Three representatives from the citizen's committee tasked with forming recommendations for Austin ISD's update to its Facility Master Plan appeared at tonight's board of trustees meeting to give a final update.

Facilities and Bond Planning Advisory Committee tri-chairs Leticia Caballero, Cheryl Ann Campbell and Roxanne Evans provided detailed information on the draft master plan update, which is now live on the AISD website. The board of trustees' vote to approve the plan is scheduled for Monday, April 3. Here are six takeaways from tonight's discussion:

• The plan calls for the construction of five new schools to relieve overcrowding at certain schools or to accommodate a potential increase in student population due to proposed or existing housing developments in various areas of the city. Those relief facilities include a new school serving grades three to six to address overcrowding at Blazier Elementary School in Southeast Austin; a new elementary school in Northwest Austin to relieve overcrowding at Doss and Hill elementaries; a new Southwest Austin elementary school to shoulder the burden of overcrowding at Kiker and Baranoff elementaries; a new co-ed middle school on the Mueller Development site in the Northeast part of Austin to address projected student population growth of the area; and an additional elementary school in the Southeast part of Austin to address the projected student population growth due to housing developments such as the Goodnight.

 

• The three schools with the lowest facility condition assessment score are recommended for full facility replacements within the first 12 years of the plan's implementation. Those schools are the Sadler Means Young Women's Leadership Academy, Brown Elementary, and the Rosedale School.

 

• The draft plan lists five schools as having "targeted utilization plans," or "TUPs." TUPs are recommended for schools with declining enrollment of below 75 percent capacity. The schools currently on the list are Joslin, Norman, Sanchez, Brooke and Dawson elementaries, which were formerly slated for closure and consolidation with nearby elementaries, however, in response to emotional pleas from communities and families, the FABPAC decided to postpone consolidations and allow more time for communities to work with the district to encourage enrollment in their neighborhood schools. More schools which meet the consolidation criteria are expected to be added to the list by the end of this year. Kate Mason Murphy, a parent to two Joslin boys and a vocal advocate against the closure of Joslin, pointed out that Joslin has only been under 75 percent capacity for two of the three years required to make the TUP list, and that several other schools that do meet the criteria are not on the list.

 

• 62 schools are recommended for full modernization projects and 38 schools are slated for renovations over the plan's 25-year implementation timeline. Schools to undergo immediate full modernization include Casis Elementary School and the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Central Austin, among others. Prioritization of the projects is based on a system coined by the advisory committee as "The Worst First," wherein schools with the greatest need are addressed in the beginning of the plan's implementation timeline.

 

• The total cost to implement the plan's recommendations is $4.6 billion. Funding for the projects is contingent on future bond elections, the first of which could take place this November if approved by the board of trustees. The board is slated to call for the bond election at a May meeting. The advisory committee will begin bond planning as soon as the plan is approved.

 

• The draft master plan update is scheduled for a vote by the board of trustees next Mon., April 3. Signups for the public hearing which will proceed Monday's vote open on Friday, March 31. For more information on how to sign up, click here.