On Oct. 3, AISD announced the school closure plans alongside new attendance boundaries impacting 98% of campuses, changes to programming at some campuses and transfer policy updates. Superintendent Matias Segura said he will present his final school consolidation and attendance boundary recommendation to the board of trustees for approval at the Nov. 20 board meeting.
The sweeping changes come as AISD looks to address declining enrollment, lower a mounting budget shortfall and provide state-mandated intervention at 12 failing campuses.
“The urgency in us protecting the school district is real, and the status quo is not possible,” Segura said at an Oct. 2 press conference. “We cannot move forward in our current configuration. We have to make adjustments.”
What you need to know
AISD is planning to close and merge the following campuses next school year:
Additionally, AISD could close International High School, located at Northeast Early College High School, and offer it as a program housed at Navarro Early College High School.
AISD is expected to save $25.6 million through the proposed school consolidations, according to district information. The district is projected to immediately save $20 million through reducing administrative and support staff at merging campuses.
AISD may see $300,000 in immediate savings and reduce expenses by $3 million annually for facility operations by lowering costs for utilities, maintenance and custodial work. Through consolidating bus routes, officials are projecting long-term savings for bus maintenance, fuel and driver costs.
What else?
AISD has recommended repurposing Odom, Pickle, Sánchez and Wooten elementaries to serve as Spanish dual language campuses.
In late September, district officials told parents they would relocate wall-to-wall dual language programs housed at Becker, Reilly, Ridgetop and Sunset Valley elementaries to campuses where a greater number of emergent bilingual students reside.
The district’s dual language model is intended to serve 50% emergent bilingual students and 50% non-emergent bilingual, or English-proficient, students, according to AISD information. Currently, the percentage of emergent bilingual students is 20% at Becker, 14% at Ridgetop and less than 30% at Sunset Valley, all of which are closing, according to district documents.
Amid the closure of Winn Montessori, AISD may repurpose Govalle Elementary to serve as a Montessori school. Students will not be zoned to this campus but may apply to go there.
Joslin Elementary could become a non-zoned school offering language immersion programs in Spanish and Mandarin.
Nearly all of AISD schools are slated to be impacted by rezoning under the new attendance boundaries. AISD officials said the district is seeking to better balance enrollment across campuses and align feeder patterns that split students between multiple campuses.
Martin Middle School previously fed into five high schools. Under the revised attendance boundaries, all campuses except two are split between no more than two schools, according to AISD documents.
Visit the district’s website to view updated attendance boundaries and new transfer policies.
How we got here
AISD is aiming to lower a projected $127 million budget shortfall to $19.7 million this school year, including making $44 million in budget cuts.
If the district does not further intervene, AISD’s fund balance is projected to be depleted by fiscal year 2026-27. This could lead to emergency borrowing, further layoffs and program cuts or a potential takeover by the TEA, according to AISD documents.
“Our budget is dire,” school board President Lynn Boswell said at the Oct. 2 press conference. “We're truly fighting to save our district.”
This summer, district officials created a data rubric to rank all 116 campuses from one to five based on seats filled, facility condition, cost per student and educational suitability. The higher a campus ranked, the more AISD would consider the campus for potential changes, including closing the school.
The rubric included a support and resource index that lowered a campus’s score by accounting for demographic groups, such as special education, low income or English learner students.
“We're always wanting to ensure that our historically underserved student groups are focused and centered in every decision that we make,” Segura said.
Ridgetop, Maplewood, Bryker Woods and Dawson elementaries ranked toward the top of the district’s data rubric, according to campus rankings released in August.
Something to note
While AISD didn't use A-F ratings to rank campuses for potential consolidation, district officials said in early September that the 2025 ratings would limit the district's ability to combine campuses.
Twenty-three AISD campuses have received two or three consecutive F ratings from the TEA and must submit turnaround plans by Nov. 21—seven of which are slated to close next school year.
Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools received their fourth consecutive F rating from the TEA in 2025. This school year, the district adopted $1.7 million turnaround plans to restart each campus by hiring new administrators and teachers, including providing up to $20,000 in stipends.
If a Texas public school receives five consecutive unacceptable ratings, the TEA commissioner must close the school or replace the board of trustees with a state-appointed board of managers. Houston ISD has been led by a board of managers since June 2023, and the state takeover was recently extended until June 2027.
“If we don't address those risks, there could be interventions from the state that limit our ability or even take away our ability to lead our school system,” Segura said.
Going forward
AISD officials notified staff members at affected schools about the changes on the afternoon of Oct. 3. The district is planning to implement a hiring freeze to fill vacancies with current AISD staff as the district hires between 600-700 teachers each school year, Segura said.
“We have created a process that gives us a very, very high probability of keeping the vast majority of our staff who want to stay with us,” Segura said. “I won't say guarantee because guarantee is a very difficult, very high bar.”
The AISD board of trustees will discuss the school consolidation proposals at its Oct. 9 meeting, Boswell said. The district will host the community meetings on its draft consolidation and boundary plans over the coming weeks.
“That is an essential and important part of that process and I encourage everyone in our community to continue to engage with us,” Boswell said.
Community meetings will be held on the following dates:
- Virtual meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. Oct. 14
- Virtual meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. Oct. 16
- Virtual meeting from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 27
- Meeting at an undetermined location from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Nov. 8
