The Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted yes to a highly contentious plan to close 10 schools and make several major programming changes before the 2026-27 school year.

The vote came early Friday morning after months of community meetings and school protests.

Superintendent Matias Segura estimates the plan will generate $21.5 million — eliminating the district’s $19.7 million budget deficit — and reduce the number of “empty seats” in the district by 6,319 from more than 20,000.

“This is difficult, and I wish we didn’t have to do it,” Segura said at the meeting. “But the pressures are gargantuan, and without significant change, we will not be the school district that ultimately can protect who we are moving forward.”

The board’s vote gives the district the green light to close eight elementary schools — Barrington, Becker, Dawson, Oak Springs, Ridgetop, Sunset Valley, Widén and Winn Montessori — as well as Bedichek and Martin middle schools.

Additionally, International High School, which helps ninth and 10th grade students who recently immigrated to Texas transition into the state’s public education system, will close due to low enrollment. International students will be reassigned to a campus near their home and will be offered “newcomer support.”

While the financial savings will be a boon to the district, the plan also aims to improve accountability ratings at seven chronically failing schools. The letter grades are handed down annually by the Texas Education Agency to public schools and are largely based on standardized test scores.

The district’s original plan, released in early October, included 13 school closures and triggered parent and student protests. The district received more than 7,000 pieces of community feedback from concerned parents, teachers and staff. That feedback led to the district scaling back the number of closures to 10.

The board voted on the plan after nearly three hours of public comment from parents, teachers and community members. Nearly every speaker urged the board to reject the plan.

Téo Vigil, a third grader at Ridgetop Elementary, stood on a chair to reach the microphone and deliver his message to the board.

“At school, I learned to listen to my feelings. When I think about this plan, it makes me feel sad, worried and confused. I think you should listen to your feelings, too. Good choices do not feel like this,” he said. “I know you already made a plan, but grown-ups can change their minds when something does not feel right anymore.”

Band director Andria Hyden said she drives an hour from her home in Round Rock to South Austin’s Bedichek Middle School.

Hyden said for many kids, Bedichek is “the only place where they feel safe, accepted and successful.”

“Middle school is already one of the hardest stages of childhood,” she said. “Asking students to start over across three different campuses, to rebuild friendships, to search for trusted adults, to try and find where they fit is not what’s best for their emotional or academic well being.” 

Major changes coming to dual language programs

The district’s most comprehensive dual language programming at Becker, Ridgetop, Sunset Valley and Reilly elementary schools will be moved to Sanchez, Pickle, Wooten and Odom elementary schools as part of this plan.

Current dual language students will be given priority transfers to the new campuses.

Sanchez, Pickle and Wooten elementary schools will remain “neighborhood” campuses that serve households in their boundary lines and offer dual language programming to a portion of the student population. The district said it plans on eventually transitioning these schools to campus-wide dual language schools that are non-zoned.

Odom Elementary will become the district’s only school that offers a campus-wide dual language program and is non-zoned. At campus-wide dual language schools, almost all curriculum is taught in both English and Spanish.

The district said it is relocating its dual language programs to serve the emergent bilingual population — students who primarily speak Spanish at home and are learning English — more equitably.

Reilly Elementary will offer a Montessori program, and students from Winn Montessori will be given priority transfers to follow the program as Winn closes.

The plan approved Thursday is far less sweeping than the district’s initial proposal, which also included redrawing the attendance boundaries for 98% of schools and changing feeder patterns so more students stay together through elementary, middle and high school.

The district claims those changes would have balanced out enrollment throughout Austin ISD. District data shows some schools are extremely under-enrolled while others are so full they require portable classrooms.

In a Nov. 4 email to parents, Segura said those aspects of the plan were delayed following “significant concerns” about district officials responsible for handling community feedback related to the plan. Those concerns resulted in two employees being placed on leave while an investigation takes place.

What’s next for the district

The district will send letters to staff at closing schools with a survey asking where they would like to work next school year.

Segura said the district will discuss closing additional schools and redrawing attendance boundaries in the spring and could vote on another plan next fall.

That plan could include closing Maplewood, Palm and Bryker Woods elementary schools. These were originally slated for closure before next school year before the district narrowed its focus. AISD officials have not confirmed all of the schools being considered for future consolidation plans.

Another change that could be settled next fall is a plan that would allow construction to continue at Oak Springs Elementary. The school in East Austin is set to undergo a $47.6 million renovation with money from the voter-approved 2022 bond.

During the construction period, Oak Springs students would attend Blackshear Elementary. Upon the project’s completion, students from Blackshear would return to Oak Springs and Blackshear would likely close.