Austin ISD could reduce 250 central office jobs, including laying off employees, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde announced Feb. 10.

“It sounds fine as long as you are not one of the 250. Everyone in this room is going to know someone who is one of the 250,” Elizalde said.

Elizalde made the announcement during a larger discussion on expected budget deficits during the 2021-22 school year and the 2022-23 year.

In November 2021, Elizalde announced that she would trim central office staff through attrition—allowing unfilled positions to remain empty as staff leaves naturally. At the Feb. 10 meeting, she said she had planned to continue reducing administrative staff that way for two or three years, but now feels the immediate cuts are necessary.

Elizalde said the district would provide assistance to those who lose their job to find other employment.


Elizalde said the district would also move forward with salary increases for staff.

The district did not provide additional information about when the central office staffers would be laid off. Community Impact Newspaper reached out for additional information.

Reducing teacher planning time

In previous weeks, a different plan the administration was workshopping to replace one of two planning periods with an additional class period for many teachers was met with broad disapproval from staff and community members, Elizalde said.


On Feb. 10, she said the district would now work to maintain the current class load for teachers and added that it was clear to her the reduced planning time was not possible.

Current budget

The district is now moving to balance the budget by the end of the fiscal year in June, AISD Chief Finance Officer Eduardo Ramos said.

One of the biggest issues the district is facing is recapture costs—payments the district makes to the state—Ramos said.


AISD faces both strong property tax growth and decreasing enrollment, which means its recapture costs are increasing.

Ramos is expecting the district will pay more than $761 million into the state, almost $52 million more than expected.

That brought the expected deficit up to more than $80 million for the 2021-22 year.

However, the district is planning to use $58 million from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund—federal money granted to the district due to COVID-19—to pay down the deficit.


“With some of the decisions we are making as a district, through vaccines and not hiring for certain positions and eventually looking at the 250 vacancies in central office, we are very confident that in [20]21-22, at the end of this fiscal year, we will end with a balanced budget,” Ramos said.