Austin ISD Faces Pushback Over School Closure Plans

By Olivia Ahrens

Reporting Texas

Students and parents rally outside AISD headquarters. Olivia Ahrens/Reporting Texas

Austin ISD is moving forward with plans to close several schools next year, despite growing resistance from parents, teachers and community members.

The district has scaled back its initial proposal from 13 campuses to 10, but families continue to attend board meetings and rallies, urging officials to slow down and reconsider the closures.

Outside AISD headquarters this week, dozens of parents and teachers gathered with signs calling on the district to save their schools.

“My school is on the first closure list. We’ve since been taken off, but we decided we still needed to come out and support all of the other students, families, teachers and staff being affected by this poorly conceived plan,” said Adam Sparks, a parent at Maplewood Elementary School.

While some campuses, including Maplewood, Bryker Woods and Palm elementary schools  were removed from the latest closure list, educators say uncertainty remains.

“What my union, Education Austin, is asking for, is a guarantee that everyone will have a job,” said Traci Dunlap, a teacher at Maplewood Elementary. “The district is not really willing to offer that guarantee.”

District leaders say the cuts are necessary to address declining enrollment and rising costs. Superintendent Matias Segura acknowledged the difficult nature of the decision.

“It’s not lost on me that these decisions that we’re making are not short-term decisions,” Segura said. “These decisions and the changes that we’re recommending will change this district really forever.”

The AISD board is expected to vote on the proposed school closures early next year.