Austin ISD will close Blackshear Elementary and relocate students to a new facility for Oak Springs Elementary in January of 2028.
AISD Superintendent Matias Segura announced his decision in a letter to families March 30.
In November, the AISD board voted to close Oak Springs alongside nine additional campuses and merge the campus with Blackshear. Earlier this year, the district announced it would consider relocating both East Austin schools back to Oak Springs when its modernized campus was complete.
The update
After reviewing community feedback, Segura said he has decided to continue constructing the $47.6 million modernized Oak Springs campus. The new campus—funded by the district's 2022 bond—will serve as the permanent home for students from both Blackshear and Oak Springs elementaries, according to the letter.
The $50 million budget allocated for Oak Springs "would not be enough to bring the Blackshear site up to modern standards," Segura said.
As "a cornerstone of East Austin’s history," AISD will seek a historic designation for the Blackshear site this year, he said.
The district will maintain Blackshear's fine arts programming at Oak Springs, Segura said. The new Oak Springs campus will feature a professional dance and yoga studio along with a theatre studio and orchestra hall with private practice rooms. Additionally, the campus will have an outdoor performance stage, fenced garden and zones for sensory play.
In their own words
"We are committed to honoring the original vision and hard work of the Oak Springs community while also building the high-quality fine arts spaces needed to grow the wonderful program nurtured by Blackshear," Segura said in the letter. "By merging these two legacies, we are creating a state-of-the-art home where every student has the room and the resources to thrive."
The backstory
In mid-December, AISD informed parents that Superintendent Matias Segura would decide by late January whether to keep all students at Blackshear or eventually move the merged schools into a modernized campus for Oak Springs.
The project was initially slated to be complete by January 2027, according to AISD information. Previously, Segura told reporters this fall that the district would work with its Community Bond Oversight Committee and board of trustees to reallocate bond dollars from closing campuses.
Oak Springs Elementary received its third consecutive F rating from the Texas Education Agency in 2025. Under state law, a Texas public school that receives two or more unacceptable ratings must implement a form of intervention known as a turnaround plan.
Blackshear Elementary, a C-rated campus, is expected to receive an additional $1 million in resources to implement Oak Springs’ turnaround plan next school year, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
