Austin ISD school closures: Board votes to close 10 campuses next school year

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin ISD school board voted to pass the district's school closure and consolidation plan.

Ten schools will now close next school year.

How the vote happened

Thursday's vote was to meet a deadline required by the Texas Education Agency regarding turnaround plans for some of its under-performing campuses.

Emotional parents and students attended the meeting. More than 120 people signed up to speak in front of the Board of Trustees before the vote.

 The board made two separate votes for consolidations.

In a vote of 7-5, the board approved the consolidation plan in relation to turnaround plans.

In a 6-3 vote, the board approved the consolidation plan in relation to programmatic changes.

Trustee Fernando Lucas de Urioste and District 6 Trustee Andrew Gonzales voted against closing all 10 campuses. 

District 4 Trustee Kahtryn Whitley Chu voted against closing Becker, Ridgetop and Sunset Valley elementaries.

What we know:

The latest recommended plan, released on Nov. 14, will:

• Reassign students from two schools with state-mandated turnaround plans due to multiple years of unacceptable ratings
• Reassign students from six schools that will have program shifts, including school-wide dual language, Montessori and International High School programs

3,796 students are expected to be reassigned and 6,319 seats will be eliminated.

Changes from previous plans

Some of the changes from previous plans include:

• Palm, Bryker Woods and Maplewood ES to remain open for 2026-27 school year
• Districtwide boundary changes aimed and balancing enrollment and aligning feeder patterns
• Moving Garza Independence High School or Alternative Learning Center
• Creating a non-zoned Language Immersion Program at Joslin ES, which will stay a neighborhood school for 2026-27 school year
• Relocating and changing school-wide dual language programs at Becker, Ridgetop, and Reilly ES to two-way programs at Sanchez, Pickle and Wooten ES

Sanchez, Pickle and Wooten Elementary Schools will have wall-to-wall dual language programs, but the district has transitioned from a reassignment to a restart for those schools in order to prioritize the students originally zoned to attend them. 

Schools set to close

The following schools are now set to close at the end of the school year:

• Barrington ES — students will be reassigned to Guerrro-Thompson ES or Wooldridge ES depending on address
• Dawson ES — students will be reassigned to Galindo ES
• Oak Springs ES — students will be reassigned to Blackshear ES
• Winn Montessori — students will be reassigned to Andrews or Pecan Springs ES based on address; Montessori program will move to Reilly ES
• Widén ES — students will be reassigned to Rodriguez ES
• Becker ES — students will be reassigned to Galindo or Zilker ES based on address
• Ridgetop ES — students will be reassigned to Reilly ES
• Sunset Valley ES — students will be reassigned to Boone or Cunningham ES based on address
• Martin MS — students will be reassigned to Kealing, Marshall or Lively MS based on address
• Bedichek MS — students will be reassigned to Covington, Paredes, or Mendez MS based on address
• International HS — students will return to home campus and be provided with specialized Newcomer support

Turnaround plans will be implemented at the following schools:

• Guerrero-Thompson ES (Barrington ES's plan)
• Galindo ES (Dawson ES's plan)
• Blackshear ES (Oak Springs ES's plan)
• Rodriguez ES (Widén ES's plan)
• Kealing MS (Martin MS's plan)
• Covington MS (Bedichek MS's plan)

The district will also be no longer offering sixth grade at Blazier, Mathews, and Lee elementary schools starting next school year. 

To read the latest plan, click here.

The backstory:

The district started its consolidation development plan nine months ago. The first draft was released at the beginning of October, which changed boundary lines for 98 percent of AISD schools.

The district says they have to make changes because of a budget shortfall, declining enrollment, and low performance at some schools.

Thirteen schools were on the initial closure list. In an update earlier this month, three schools, Palm, Bryker Woods, and Maplewood Elementary Schools, were taken off the list.

Any campus affected by boundary changes separate from a turnaround plan was also be postponed as part of the latest draft.

What's next:

The district says that in the spring, it will continue working on the Academic Plan and Vision, including reviewing and vetting feedback and proposals for campus closures and boundary changes.

AustinEducation