Austin ISD Announces School Closure Recommendations

On late Friday afternoon, Austin ISD administration announced their recommendation to close 13 schools across the district, to be merged with existing schools, starting next school year. Further communication from the district will be going out to teachers and families. 

This draft proposal comes over a month before the district must submit those decisions to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) on Nov. 21, in response to a mandate requiring 23 AISD schools to either close or restart with new faculty and leadership starting next school year under what’s called a Turnaround Plan (TAP), and nine additional campuses to develop an intensive Targeted Improvement Plan (TIP) to boost campus standardized testing scores. 

It also comes at a time when the district has buckled under an immense budget deficit. If AISD doesn’t consolidate, follow TEA’s TAP requirements, and get the budget under control, the state agency threatens to take over. Our locally run school district would then be run by the state. 

“The sadness, anger, and fear that people are feeling right now is real, and it is the flip side of the love that people have for our public schools. And I am so sorry, and I am so sad, that we’re at this moment,” AISD Board President Lynn Boswell said during an advance press briefing on Thursday. 

The closures will not be finalized until the Board of Trustees votes on the final consolidation proposal Nov. 20. These are the recommended closures (scroll to the end of the story to see where these students are being rerouted):

Elementary school closures: Barrington ES, Becker ES, Bryker Woods ES, Dawson ES, Maplewood ES, Oak Springs ES, Palm ES, Ridgetop ES, Sunset Valley ES, Widén ES, Winn Montessori ES

Middle school closures: Martin MS, Bedicheck MS

High school program closure: International HS

Beyond closures, 98% of AISD schools will be affected by the top-down redrawing of the district map and school zone boundaries; a student might now be zoned for a different neighborhood elementary, middle, and high school starting next school year, even if their current school is not slated for closure. District officials said a site where families can look up their updated neighborhood schools, based on their home addresses, will go live today. 

For students now zoned to a different school, there’s an optional grandfathering process: They can stay at their current school until the final grade level offered, if they want. Otherwise, they can enroll at their new neighborhood school next school year, apply for the now-relocated dual language or Montessori programs, or apply for a general transfer to a different school.

AISD administration will hear feedback from families on this draft plan on Oct. 14, Oct. 16, Oct. 27, and Nov. 8, with meeting details found on the district’s consolidation website. 

Boswell called these school consolidation workshops the “first opportunity for our community to offer feedback, not in the abstract, but about something concrete: a draft plan that will have real impacts for real people, with real details about what is being considered. 

“I encourage everyone in our community to continue to engage with us.”

This is a developing story. See more in next week’s issue of The Austin Chronicle on stands and online Thursday. 

The below elementary schools slated for closure will now be zoned to the following neighborhood schools:

Barrington students to Guerrero-Thompson ES and Wooldridge ES 

Becker to Zilker ES

Bryker Woods to Mathews ES and Brentwood ES

Dawson to Galindo ES 

Maplewood to Campbell ES 

Oak Springs to Blackshear ES

Palm to Perez ES

Ridgetop to Reilly ES

Sunset Valley to Cunningham and Boone ES

Widén to Rodriguez and Houston ES

Winn Montessori to Pecan Springs ES, Andrews ES, and Hart ES

Middle schools:

Bedicheck MS to Covington MS, Paredes MS, Lively MS, and Mendez MS

Martin MS to Kealing MS, Marshall MS, and Lively MS

High school program: International HS to become a program at Navarro HS

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