The district also takes students from northern portions of Dallas, Richardson, Allen, Carrollton, Garland, Lucas, Murphy, Parker, and Wylie.

[3] There are two areas in North Dallas that are in Plano ISD, both in Collin County: one that is east of Midway Road, south of the George Bush Turnpike, and west of Waterview Parkway; and a group of apartments around Horizon North Parkway.

Primary education in PISD, following the typical U.S. structure, consists of 44 elementary schools that serve the kindergarten through fifth grades.

[21] In the state of Texas, a total of thirty eight and eleven students, respectively, captured those honors in the Siemens competition.

[24] In 1991 Plano ISD began a Chinese bilingual program for preschool and kindergarten students developed by Donna Lam.

It is one of two Chinese bilingual programs in the State of Texas, along with the one established by the Austin Independent School District.

[25] On the December 9, 2005, edition of The O'Reilly Factor, as part of his "War on Christmas" segment, news commentator, Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that the district had banned students from wearing red and green clothing "because they were Christmas colors."

That lawsuit was originally filed against PISD on December 15, 2004 (Jonathan Morgan, et al., v. the Plano Independent School District, et al.).

The district briefly considered an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, but instead reached a settlement of US$400,000.

In a Decision of the US District Court[28] granting a preliminary injunction against Plano ISD, the judge said, "The issue in this case is not one of sponsorship or the lack thereof, but of the flagrant denial for equal access guaranteed to S.W.A.T.

The harm at issue is irreparable because it inhibits the exercise of Plaintiff's First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion."

In November 2010, following a complaint by the parents of a student, the Plano ISD textbook board decided to remove the textbook Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities: Alternative Volume,[29] from its Humanities curriculum because the illustrations of works of art included nudity and various sex acts.

[30] On March 2, 2021, PISD became the subject of criticism due to its response to the racially motivated assault of an eighth-grade student of Haggard Middle School[31] at the hands of his classmates during a "non-school-related, off-campus" event.

[32][33] The victim stated that he was forced to drink urine and shot at with a BB gun,[34] while social media posts alleged racist and homophobic abuse.

[36] The district has had its feeder-school boundary lines redrawn at times in the recent past, In 2009, the development of more schools in Plano's eastern region, as well as more students attending them, reignited a boundary-line debate.

Certain issues, such as socio-economic integration and ethnic balance in the schools, became points of intense discussion that became very publicized and heated.

In 2011, the School Board agreed to tweak their plan to ease worries about Plano West overcrowding: Schimelpfenig Middle School students would not be allowed to choose tracks, but instead would all go to Clark High and then Plano Senior High, with the option to transfer.