The Austin ISD Board of Trustees at its May 18 Regular Voting Meeting approved the naming of the new southwest elementary school to Bear Creek Elementary School. The campus is anticipated to open in August. 

The school is named after Bear Creek, an actual creek in southwest Austin that runs just below the site of the new elementary school. Bear Creek is also the name of a neighborhood in nearby Shady Hollow.

Bear Creek Elementary School will provide relief to the over-utilized Kiker and Baranoff elementary schools with a planned capacity of 522 students. The facility is one of the first schools to be designed and built in the 2017 Bond Program. Following the AISD vision of creating 21st-century learning spaces for students, the new elementary school will incorporate flexible spaces allowing for collaborative, interdisciplinary, and project-driven learning. The naming process for Bear Creek Elementary School engaged both the Baranoff and Kiker communities.