The Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted to approve 24 state-mandated turnaround plans. The Board’s action included additional votes, which approved the closure and consolidation of 10 schools due to TAPs and programmatic moves, beginning in the 2026–27 school year.
The Board’s vote on school closures and student reassignment is also designed to address long-term budget challenges by eliminating empty seats and consolidating resources into fewer, better-resourced campuses, ensuring all families have access to an excellent neighborhood school. In total, this plan impacts 3,796 students and eliminates 6,319 seats, allowing the district to invest in Austin ISD campuses and boost positive student outcomes.
“I recognize this has been a period of disruption and has been emotionally taxing on our families, staff and community,” Superintendent Matias Segura said. “This work is hard, but we must evolve if we want to ensure all students get what they need to learn and thrive in a system faced with immense pressure.”
Background
District leaders began work on the school consolidation and boundary change plan in March 2025. Since then, the district held more than 170 community engagement sessions and received 28,164 pieces of feedback. This collaborative effort led to an initial draft plan on Oct. 3, which included the proposed consolidation of 13 schools, districtwide boundary changes and programmatic moves.
In early November, Superintendent Matias Segura separated the plan into two phases. The 24 turnaround plans and the corresponding school closures and consolidations and programmatic moves moved forward to the Nov. 20 vote. Districtwide boundary changes and additional school consolidations related to balancing enrollment will be brought back to trustees in the future for a vote.
Turnaround plans are required by the Texas Education Agency for campuses that have received multiple unacceptable accountability ratings. These plans are due to the agency Friday, Nov. 21. Approving these plans allows Austin ISD to move forward with intensive school-improvement work on 24 campuses over the next several years, rather than risk state-ordered interventions such as campus closures or a state takeover of the district. The plans will now be submitted to TEA for final approval and will guide how each identified campus strengthens instruction, staffing, and student support.
What’s next
Austin ISD is committed to supporting students, families and staff through this change. Impacted students and families will receive information today that walks through the changes and options for the 2026-27 school year.
After the Fall Break, district staff will visit each impacted campus so families have opportunities to ask questions and understand the resources available to facilitate a smooth transition through the end of the year and into the 2026-27 school year. These visits will include individualized support for families with program relocations to understand what options are available before the first round of enrollment opens in January.
The Board’s action is one step in a broader, multi-year effort to balance enrollment, strengthen academic programs, and ensure every student has access to an excellent neighborhood school.
Austin ISD will continue working with the Board of Trustees to develop a timeline to bring back a proposal to balance enrollment with boundary changes and additional school consolidations.
More information
Information about turnaround plans: austinisd.org/school-improvement
Information about school consolidations, closures and boundary changes: austinisd.org/consolidate