pattern this teaches, and why it applies to Fort Bend too
Never buy a home for a school that does not have a funding source.
Grange is a clean, well developed example of a thing that happens in every growth corridor in this region. A developer secures land for schools. A district announces them together. One is inside a passed bond. One is not. The marketing does not distinguish, because from the developer's side both are equally real: they bought the dirt for both.
From your side, they are not equally real at all.
I see the same structure in Fort Bend constantly. Austin Point is planned around roughly 16,000 future home sites and the school capacity that implies. The George and Circle Oak sit in the same wave. Every one of them will eventually have a school story with a funded half and an unfunded half.
The three questions that separate the two, every time:
- Which bond? Not "is a bond coming," which bond, passed when, which proposition.
- Is there a dollar figure and a construction start date? A campus with a budget and a contract is a campus. A campus with acreage is a plan.
- What is my child's actual campus for the next four years? Because that is the one you are really buying, whatever opens later.
If a sales agent cannot answer all three in a minute, you have your answer about which category the school is in.
Frequently asked questions
What county is Grange in?
Waller County. Grange has a Katy mailing address in ZIP 77493, but Katy spans Harris, Fort Bend and Waller counties, and Grange sits in the Waller County portion along Morton Road and FM 2855 in northwest Katy. Its listed taxing and service entities are Waller County MUD 55A, Waller County, Waller County FM, Katy ISD, Waller-Harris ESD 200 and the Brookshire-Katy Drainage District. That means property tax protests, homestead exemption filings and county services all go through Waller County, not Harris or Fort Bend.
What schools serve Grange in Katy?
Currently Robertson Elementary at 400 Innovation Drive, Katy Junior High at 5350 Franz Road, and Katy High School at 6331 Highway Blvd, all Katy ISD. Katy ISD has also purchased 51 acres inside Grange for two future campuses along Schlipf Road south of Franz Road: 16 acres for an elementary school and 35 acres for a junior high. Verify the exact zoning for a specific address directly with Katy ISD, since boundaries in this area will change when the new junior high opens.
When will the new Katy ISD schools at Grange open?
The junior high, Junior High #19 at 2220 Schlipf Road, is funded through Katy ISD's 2023 bond, with construction running from summer 2026 through June 2028 and an opening in August 2028 for 1,600 students. The elementary school has no timeline. Katy ISD Chief Operations Officer Ted Vierling has said the elementary school timeline "remains uncertain, as funding will depend on a future bond being approved by voters," meaning it depends on a bond election that has not yet been called or passed.
How much do homes at Grange cost?
Reported pricing runs roughly $400,000 to $800,000. Builders in the community include Chesmar Homes, David Weekley Homes, Drees Custom Homes, Newmark Homes, Perry Homes, Westin Homes and Highland Homes, and phase one covers 301 of the roughly 2,400 planned homes. As with any new construction, advertised base prices sit well below finished prices once lot premium, structural options and design selections are added, so ask for a fully optioned quote rather than a starting number.
How big is Grange and who is developing it?
Johnson Development is developing Grange in collaboration with Plow Realty. The developer's master plan page states 1,130 acres, though reported acreage varies by source with figures as high as 1,300. About 2,400 homes are planned. The community broke ground in March 2024 and held its ribbon cutting on June 20, 2025, and first residents have moved in.
What amenities does Grange have?
Henley Park is open, a one acre park with three playgrounds and an open lawn. The larger amenity is Ricestead, a planned 20 acre complex with pools, sport courts, open space and retail storefronts along Franz Road, organized around a village green designed for concerts, farmers markets and seasonal events. Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2026 with an opening in 2027. The future Junior High #19 is also planned to open its track and tennis courts to the public when the school is not using them.
Is Grange a good alternative to Fort Bend County communities?
It depends on what you are optimizing for. Grange offers Katy ISD, a deep builder roster and newer amenities at a price range comparable to newer Fort Bend communities. What it does not offer is Fort Bend County itself, which matters if your work, family or existing tax and protest relationships are there, and it puts you in a different appraisal district with a different drainage authority. If you are cross shopping, compare the actual combined tax rate and the specific zoned campus, not the county name or the marketing.
Bottom line
Grange is a well run Johnson Development community with a strong builder list, real amenities coming, and Katy ISD schools. If you are shopping northwest Katy, it belongs on the list.
Just be precise about two things.
You are in Waller County, which changes where you protest your taxes, file your homestead exemption and get county services.
And you have one funded school, not two. Junior High #19 has a passed bond, a board approved contract, an architect and dates on both ends. The elementary school has 16 acres and a sentence from the district's own operations chief pointing at an election nobody has called yet. Both will be described to you the same way. They are not the same thing.
That distinction is worth carrying back across the county line. It is going to come up in Fort Bend on every new community out west, and the buyers who ask "which bond" are the ones who do not get surprised in four years.
If you are weighing Grange against something in Sugar Land, Richmond or Fulshear, send me both addresses. I will put the real combined tax rate, the actual zoned campus and the honest resale picture side by side, and you can decide off numbers instead of brochures.
Sources: county, MUD and taxing entity detail, commercial tracts and drainage via Johnson Development; acreage, home count, price range, developer and ribbon cutting date via Community Impact; the 51 acre school purchase and the split between the 16 and 35 acre sites via Community Impact; Ted Vierling's statement that the elementary school timeline "remains uncertain, as funding will depend on a future bond being approved by voters" via Covering Katy; the board approved $60 million construction estimate, the 1,600 student capacity and the summer 2026 to June 2028 schedule via Covering Katy, November 2025; the August 2028 opening via Community Impact, March 2026; the campus address, PBK Architects and the $77.5 million state filing figure via the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation; current zoned campuses and Ricestead details via the developer. Verify school zoning with Katy ISD and flood status at the parcel level before relying on either.
