Supporters of a new high school in Southwest Austin have often cited the crowded nature of Akins and Bowie high schools.Austin ISD’s solution to the years-long student capacity problems in Southwest Austin high schools reached a turning point in December as its board of trustees instructed staff to evaluate land to purchase in both Southwest and Southeast Austin for the purpose of one or two high school developments.[/caption]

Staff is working with a real estate consultant to bring to the board recommendations for the purchase of land “within the next few months,” trustee Gina Hinojosa said during a board meeting Dec. 14.

“The purchase of this land is an investment in the future of our school district and city and is based upon projections of growth and future land availability,” Hinojosa said.

Hinojosa added that AISD has bond money only for the purchase of land, and a separate bond election would have to be held to fund the construction of a new campus.

Years of talking

Plans for a new high school for Southwest Austin date back to 2008, when voters passed a bond for land purchase money. However, land is still not acquired, and a new high school still does not exist.

Discussions about the school site’s location, cost and potential academic programming have continued throughout the years. Some residents have vouched for a new high school in Southwest Austin, and others rallied for new Southeast Austin school.

The board indicated March 9 it would make a decision by December on whether to purchase south high school land and has discussed potential next steps related to the land purchase since then.

On June 1 consulting firm Southwest Strategies Group recommended that land be purchased now instead of in the future, when the price of land may increase and the availability of land may decrease. Consultant Daniel Roth said there may be more land available in Southeast Austin in contrast to Southwest Austin.

The July 28 death of former District 7 trustee Robert Schneider halted board discussions about Southwest Austin issues such as a new high school until a new trustee was appointed. The board appointed Yasmin Wagner to the vacant District 7 seat Sept. 28 to represent parts of Southwest Austin.

Since then, the board met in closed session Dec. 7 to receive a briefing and discuss the value, suitability and negotiation issues for multiple school sites in South Austin, Hinojosa said Dec. 14.

Wagner said to Community Impact Newspaper that the time it will take for staff to negotiate buying land in both Southwest and Southeast Austin will be hard to predict.

Theresa Bastian, president of the Bowie High School Parent Teacher Student Association board, said the new high school process is “slow going.”

“It is good to see that the board made a decision [to negotiate for land],” Bastian said. “However, I feel like they’ve made a decision that ensures no one is going to complain right now.”

One or two, now or later

For the time being, AISD is only considering the land purchase, Wagner said.

“As we took a hard look at the needs across Southwest and Southeast Austin, there really was a need in both places for the long term,” Wagner said.

After land is purchased, the board will then discuss how immediate the need is for a new high school on one or both of the sites, Wagner said. If the need is immediate, then the board will set a timeline and move forward with a bond proposal for the design and construction of a school or schools, she said.

“We need to be very careful about the timing of those schools so that we don’t inadvertently build the school before the need is there,” Wagner said. “Eventually we will have a need in both of those areas, but when that need actually comes online still remains to be seen.”

[polldaddy poll=9287256]AISD released its annual demographic study Jan. 11, revealing that student populations are expected to decline annually during the next 10 years, eventually decreasing to 77,628 students in the 2025-26 school year. The greatest declines will be in the elementary and middle school levels, though high school enrollment will remain stable, according to the study.

The study also found that Bowie attendance may go from 114 percent capacity in the current school year to 115 percent in the 2025-26 school year.

“An argument could be made that relief is needed at Bowie,” said trustee Jayme Mathias, who represents parts of far South and Southeast Austin.

Mathias pointed out that the study also projected Akins High School’s attendance dropping from 141 percent to 125 percent capacity in the same time frame.

“So it seems that Akins will be at a greater percent capacity than Bowie 10 years out,” Mathias said.

Melissa Lamm, a parent of three AISD students who live in the Bowie attendance zone, agreed that Bowie and Akins are overcrowded. Having moved to Southwest Austin in 2007, Lamm’s family witnessed the bond election for high school land in 2008 and thought construction of a new high school would have been completed in 2015.

“Let’s not delay with coming up with a solution any longer because the students are being impacted by the overcrowded conditions of the school.” Lamm said.

Alternate ways to address capacity

In the meantime the board is addressing overcrowding with districtwide changes in student transfer policy and advanced academic programming in Southwest Austin, Wagner said. In the 2017-18 school year, all priority transfers will be denied for schools at or above capacity, according to AISD.

The board also continues to talk about how it can bring programming to South Austin akin to the Liberal Arts and Science Academy.