Pflugerville ISD considers cost-cutting scenarios to solve budget woes

“It’s not unique; it’s a reality that many people are facing,” Parker said.

Data from demographer Zonda Education shows PfISD would have to close the equivalent of three elementary schools and half a middle school, or add as many students, in order to reach an average 75% campus utilization rate in 2027-28.

“We want to be clear that this [shortfall] is about enrollment and [average daily attendance], not financial mismanagement,” Chief of Schools Laila Olivarez said.

Breaking it down

Each campus profile indicated whether it met four priority criteria to help form the 12 draft scenarios.

“Advancing student achievement” considered the number of students who met or mastered state testing, while “student persistence” considered the attendance and enrollment decline.

The “investing in people” category considered teacher retention rates, participation in the Teacher Incentive Allotment program, and campus climte surveys. The “finance and operations” category considered the building utilization and capital investment over the last decade.

Per the results, four campuses met all four priorities, 10 met three, six met two, nine met one, and four did not meet any.

What they're saying

Parker said the draft scenarios would place students in higher-quality facilities and campuses with better academic performance. He said districts can become “financially efficient and produce better student outcomes.”

However, Connally High School parent Mike Considine said there is a “pervasive assumption” that students would perform better at some schools compared to others throughout the scenarios.

“The concept of high-performing schools, to me, is offensive because so much of the measurable performance is based on the economic resources that the students at that school have,” Considine said at a community meeting. “This whole idea that we’re going to close bad schools and put the kids in good schools, ... you’re driving parents who look only at measurable school performance as to whether they’re going to send their kids to public school or not, away from public school.”

Next steps

District officials held community meetings March 9-12 and a ThoughtExchange survey from March 5-April 10 to gather feedback on the draft scenarios.

“Unlike some of our surrounding districts who are making decisions now that will commence next year at the start of the 2026-27 school year, we’ve said that we’re going to take a full year to plan and allow families to plan out how this is going to impact them directly,” Superintendent Quintin Shepherd said. “To try to ease the transition for families is key for us because, although this is very hard news, we want it to have a soft impact to the greatest extent possible. That’s why we’re taking a multiyear step approach to this.”

District officials will present updated recommendations based on the community feedback gathered at a May board meeting, where trustees will vote on which optimization scenarios to take.

If all 12 draft scenarios presented were implemented, changes would begin in the 2027-28 school year.

• 2026-27: create task force for approved scenarios
• 2027-28: close Dessau, Parmer Lane, Pflugerville and Windermere elementary schools and Park Crest Middle School, and shift high school schedules from block scheduling to traditional eight-period day
• 2028-29: move early childhood, career and alternative programs to new facilities and close Westview Middle School
• 2029-30: rezone elementary and high schools as needed