Austin ISD mulls real estate for new Northwest elementary school

The district would also budget $300,000–$400,000 to purchase instructional material and hire staff who could not be transferred from other schools. Staffing costs would go toward hiring a principal, librarian and cafeteria workers.

"Usually what happens in a situation like this, you've already got most of the teachers because you've got the kids that [those teachers] were serving," Turner said.

If AISD buys the building, it would be the first facility the district attempts to refurbish. AISD has always built schools from the ground up, but with undeveloped land scarce in North Austin, Turner said adaptive reuse, or renovating existing buildings, could become more commonplace.

"We are going to have the opportunity in that area to do more of these, particularly if the enrollment up there continues to increase," he said.

City of Austin population projections estimate that 168 more elementary-age students will be in the current Cook and Wooldridge school zones by the 2016–17 school year.

The district is also in the process of building another elementary school on East Rundberg Lane near North Lamar Boulevard that also could house up to 800 students and is scheduled to open in the 2013–14 school year.