Paredes Middle School closes; students split to Bailey, Mendez

Austin ISD trustees voted 7-2 on July 30 to close Paredes Middle School, and its 635 students will move to Bailey or Mendez middle schools this fall. This shift comes weeks before the first day of school Aug. 18, and marks Austin ISD’s 11th school closure in roughly a year.

District leaders point to years of failing state ratings at Paredes, most recently its third consecutive F in 2025, per TEA data. Superintendent Matias Segura called the closure disruptive but necessary to move students into stronger academic environments before another school year begins.

What happened

The board approved modifications to the school’s turnaround plan—originally approved in November 2025, Community Impact previously reported—and reassigned students by home address, following an administrative recommendation. Families can also choose a district virtual learning option, district staff said. The closure takes effect once the Texas Education Agency approves it.

Paredes was on a two-year turnaround plan and showed promising growth in midyear, Segura said, but spring leadership disruptions stalled it, and vacancies climbed to 15 or 16 by summer—more than any other campus. Having missed enough first-year growth, he said Paredes would now need to grow "twice as much within half the time" to break its accountability chain, which he called unrealistic given the staffing gap.

Board member Arati Singh pressed him on catching struggling campuses earlier, arguing test scores alone aren't reliable and pointing to families whose children lacked math teachers this year.

"We can't continue to have surprises like this,” she said. “It's just not acceptable."

Students east of Bluff Springs Road and north of Slaughter Lane will go to Mendez; all others go to Bailey, the district said. Segura said the district landed on a roughly 55/45 split so Bailey would take enough of Paredes' rising seventh and eighth graders to carry the turnaround designation, while capping Mendez—in its first year back under district operation—to protect its own restart.

“If I could, I would extend it all the way down I-35,” he said, explaining that population density, not neighborhood lines, drove the boundary lines.

Board members LaRessa Quintana and Fernando Lucas de Urioste cast the two dissenting votes. Urioste rejected the idea that hard-to-staff campuses simply can't be filled, arguing the district could hire if it paid enough, and noted similar staffing complaints at other middle schools last year—warning that vacancy-driven closures could become a pattern as the district manages two dozen turnaround plans.

The impact

Amerae Guerrero, a Paredes seventh grader, told the board she'd been making progress until the year's disruptions and asked why Paredes couldn't get the kind of help that turned Mendez around.

Mendez, Segura said, isn't a turnaround campus but is being treated like one for resources because it's a first-year school returning from charter operation—the reason he wanted to cap how many students it absorbed. Board President Lynn Boswell later addressed Guerrero directly, acknowledging she "was getting what you needed last year, and then you weren't."

Paredes’ campus population is 79.2% Hispanic and 78.3% economically disadvantaged, according to state data from April.

Some context

The district adopted its 2026-27 budget in June after facing a projected shortfall of roughly $181 million, as previously reported by Community Impact. The shortfall was driven in part by enrollment falling by more than 10,000 students over six years, which Segura attributed to Austin's high cost of living and the growth of charter, private and homeschool options.

In July, Segura announced the proposed Paredes closure just two days after the district announced it would take full operational control of Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools, ending a management partnership with an outside nonprofit after the state declined to extend certain partnership benefits, according to previous Community Impact reporting.

The vote also played out against the risk of a state takeover. Under Texas accountability law, a fifth consecutive failing rating at a single campus can trigger sanctions up to a state-appointed board of managers replacing elected trustees. The TEA will release accountability ratings for the 2025-26 school year Aug. 14.

Separately, closing Paredes still hinges on TEA approval of the plan itself. Board member Candace Hunter pressed on what happens if the closure isn’t approved: "No way ... are we going to move these kids, they deny it, and we move them back; that cannot happen."

Segura said he had "extreme confidence" the agency would approve it but confirmed no date was given. Board member Kathryn Whitley Chu, who cast her vote in favor, put the stakes in personal terms.

"As a native Houstonian, I know what students lose when the state takes over their district,” she said. “As a trustee, I know it is my responsibility to do everything in my power to prevent that. But as a mom and a teacher, it doesn't make this decision any less devastating tonight."

What’s next

Impacted families will have the opportunity to tour their new schools and engage with the principals before the first day of school Aug. 18.

Austin ISD staff will collect family intentions and transition requests by survey, phone, and in person during the week of Aug. 3, to ensure students are enrolled and ready for the first day of school, according to the district. Families who need in-person support for enrollment can visit Paredes from 2-6:30 p.m. Aug. 3 and 8:15 a.m.-noon Aug. 6.

Transportation will be provided to students that live more than 2 miles from their assigned school. Starting Monday, Aug. 3, families can locate their 2026-27 bus routes via the Bus Stop Finder at www.austinisd.org/transportation.

For more information, visit each campus’s FAQ at www.austinisd.org/school-improvement.