Royse City Independent School District in Texas, a suburban school system about 40 minutes outside Dallas, is growing quickly. In fact, the district’s student population ballooned from 9,300 pupils last year to more than 10,000 this year. The district has been building new facilities to support this rapid growth, including Sara Moss Elementary School, a K-5 facility that opened in August 2025.
To furnish and equip the new building, the district chose School Specialty, a full-service provider of furniture, supplies, technologies, and curriculum materials for the K-12 market. Royse City ISD has worked with School Specialty on smaller projects before and always had a great experience with the company.
This time, the district chose School Specialty as the sole provider of furniture and equipment for its newest school— making the entire process extremely efficient from start to finish.
Royse City officials relied on School Specialty to suggest versatile, durable furnishings for Sara Moss Elementary School that would last a long time. The company also helped design the school’s interior spaces and oversaw installation of the furniture, going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure a successful project.
The result is a beautiful new building that students, teachers, and community members can be proud of, and that is also highly functional—supporting the district’s vision for active and collaborative learning.
From the bidding process through design and installation, the experience was “flawless,” says Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment Coordinator Morgan Edwards.
A Collaborative Process
Built with money from a 2023 bond issue, Sara Moss is the second new elementary school the district has built since 2021. The building is named after a former home economics teacher in Royce City who established an employee daycare center.
The new facility can accommodate more than 800 students in total and features six classrooms for each grade level.
Royce City officials put out a call for bids to furnish and equip the school. Because School Specialty was competitively priced and offered the best service, the district chose the firm to handle the entire project from classrooms and office spaces to the cafeteria, media center, and even a sensory lab.
“The other companies who submitted bids didn’t spend the time talking to us about what our needs were the way School Specialty did,” says Dr. Ryan McCoy, the school’s principal.
District officials provided School Specialty with blueprints of the school’s floor plan and a color palette to work with, then asked the company to recommend suitable furnishings for each space. “We leaned on School Specialty to give us their advice,” Edwards says.
School Specialty’s learning environment experts suggested durable yet flexible classroom furniture that could be easily moved and arranged in various configurations to support different types of activities. The desks are height-adjustable, allowing them to be used universally in any of the school’s classrooms from kindergarten through fifth grade.
The design process was very collaborative, Edwards says, adding: “Everybody worked together” to ensure that each space would function effectively.
Installation was a positive experience as well. “We’ve always had an incredible experience with School Specialty’s installation team,” Edwards says. “They’re phenomenal, and they go above and beyond what they need to do.”
As an example, Edwards noted that a tactile wall for the sensory lab arrived without mounting brackets. The installation coordinator mounted the wall himself, making sure to hide the wires so they wouldn’t pose a safety hazard. “You don’t find that with a lot of install teams,” she says. “They usually just install it and move on, without putting that extra thought and care into the process.”
Overwhelming Response
The new building not only accommodates more students; it also sets them up for future-ready learning.
“Our goal is to support higher-level thinking,” McCoy says. “To do that, you need to have spaces for kids to move around and collaborate.” The school’s flexible furnishings allow for this type of movement, effectively supporting active and collaborative learning.
The traditional model with students sitting at desks arranged in rows “is not how we teach anymore,” he explains. “Kids are moving around, they’re learning in flexible groupings. The furniture we chose can support any type of learning. It all works really well.”
What’s more, the common areas between grade-level classrooms are furnished with comfortable, soft seating options and equipped with whiteboards to facilitate learning that continues outside the classroom. For instance, teachers can pull kids out into these common areas for Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions.
“The kids love the soft seating,” McCoy notes. It makes the school feel less institutional and gives them comfortable, welcoming spaces in which to learn.
It’s not just the students who love the new building’s décor. “Everybody who comes in can’t believe how nice it is,” McCoy says. “The response has been overwhelming. I’ve had teachers say to me: ‘I can’t believe this is where I get to work.’”
With a new facility that’s equipped for modern, high-quality instruction, Sara Moss Elementary School is well-positioned to support student success. And working with a single company on designing and furnishing the building’s interior spaces made the entire process smooth and seamless.
“To be able to use one vendor made things so easy,” McCoy concludes.
Learn more at the School Specialty inspiration gallery.