Austin ISD parent Kristin Davis said her fourth grade daughter has thrived in the dual-language Spanish program at Joslin Elementary in Southwest Austin. Heading into the 2025-26 school year, however, Davis is fearful her school could be at risk of closure as the district begins a process to consolidate campuses.
“Since it’s such a small school, they all know each other,” Davis said. “I am concerned that that sort of richness will be lost in the consolidation ... or the closure process.”
By the fall of 2026, AISD officials plan to merge some campuses, and revise attendance boundaries and its transfer policy. These actions come as the district looks to cut costs amid a $19.7 million shortfall and declining enrollment, projected to continue into the next decade.
“Everyone needs to pay attention, because everyone will be affected,” AISD board member Candace Hunter said.
Two-minute impact
The district is projected to face a $19.7 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2025-26 after making $44 million in budget reductions. AISD is looking to close campuses to avoid having to further cut staff positions, eliminate programs and increase class sizes, school board President Lynn Boswell told Community Impact.
The district is aiming to reduce its student capacity by thousands of vacant seats as AISD’s enrollment has declined by more than 12,000 students over the last 10 years, according to the Texas Education Agency.
In August, the district ranked all 116 of its campuses for potential consolidation using a data rubric that assessed campus utilization, facility condition, educational suitability and cost per student.
AISD officials have said the district’s current resources are spread too thin and that consolidating campuses will allow the district to have fewer, better-resourced schools. Some teachers and parents said they are concerned about the impact on employees and families, and the socioeconomic inequities between campuses.
“This isn’t anything anyone is excited to choose,” Boswell said. “It’s something we’re being pushed to choose. I think our obligation is to do it as thoughtfully, as collaboratively, as strategically as we can, but it’s a disruptive, painful process.”
The approach
AISD ranked campuses in order of how optimal they were for consolidation alongside a support and resource index to measure the level of student need. The index lowered a campus’s score by accounting for demographic groups, such as special education, low income or English learner students.
“Some of these data points [are] unfairly ... reflecting a reality of historic inequity and the current inequity in our district, and so we need to counteract for that,” AISD Director of Planning Services Raechel French said at a July 15 school consolidation workshop.
In 2025, 41 AISD campuses received failing D or F ratings from the state, 26 of which may require turnaround plans on how to improve student performance and avoid TEA intervention.
A-F ratings will be factored into the consolidation process; however, all campuses may be considered for closure despite their rating, district officials said.
The district is now conducting a contextual analysis of the data rubric results by receiving feedback from the board of trustees, campus principals and community members, French said. At an Aug. 7 school consolidation workshop, board members discussed how to balance enrollment, align feeder patterns, provide baseline offerings for every campus, offer specialized programs and explore different school models.
“If we’re going to have high quality education and we have limited resources, the only way to get there is by having fewer schools,” Superintendent Matias Segura said in an interview with Community Impact. “We can’t be razor thin everywhere.”
How we got here
Despite state lawmakers passing an $8.4 billion school funding increase in 2025, Boswell said state funding isn’t keeping up with rising costs.
For FY 2025-26, the district lowered a projected $127 million shortfall by selling two former campuses for $45 million and making $44 million in reductions alongside $17.8 million in savings from vacancies and schedule changes. This included cutting $7 million in contracted special education services and receiving $9 million in new state funding under House Bill 2. The district saved $10 million by restructuring its central office positions, which included 40 employees losing their jobs, Segura said.
“We’re doing this because we have done almost everything else we can think of, except things that feel even worse than closing schools,” Boswell said.
With an enrollment of about 72,000 students—down nearly 15% from 2014—AISD has over 22,000 empty seats. By 2034, AISD’s enrollment is projected to drop by nearly 11% percent to about 64,500 students, according to a new demographic report by MGT.
The district is seeing families move to the suburbs as the cost of living rises in Austin, Boswell said. Meanwhile, more families are enrolling their children in charter schools, she said. Over 16,000 students residing in the district attended a charter school or another public school district in the 2024-25 school year, according to the TEA.
The impact
AISD officials have not said how many campuses will be impacted.
The district is aiming to realize $30 million in savings by consolidating campuses. This requires removing around 8,600-13,100 seats.
“I’m hoping this is going to be an opportunity to be more fiscally responsible across the board,” AISD parent Deborah Trejo said.
Trasell Underwood, vice president of AISD’s employee union Education Austin, said many educators are fearful of what might happen to their jobs if their campuses are closed.
AISD teacher Mallory Vinson said she is concerned how this might affect disadvantaged communities. Forty-four of the district’s campuses have a student population that is 85% economically disadvantaged or higher.
Combining schools could provide the opportunity to invest additional resources in underserved schools while the district repurposes campuses for affordable housing, Boswell said.
What else?
Part of the consolidation process could include rezoning students and amending AISD’s transfer policy. The district is seeking to balance enrollment so that schools aren’t overenrolled—with 107% or more seats filled—or under-enrolled—with 64% or less seats filled, according to AISD information.
Davis said she believes Joslin Elementary is underenrolled due to the district’s failure to update attendance boundaries in recent years.
“We’re underenrolled because AISD drew the boundaries that way, and they haven’t moved them,” Davis said.
AISD officials and parents told Community Impact the district has fractured feeder patterns where students are split between multiple middle and high schools. Martin Middle School in South Austin currently feeds into five high schools, Segura said at an Aug. 7 meeting.
The district allows students to transfer to another school in the district based on availability. Some students transfer to attend a special program, while some campuses are empty due to students not choosing to go there, French said. About 25% of AISD students transfer to another campus, Segura said.
“We need to create a system where everyone has no problem going to their neighborhood school,” French said at the July 15 workshop. “The fact that we have some that people don’t want to go to due to reputation is unacceptable.”
Going forward
On Oct. 9, AISD officials will present their recommended consolidations to the board of trustees, who will vote on Nov. 20.
Education Austin will start meeting with district administration in September to discuss how the process might look, Underwood said.
“This process will only be as good as the input we get from people and the way we are creative about this together,” Boswell said.
In November, the board will adopt transition plans for impacted students, staff and programming, Segura said. Those plans could help merging campuses build a shared school culture, he said.
