A study of enrollment trends from fall 2015 to fall 2016 identified two key groups as having the biggest impact on students leaving Austin ISD over the last year.

According to data collected by the Department of Research and Evaluation, students were more likely to leave AISD after fifth grade than to have enrolled as fifth graders new to the district. Additionally, the largest enrollment declines were seen in Hispanic and African American student groups. Edmund Oropez, AISD’s chief officer for teaching and learning, explained to the AISD board of trustees at Monday night’s meeting that the decline in enrollment can be linked to the issue of housing affordability. “The bulk of our kids are being lost to surrounding districts,” Oropez said. “We believe it is an affordability issue and that the biggest challenge is families moving outside of AISD.” According to the Texas Education Agency’s enrollment tracking system, almost half of the students who left AISD at the end of the 2014-15 school year were found to be enrolled in nearby or other school districts at the beginning of the 2015-16 school year. While she acknowledged the legitimacy of the study’s findings, Trustee Amber Elenz said she worried the core work to promote the AISD brand was lacking. “I’m missing faith that our administration has done its research of what the AISD brand is,” Elenz said. “If we say we are offering the best education and can’t back that up with a really solid product then we have people trying us and then leaving us.” Board President Kendall Pace said the district needs to address the failure in the pipeline to keep AISD students within the district between elementary and middle school. “We’ve done a great job keeping students coming back for high school, but middle school is where we are getting flanked continuously,” she said. Pace attributed some of the loss to equity gaps among student groups. “There is a perception that not all of our schools are great and people are choosing other alternatives,” she said. “As long as those equity gaps exist and they know there are other options out there, they are choosing other options.” And while 50 percent of parents whose children leave the district report a family move, Pace pointed out that the remainder are opting for alternative education. “We are working with the city to deal with affordability but there are things that are in our control,” she said. “There are 10,000 to 14,000 students in AISD that choose private or charter. We can’t ignore what has happened in the past. Kids that live in AISD are potentially our students.” To curb the issue, Trustee Ann Teich suggested grassroots efforts to promote the AISD brand. “A lot of parents don’t even know a charter school isn’t part of AISD,” Teich said. “We may have to go door to door. If we don’t have the staff to do it, let’s enlist our community.” Saldaña agreed that working with local communities would be the most effective technique to recruit families into AISD. “There are planning processes happening across the city and we should make sure we are stakeholders in that process,” he said. “We need to make sure we become part of the neighborhood planning process, so that the people who live there become our ambassadors to tell our story.” While enrollment is down districtwide, student numbers exceeded projections for the first time in three years. On Oct. 26, the district reported enrollment of 83,238 students for the first six weeks of the 2016-17 school year.