Austin ISD approves final 2026-27 budget, extends superintendent's contract

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted on the final budget for the 2026-27 school year tonight (June 18).

The vote was seven in favor, one opposed and one abstaining.

The Latest:

A trustee proposed at the last second to eliminate the deputy superintendent position and the ombudsman position and their associated expenses, in order to allow for one full-time librarian at each campus. However, the board rejected the proposal, 5 to 2, with two trustees abstaining.

Another trustee proposed an amendment to ask Superintendent Matias Segura to find $1.1 million to fund one full-time librarian for each campus, but later withdrew it after a discussion. She instead reworded it to instruct Segura to use funds recovered from eliminating the deputy superintendent position to fund as many full-time librarians as possible. 

The reworded amendment failed, but another amendment was proposed to restore one full-time librarian to every campus outright temporarily with money from the fund balance. The restoration amendment passed 6-3.

The board also unanimously approved extending Segura's contract until August 2030, giving him a yearly salary of $362,250. 

According to the publicly posted document in the AISD Board agenda, the new contract does not include an item offering him a $1,500 performance payment for every Austin ISD campus with a "D" or "F" TEA accountability rating that raises it to at least a "C".

What they're saying:

This proposed budget includes a slew of cuts to address the $181 million budget deficit.

The deadline for the district to adopt a budget is June 30.

AISD says there are several contributing factors, including a gap in state funding and the state's recapture program. Property values have declined. There is also lower enrollment, largely due to the current immigration climate. 

Last November, the district voted to close 11 schools, saving $21 million. However, a lot of those savings have to go to schools with turnaround plans. 

AISD's website says, "it is mathematically impossible to address a deficit of this size without impacting positions."

The budget cut plan affects 558 positions, some of which are vacant. Those with teaching certifications will be guaranteed an alternative placement. The district will try to find roles for non-certified staff.

At schools without turnaround plans, some teachers' planning periods will be reduced to one, and some elementary grade levels will see class size increases.

Every school will have a counselor, but smaller campuses might share librarians or part-time assistant principals.

There could be changes to transportation, such as ending district-wide bus routes for some choice schools.

The district is also trying to sell four properties, which would create $60 million in one-time cash. They're proposing $17 million in forced reductions for Central departments and saving $31 million by moving staff across vacancies.

 

Local perspective:

Delicia McLean's children were in the dual language program at Becker Elementary, which closed. Their family is choosing to follow the program to Galindo. 

"The budget has not meaningfully impacted that particular school because of the fact that they need to make sure that these students are performing well, so the TAP schools don't seem to be as impacted as the non-TAP schools and non-TIP schools," she said.

She thinks there should be more cuts to Central office. 

"It appears to me that schools, families, programs, kids, librarians, transportation are the ones where the cuts are being made rather than any meaningful cuts in Central office," she said.

She believes cutting collapsed vacancies won't help the current budget and that there should been more transparency.

"I think that AISD should have first decided to flatten their executive level. I feel like they have so many executive directors, vices that they should have looked there first before they cut special education services," she said.

AustinEducationMoney