Austin ISD parents, staff voice concerns at budget meeting

AUSTIN, Texas - With Austin ISD facing a multi-million dollar budget deficit, parents and staff voiced their concerns at a budget meeting. 

This comes as the district considers cutting stipends and staff to meet growing financial needs.

The backstory:

Nearly every seat was filled at Austin High School on Tuesday, as parents, teachers, and staff gathered to discuss what a projected $181 million budget deficit means for the district.

Closing out the 2025-26 school year, the district is projected to have a $49 million budget deficit. By next school year, their budget deficit is projected to jump to the massive $181 million.

Playing a large part in the shortfall is property values and enrollment, two factors that drive the district’s budget. With Austin's property values projected to decrease anywhere from 3–5% and with enrollment also decreasing by over 3,000 students, the deficit added up quickly.

Officials say they’ve already taken steps to cut costs, including a major central office restructuring, an external hiring freeze, and tighter spending controls to limit non-essential purchases. But to close the gap, tougher decisions will need to be made.

The district is currently considering the following campus-level reductions:

• Changes to campus staffing levels, master schedules and planning periods.
• Revised ratios for administrative and support positions.
• Employee stipends.
• A 15% cut to all non-staffing budgets across all campuses and departments.
• Potential reduction or elimination of certain programs.

"We are going to have to make really difficult cuts," said Cristina Nguyen, AISD’s director of communications. We understand that these are difficult conversations and want our community to know that they have a voice in this."

Possible Austin ISD staff cuts

What they're saying:

The announcement of potential staffing cuts came as harsh news to one man at Tuesday’s meeting who wished to remain anonymous. His spouse is a librarian at AISD and is currently at risk of losing her job.

"It is stressful to think through the uncertainty, and it's the same uncertainty that every employee of AISD faces right now," he said. "Librarians or schools with full-time certified librarians have measurable impacts on student achievement in both reading and math and so losing positions like that will have negative outcome for students in AISD."

The possible loss of teachers and class is grabbing the attention of children in the classroom as well. Outside of Tuesday’s meeting was Henry Lowe, a former AISD student who made his own presentation on the district’s budget deficit and the harm cuts could bring.

"The teachers are the main backbone of the school, and they help to run the school, and they help to keep the passion. If you have a good teacher, it can make and break a class for you," said Lowe.

But the one belief that many hold in common is that the state needs to do more to help with public school funding.

"At the end of the day, the funding that we get from the state is not keeping up with inflation," says Nguyen.

Why is Austin ISD part of the ‘Robin Hood' plan?

Dig deeper:

In Texas, school districts are funded based on their average daily attendance, but what separates AISD is how much money it sends back to the state. 

AISD is considered a property-rich school district and, as part of the "Robin Hood" plan, AISD is required to send back certain amounts of local tax dollar funds to the state to be redistributed to property-poor districts.

In the 2025-26 adopted budget, the district estimates that $715.5 million of local property tax revenue will be subject to recapture. From the school years 2000-01 to 2024-25, Austin ISD has paid the state of Texas approximately $8.3 billion.

"It’s really difficult. We are the number one payer in the state to recapture," says Nguyen.

With several districts across the state facing similar budget challenges, many are left wondering why the state doesn’t do more to support it with funding.

"Why aren't we putting more money into this? There's not really any way to fix a problem without money," said Henry.

"This is something that's happening outside AISD, that schools need more funding to increase their capability to serve students," said the spouse of an AISD librarian.

What's next:

To help offset the current deficit, the district says it is also exploring ways to generate new revenue, including facility naming rights, billboard advertising, and reducing charter bus costs.

AISD will give a preliminary recommendation to the Board of Trustees on May 1, ahead of the May 7 Board Information Session. 

Staff may be notified as early as May 15 of any position change that would be in effect for the 2026–27 school year.