At a Dec. 18 board meeting, AISD officials shared the district’s transition plan for 10 campuses that are slated to close this summer. In January, the district will begin surveying families and staff about which schools they would like to attend or work at next fall.
What’s happening
On Nov. 20, the AISD board of trustees voted to close 10 campuses next school year—seven of which have consecutive failed state ratings and three of which have schoolwide dual-language programs that will relocate. The closures come as AISD works to intervene at low-performing schools, lower a mounting budget shortfall and address an ongoing decline in enrollment.
In total, 3,796 students will be reassigned, and 6,319 vacant seats will be eliminated. The plan is expected to save around $21.75 million in costs for the district.
AISD will complete the following enrollment process for students next school year:
- Jan. 12-23: The district will ask families to rank which schools they would like to attend through a survey.
- Jan. 23-Feb. 6: District staff will process survey responses and conduct lotteries to assign transfer students to campuses.
- Feb. 9-13: Families will be notified of their informal school assignment by email.
Emergent bilingual students will be guaranteed a spot in the dual-language program at the campus they are assigned to, O’Neal said. Non-emergent bilingual students may be placed in dual-language programs up to the program’s capacity, she said.
"We truly have a commitment to make sure that all of the dual-language students are going to have a seat," said Yvette Cardenas, AISD executive director of academic programs.
All AISD families, including those not impacted by school closures, must register through Enroll Austin to receive their official school assignment email and complete annual registration forms.
What else?
Since Nov. 21, the district has surveyed over 1,700 staff members about their job preference for next school year, said Denisha Presley, senior executive director of talent strategy. Some employees shared requests to teach certain subjects, work with specific grade levels or be placed at a campus near their homes, she said.
The district will enter into a hiring freeze on Jan. 5. On Jan. 9, principals will receive staff survey results and may extend job offers to some employees. In early December, the district announced the appointment of principals to 15 campuses affected by school closures or turnaround plans.
If an employee does not accept an offer at a certain campus, the district will hold internal hiring fairs Feb. 7 and March 7 and open districtwide transfer opportunities for staff from March 23-April 17.
On April 5, AISD will open any remaining positions to external candidates, Presley said.
Something to note
With 69,198 students this fall, AISD's enrollment has declined by more than 3,000 students from last school year to this school year, according to district data presented at the Dec. 18 meeting.
"We had the big enrollment hit this year that we're going to have to take account for that we have seen all over the state [and] all over the country of students, largely students with families who are immigrants," AISD board member Lynn Boswell said.
Stay tuned
The district is planning to work on Phase 2 of its school consolidation plan in June, including creating new attendance boundaries and potential school closures, according to district documents.
In early November, AISD announced it would delay voting on rezoning students and closing Palm, Bryker Woods and Maplewood elementaries until the fall of 2026 following community pushback.
