You can definitely see the discomfort when Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura is hit with a question he'd rather not address. It doesn't happen often, but it did on Dec. 12, during a board of trustees meeting detailing the strategies the district is considering to reduce its $92 million budget deficit.
AISD already cut $30 million from last year's budget and the administration has identified another $26 million to cut this year - all without laying off teachers or touching classroom instruction. At the meeting, interim CFO Katrina Montgomery presented ways to cut $47 million more in fiscal year 2025-26. The strategies include allowing employees to work from home; reconfiguring bus routes; eliminating the district's many portable buildings; and re-negotiating contracts for special education services, among others.
Down at the end of the list of possibilities was an italicized phrase - Direct Impacts to Campuses. This was an oblique reference to the idea of closing and consolidating schools in poorer areas of town that have had declines in attendance as a result, in part, of gentrification. Such a consolidation last happened in 2019 and was traumatic for families and neighborhoods.
And Board President Arati Singh wanted to talk about it sooner rather than later. After Montgomery's presentation, she acknowledged that the idea of school closures was "super tricky, super political" but said that if closing schools is on the list she would like to see AISD begin discussions about it with the communities that might be affected, so the conversations would not have to be rushed and potential decisions could be nuanced.
"If we're going to have tough, tough decisions to make for that school year, I would love to hear from the community," Singh said. "And not just things like, 'Hey, don't cut this,' but like, 'Don't cut this, but we can live with this other thing if you want to cut that.' Like, I need to hear the alternatives, not just noes. For example, what would be worse? Would it be worse to reduce teacher planning periods, or would it be worse to consolidate some campuses? That's the kind of comparison that I really hope we elicit from the community, because eventually we are going to have to face questions like that. We can't avoid it."
Singh mentioned that in recent months she's heard from six community members who said they would be open to the idea of consolidating schools if it were done in a way that enhanced educational opportunities for neighborhood kids. She said a good beginning for the conversation would be to tour some of the district's new campuses, presumably including the Norman-Sims Elementary campus, one of the 2019 consolidations that is now considered a model of how to do it right.
Segura mostly kept his head down during Singh's comments. After Trustee Noelita Lugo amplified them, he explained that the administration's lack of community engagement on the issue was intentional, that in his experience the introduction of that kind of topic, before exploring all other alternatives, risked undermining the budget-cutting process. "So I'm in a difficult spot here," he said, "because I'm trying to thread multiple needles and create a process that doesn't compromise our values but also acknowledges that if we don't find the $20 or $25 or $30 million, then we have to go down this other path."
Fortunately, it's very possible, even likely, that Texas lawmakers will provide additional funding for the state's schools in the upcoming legislative session. So talking about closing and consolidating schools at this point could be not only counterproductive but unnecessary. However, after listening to the trustees over the last year, one gets the sense that consolidating schools is, on some level, inevitable. And it feels like the conversation is shifting from a place of reaction to one of proaction.
Following Segura's remarks, Trustee Candace Hunter picked up the thread, saying that consolidations can actually improve education, citing the success of Norman-Sims Elementary. "Norman-Sims, it didn't start out the best way but, boy, has it ended up a beautiful thing," she said. "So I'm just saying, listen to the community. ... If there's a community out there raising their hand and saying, 'We two [schools] think that we are really aligned,' let's listen."
Segura agreed that Norman-Sims has provided a case study in how to create a successful consolidation, something that could be helpful in the future. "Whenever we have that discussion, if we have to have it, I want to make sure that I can clearly communicate that this is what we observe to be the model for a successful kind of merger, and it usually has these ingredients, and then let the conversation take place," he said. "I just don't necessarily feel comfortable at this point getting into the middle of it."
And with that he let out a sigh and stated the obvious: "You're stressing me out right now."