Tag: ISD

  • Austin ISD is closing 10 schools amid enrollment challenges

    Austin ISD is closing 10 schools amid enrollment challenges

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    Dive Brief:

    • Austin Independent School District’s board of trustees approved a plan Thursday evening to close 10 schools in the Texas district by the 2026-27 school year in the midst of ongoing enrollment declines. 
    • The closures will impact nearly 3,800 students who will be reassigned to new schools in the district and the plan will cut 6,319 open seats, according to Austin ISD.
    • The move is expected to save the district $21.5 million, according to Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura during the Thursday board meeting. That amount more than covers the district’s budget deficit of $19.7 million this school year.  

    Dive Insight:

    Segura said during the board meeting that developing and carrying out this school closure plan has been “a very difficult process.” 

    Most of the schools impacted by closures are at the elementary level, according to the district.

    Segura also said he wished the district didn’t have to make this decision, “but the pressures are gargantuan.”

    Austin ISD instructed 72,700 students across 113 schools in 2024-25.

    When Austin ISD first announced it was considering school closures and consolidations earlier this year, Segura emphasized that the district lost over 10,000 students within the past decade, which led to a total of 21,000 empty seats.

    While the district’s preliminary fall enrollment data has yet to be released by the Texas Education Agency, Austin ISD has said it’s likely that the number of students attending its schools will continue to drop. 

    In recent months the district considered several factors before proposing which schools should close, including size, condition, student enrollment and operational costs.

    Elsewhere in Texas, Houston Independent School District laid off and reassigned hundreds of its teachers “to align” them “with student enrollment” as the district had previously projected a drop in enrollment by about 8,000 students this school year. 

    Houston ISD, which is under the leadership of the state, initially planned to announce a proposal this fall to close some schools during the 2026-27 school year. However, the district announced last week that Superintendent Mike Miles told principals he was no longer going to recommend any school consolidations to the board for 2026-27. There still may be a small number of consolidations needed in future years, the district said in a video update on Wednesday. 

    Texas’ districts student enrollment declines are part of a larger trend across states and districts nationwide, with the downward trajectory straining budgets tied to per pupil funding. Reasons for declining enrollment vary by state and district. An ongoing decline in birthrates has been a common factor while other education leaders have cited this year’s federal immigration crackdown and newer school choice policies for detracting students from attending their public schools. 

    As a result, plans for school closures similar to Austin ISD’s and teacher layoffs as seen in Houston are rippling across large and small school districts— from Arizona’s Kyrene School District to Atlanta Public Schools and Florida’s Broward County Public Schools to Oregon’s Corvallis School District.

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  • Houston ISD lays off, reassigns hundreds of teachers

    Houston ISD lays off, reassigns hundreds of teachers

    Dive Brief:

    • Houston Independent School District laid off 160 uncertified teachers and 54 staff members as part of “staff leveling” efforts “to align teachers with student enrollment,” according to a district announcement on Monday. Additionally, 232 teachers were reassigned to unfilled positions.
    • The district’s student enrollment data for the 2025-26 school year has yet to be released, though Houston ISD said in a February board meeting that it was conservatively budgeting for a decrease in enrollment of about 8,000 students, which would lead to a loss of $67 million in revenue.
    • At the same meeting, the district said it would consider a proposal this fall to close some schools in the 2026-27 school year. It cited a 30,000 student decline in Houston ISD’s enrollment over the last decade.

    Dive Insight:

    The major staffing shift for Houston ISD “is a standard process that ensures the most effective teachers are leading our classrooms,” said Trey Serna, a district spokesperson, in a Monday video announcement.

    When staffing adjustments are needed, Texas’ largest school district primarily considers a teacher’s performance and certification, Serna said. 

    The move comes as the district has recently reported early successes during a state takeover aimed at turning around low-performing schools.  Superintendent Mike Miles, who was appointed by the state in June 2023, reported a sharp increase in A- and B-rated schools in the 2024-25 school year and has promised that all Houston ISD schools will fall into A- and B-rated categories by 2027.

    Adjustments to budgets and staffing due to enrollment declines are a challenge many public schools are facing nationwide. 

    If declining enrollments persist, education economics researchers foresee more layoffs and hiring freezes for districts moving forward. This, they said, could lead to a broad reversal in teacher shortages. 

    Education finance experts have suggested that while districts increasingly consider teacher layoffs, they should focus on firing ineffective and uncertified educators first. 

    In September, Florida’s Orange County Public Schools announced mass teacher reassignments as it faces a sharp, unexpected decline in enrollment this school year. Because Orange County Public Schools had 157 vacancies due to a hiring freeze, Superintendent Maria Vazquez said she was hopeful the district could retain most of its instructional staff.

    Texas’ Austin Independent School District is also moving ahead with plans to consolidate some of its schools amid ongoing enrollment declines. Superintendent Matias Segura said in a Wednesday Instagram video that the district will publish its first draft for consolidation and boundary changes by Friday evening.   

    “It won’t be perfect, and it isn’t final,” Segura said of the draft plan. “Our goal is the same one our community shares: every family deserves an excellent neighborhood school that is vibrant, well-resourced, and ready to meet each child’s needs.”

    The district plans to collect community feedback and refine the plan before the school board votes on Nov. 20.



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  • Austin ISD eyes school consolidations as enrollment keeps dropping

    Austin ISD eyes school consolidations as enrollment keeps dropping

    Dive Brief:

    • Austin Independent School District in Texas is weighing school consolidations that could go into effect as soon as the 2026-27 school year, amid challenges with prolonged declining enrollment, Superintendent Matias Segura told families in a letter this week. 
    • The district also released a data rubric scoring each of its schools based on size, condition, student enrollment and operational costs. The scores will help inform any changes that might be necessary, including boundary adjustments, transfer policies, or school closures and consolidations, according to the district. 
    • Austin ISD lost over 10,000 students within the past decade — resulting in about 21,000 empty seats districtwide. And it’s likely that enrollment will continue to decrease, the district said.

    Dive Insight:

    “Right now, we’re serving fewer students than we did nearly 30 years ago, but we’re operating more schools than ever. That spreads us too thin and limits what we can offer each campus,” Segura said in the Aug. 11 letter to families. 

    “Consolidation is one piece of a bigger plan to reinvest in what matters most — strong academic programs, outstanding teachers, modern facilities and the wraparound supports that help every student succeed,” the superintendent said.

    District officials said they would make a draft plan available to the community before presenting proposed changes to the board of trustees on Oct. 9. The board is then to vote on a final consolidation plan on Nov. 20. 

    The rubric released Monday measures how aligned a school building is in serving students’ needs. It is not, however, a list of schools that are closing, Segura told families.

    The district said on its consolidation planning website that it will aim to minimize impact on students and families, balance enrollment among the remaining schools, create clear feeder patterns as students move from elementary to middle to high school, and focus on long-term stability for the district. 

    During the 2024-25 school year, Austin ISD enrolled 72,700 students across 113 schools, according to district data. 

    Austin ISD’s planning reflects a broader national trend as many districts reckon with declining enrollment, straining already uncertain school budgets. 

    The Austin announcement follows similar news from other large urban districts. 

    Last week, Atlanta Public Schools said it was in the early stages of looking at school consolidation and merger plans in the face of significant enrollment drops. Additionally, St. Louis Public Schools in July proposed shuttering over half, or 37 of its 68 schools, within the next two school years due to declining enrollment and buildings running under capacity. 

    Researchers foresee districts having to close and consolidate more schools in the coming months and years, with student enrollment unlikely to rebound. A recent analysis from Bellwether, an education nonprofit, estimates declining enrollment may have cost the nation’s 100 largest districts $5.2 billion in total lost revenue based on 2023-24 enrollment. 

    Public school enrollment changes nationally seemed to have persisted after the COVID-19 pandemic when parents increasingly explored alternatives to the traditional public school model and pivoted to private schools and homeschooling, according to a July study by Education Next. 

    Moving forward, public schools will need to continue navigating not only those shifts, but also declining birth rates and expanding school choice policies at both the state and federal levels.

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