The future of all 32 Austin ISD schools in South Austin was put to paper in early April when the AISD board of trustees voted to approve its updated Facility Master Plan.

The update to the plan calls for five new schools, three replacements of existing schools, 62 schools to be fully modernized, 38 schools to be renovated, six schools to undergo systems upgrades, two facilities to be repurposed and five schools to be placed on a target utilization plan list, which aims to avoid school closures by boosting enrollment.

 “The work we have ahead of us is complex,” Superintendent Paul Cruz said prior to the vote. “The [Facility Master Plan] sets a path toward the future and how we are going to realize that vision.“

The motion to approve the plan passed 6-3, with trustees Edmund Gordon, who represents Northeast Austin; Jayme Mathias, who represents Southeast Austin; and trustee Paul Saldaña, whose district straddles Southeast and Southwest Austin, dissenting based on their opinion that some parts of the plan were inequitable to certain areas of the district.

Trustee Paul Saldaña resigned four days after the vote was held.

The Facility Master Plan is a living document outlining the current usage and future modernization of AISD schools over the next 20-25 years. After months of meeting as a committee and soliciting feedback from the community, representatives from the Facilities and Bond Planning Advisory Committee, also known as the FABPAC, presented their final recommendations to the board March 27.

“Every vertical team, every part of the district, has issues and solutions tied to them,” said CherylAnn Campbell, one of the chairs of the advisory committee appointed by trustee Amber Elenz, during the presentation.

Recommendations were based on objective data gathered by professional engineering firm AECOM, which measured facility conditions, or the overall physical well-being of a building, and educational suitability, or how well a facility supports teaching and learning. The committee also took into consideration a school’s utilization, or the comparison between a school’s total enrollment and its building capacity.

The findings were that 39 percent of AISD’s schools are in poor or very poor condition; 22 percent have unsatisfactory educational suitability scores; 17 percent are overcrowded; and 27 percent are underenrolled.

Based on AECOM’s assessments, project management firm Brailsford & Dunlavey composed data-based  improvement options for each school. From there, the advisory committee formed its final recommendations for the plan based on what it called “the three pillars”—data collection and analysis, academic vision and programming, and community collaboration and feedback.

“There are tough decisions Austin [ISD] has in front of it, and I think the [advisory committee] and the community really came together to come up with good solutions and a long-term look at how to address some of those problems,” Brailsford & Dunlavey Project Manager Greg Smith said.

The projects were ordered based on a system coined by the advisory committee as “the worst first,” wherein schools that present the greatest need would be addressed first. Projects within the plan are subject to review every two years and are contingent upon future bond
elections.

As architects of the plan, advisory committee members fielded pleas from parents who disagreed with the recommendation for their child’s school. Michael Bocanegra, a committee member appointed by Saldaña, said the committee shied away from making decisions based on individual needs.   

“For me, it always hinged on making equitable decisions first,” he said. “And while everyone has an opinion, no one’s opinion or want is more valuable than someone else’s, regardless of what part of town or district they are from.”

Serving as the backbone of the plan was the concept of long-term modernization, or the transformation of school facilities into 21st-century learning environments, the plan stated. Each school, regardless of its recommendation, will eventually be equipped with flexible learning spaces, state-of-the-art technology and community spaces.

Bocanegra said for some community members, modernizing facilities was a tough sell.

“AISD has been one way for a long time, so when we were trying to get people to envision modernization, it’s difficult,” he said.

Schools Face Potential Closures

The draft facility master plan, developed in October, called for some schools experiencing declining enrollment of 75 percent capacity or less to be closed and consolidated with a nearby facility. The consolidation list was eventually replaced with the target utilization plan list, which allows for school communities and the district to work together to boost enrollment.

“It’s important to understand consolidations are not off the table, but this removes the stigma of immediacy and gives communities a clearer path in decision-making and empowers them to make changes before consolidation becomes likely,” Campbell said.

Only five schools are currently on the target utilization plan list; however, the plan states more will be added this fall.

Joslin Elementary School, located in the Western Trails neighborhood in the 78745 ZIP code, is South Austin’s only school on the target utilization plan list.

“Is it a step in the right direction or a grenade?” said Ryan Turner, a father to two Joslin students. “The schools need adequate guarantee that the school district will contribute something, that the target utilization plan isn’t just the district saying ‘good luck.’”

According to Turner, a simple boundary change would solve Joslin’s underenrollment.

“There is a way to pull off a painless boundary adjustment that would put us back at the enrollment status,” Turner said. “Let the people who live in Western Trails send their kids to the school in Western Trails.”

Rich DePalma, at-large advisory committee member appointed by former trustee Gina Hinojosa, who resigned last December to run for state office, argued Joslin’s underenrollment is a symptom of the dense number of elementary schools in the area and lack of affordable housing in the area.

“I’m for boundary changes, but that’s not going to solve their problem,” DePalma said.

Like many Joslin parents, Turner said he is skeptical of the recommendation’s lack of concrete language detailing how the district and the community should go about boosting enrollment.

“I know the target utlilization plan still needs detail,” Cruz said prior to the board’s vote April 3. “There are some things right now that are in our budget that I think we can move on to align resources to the [plan], but I need time with my team to organize those resources and create a budget.”

Since the approval of the Facility Master Plan by the board, DePalma said four subcommittees have been formed, one of which is tasked with delineating the implementation of the Target Utilization Plan.

“This is not a check of the box or a ‘make you feel warm and fuzzy’ [measure],” he said. “This is about how we increase enrollment and get the programming that is best for our kids.”

And although many Joslin parents such as Turner espouse the importance of small community schools, DePalma said class sizes cannot overshadow the value of strong academic programming. By distributing the cost of facilities across more students, DePalma said AISD can allocate more funding toward robust curriculum options and perhaps regain some of the students it has lost to charter and private schools.

“None of us want to close any schools, but we want to make sure our kids have the highest academic programming available, period,” he said.

South Austin families respond 

In South Austin, 15 schools are slated for renovations, 14 will undergo full modernization, two will receive systems upgrades and one has been placed on the target utilization plan list.

The master plan also calls for the eventual construction of three new facilities to relieve overcrowding at Blazier, Kiker and Baranoff elementaries.

Menchaca Elementary School, located at the intersection of Manchaca Road and FM 1626, is one of 10 Southwest Austin elementary schools recommended for full modernization.

Parents and teachers from Menchaca were vocal about the facility’s issues, which range from leaky ceilings to safety concerns.

“We appreciate the [advisory committee] and the fact that they have dedicated time and effort, but our biggest concern is that our building is so old—fixing it, remodeling it or trying to patch up the issues we have isn’t going to do it justice,” said Ann Weitzman, a former Menchaca parent and current Menchaca teacher.

Other parents, such as Lori Wallace of the Village of Western Oaks neighborhood in the 78749 ZIP code, said they are pleased with their school’s recommendation. Wallace, whose daughter is a junior at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, or LASA, has been a vocal advocate for the relocation of LASA from Northeast Austin to a more centralized location. LASA is a magnet school that accepts students from across the district.

Although Wallace acknowledges the Facility Master Plan’s recommendations are dependent upon bond funding, she said the grouping of LASA in the first six years of implementation is a step in the right direction.

“Having it in the [plan] makes it more likely that [relocation of LASA] could happen,” she said.

DePalma said the committee recognized the concerns of families whose children spend hours on buses every day commuting to and from LASA and felt compelled to create a more viable solution.

“[The Southwest Austin community] hasn’t been saying, ‘We need to build a new magnet,’” DePalma said. “They just want it to be a little more equitable and for the board to show they care.”

Next steps

According to AISD Chief Financial Officer Nicole Conley Johnson, implementation of the plan carries a price tag of $4.6 billion. The majority of those funds will be acquired through future bond elections, the first of which would occur Nov. 7 if called for by the trustees in June.

The plan’s approval gave the committee the green light to initiate bond planning for the potential November bond election.

“It is expected that the plan will serve as a baseline for planning of the November bond election and for subsequent bond elections in future years,” Campbell said March 27.

A community collaboration series will also take place in mid-May, during which the committee will present and receive feedback on bond recommendations.