black students in a storefront in 1885. Central High and Ball High merged into one high school in 1968. Public schools in Galveston were operated by the city from 1884 until 1949, when Galveston ISD was established by the Texas Legislature. Enrollment decline The enrollment declined by 1,147 from 1995 to 1996. In the 2000s skyrocketing home prices created by the completion of many high-rise projects have forced many middle class Galveston residents to move off of the island to many cities, including Texas City, League City, and La Marque. Galveston ISD's tax base grew by 13% in 2005. Including all students, GISD lost 8% of its students (780) between the 2002-2003 school year and the 2006-2007 school year, with a 7% loss (610) in 2006. The district lost 12% of its students during the same years when Hurricane Katrina evacuees and out-of-district students are excluded. Galveston ISD lost students to mainland school districts such as Clear Creek ISD and Dickinson ISD. District enrollment fell by 101 students from 2004-2005 to 2005-2006. The district missed 772 students on October 30, 2006. Elementary school enrollment had dropped about 2.3 percent from the 1996-1997 school year to the 2006-2007 school year. If the trend continues for fall 2007, the district would lose 300 students to the newly opened Ambassadors Preparatory School, a charter school, in addition to 94 students, translating to a loss of 10.6% of the district's total elementary school students. At the end of 2006, GISD's total enrollment was about 8,700. From 2006 to 2007 enrollment fell by 642. In January 2007 the middle schools had 934 vacant slots while the elementary schools had 834 vacant slots. On January 2, 2007, the Galveston County Daily News published a report about parents frustrated over plans to close Scott Elementary School. The District Education Council approved a GISD plan to close multiple schools. On May 15, 2007, the Houston Chronicle reported that the League of United Latin American Citizens, in an attempt to prevent schools from closing, filed a complaint with the U.S. federal government asserting that GISD violated a desegregation order. Pat Guseman, an official with Pasa Demographics, predicted that GISD would lose about 1,468 students in the five years after 2007. Guseman said that many of the student losses would originate from the East End of the island. The demographer, characterizing the change in Galveston demographics as "Hamptonization," stated that