Austin ISD to Release School Consolidation Plan This Friday
Austin Autonomous School District (AISD) will publicly release its school consolidation plan this Friday, outlining potential campus closures, new attendance boundaries, and changes to district programming. Superintendent Mariana Segura announced the plan will be available on the district’s website and social media, with letters also being sent directly to families. An interactive “What’s my school?” tool will accompany the release, allowing parents to determine how thier campus might be affected and providing instructions for submitting feedback.
The plan, which has been under development since at least May, is a response to a $19.7 million budget shortfall and imbalances in student enrollment across the district. AISD currently has more seats available than students enrolled, while some schools are significantly over capacity.
District officials stated that closures will only occur at schools with excess capacity. However, even overenrolled schools will experience changes, including redrawn attendance boundaries and adjustments to the district’s transfer policy, designed to alleviate overcrowding.
Programming may also be impacted,with potential cuts,changes,or relocation of programs to different campuses. Such as,the district-wide dual language program will be moved to schools located closer to areas with higher concentrations of emergent bilingual students,though access to the program will remain available to students,potentially requiring a school transfer.
The consolidation process is also being considered alongside the performance of schools receiving low ratings from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). More than a dozen AISD campuses received a third consecutive failing grade in August. Burnet, Dobie, and Webb middle schools are already under improvement plans due to receiving four consecutive “F” grades. A fifth consecutive failing grade could lead to state takeover of the entire district. While state accountability ratings are being factored into the plan, Segura emphasized that simply closing failing schools is not a viable solution, as improvement requirements will follow students if they transfer to a new school.
Segura encouraged families to thoroughly review the plan and provide feedback. The district will use community input to refine the plan over the next five weeks, culminating in a vote by the Board of Trustees on November 20th.
