On Monday, the Austin Independent School District board of trustees met for its latest discussion on school closures. It’s a discussion that has continued since late last year when it was determined AISD would be facing a $65-million budget deficit for the next fiscal year.
The district says the closures are not an ideal solution, but they are necessary in order to address things like student equity, modern learning enviornments, and socio-economic diversity.
Superintendent Dr. Paul Cruz said Monday the board will have a difficult decision to make in the coming months as boundaries begin to shift and new schools open for business.
“We have to address boundary changes. There’s a new southwest elementary, a new southeast Blazier relief, and a new northeast middle school,” Cruz said.
AISD’s guiding principles are as follows:
I. Ensure equitable access to programmatic opportunities that engage and inspire all students.
- Ensure services are provided to meet the diversity of student needs and remove barriers to academic success
- Increase the comprehensive menu of rich options to appeal to diverse student interests that mitigate programmatic deserts
- Consider all regions for a district-wide, holistic approach
- Strengthen the connection of programming within the feeder pattern
- Increase the number of students who have after school and extracurricular offerings f. Consider staffing and staff performance (retaining high quality)
II. Put more students in reimagined, 21st-century learning environments that engage and inspire.
- Increase average Education Suitability Assessment score
- Increase average Facility Condition Assessment score
- Ensure strong culture, climate, and safety at campuses (families, students and staff feel welcome at a school)
- Increase building utilization while considering programs and boundaries
- Reduce portable classrooms
- Do not add students to create over-enrolled schools
- Strengthen and stabilize student population levels within feeder patterns
III. Maintain assigned school concept and other choices options.
- Optimize opportunities for socio-economic diversity while balancing proximity to neighborhood schools
- Consider road patterns, travel duration, proximity, and start/stop times to increase number of students with reasonable access to an elementary school
IV. Reduce financial obligations not directed toward student learning and support.
- Redirect investments to student support
- Mitigate projected increase in transportation costs (Consider impact of transportation cost on program access)
- Minimize negative impact to taxpayers
- Reduce deferred maintenance costs
V. Optimize facility use to benefit students, families and communities.
- Partner with municipalities, health care organizations, county government, the City of Austin, Travis County, and others to align assets with our community needs. (affordable housing, private development, recreation spaces, shared use, social services, and workforce housing)
- Maximize opportunities for co-locating Non-Governmental Organizations, nonprofits, and other partners in facilities or shared sites
The school board will vote in August on which specific campuses to close.
