At a special meeting Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2025, the Austin Independent School District presented a draft consolidation plan and heard public comment from about 60 people — 35 in person and 25 recorded messages — who urged the board to slow the process, correct data errors and protect neighborhood schools and dual‑language programs.

The proposal presented by district staff would close or convert multiple elementary campuses, create several non‑zoned program campuses (including schoolwide dual‑language sites and a Montessori relocation), and redraw attendance boundaries across the district. Superintendent Segura told the board the draft is aimed at creating “strong neighborhood schools” across the city while addressing budget pressures, lost grant funding and state accountability requirements; he opened the meeting by apologizing to families for the disruption the draft has caused.

Why it matters: speakers and staff said the plan could change where thousands of students attend school, reshape feeder patterns into middle and high schools, and affect staffing across the district. Commenters repeatedly warned the plan risks displacing emergent bilingual students, reducing transportation access and fracturing long‑standing neighborhood feeder patterns — concerns board members and staff said they would continue to analyze as the draft is refined.

Many public speakers described concrete impacts they said would fall on particular neighborhoods. Dozens of callers and in‑person speakers representing Pemberton Heights urged the board to preserve that neighborhood’s current zoning to Cassis Elementary; parents, teachers and neighborhood associations from Circle C, Zilker, East Austin and other communities raised similar objections over proposed rezones that would move students from Gorzycki (variously rendered in the public record) to Bailey Middle School or from Zilker Elementary to Galindo Elementary.

Parents and staff at campus‑specific communities — including Sanchez, Becker, Maplewood, L.L. Campbell and Brickell Woods — said the draft understates the value of existing programs and local community investments. Tracy Dunlap, a teacher at Maplewood and leader with Education Austin, said, “I cannot support a plan that closes thriving, diverse neighborhood schools.” Becker parents and Sanchez community members warned that shifting or concentrating dual‑language programs without guaranteeing transportation and staffing would effectively exclude many families who lack reliable cars or schedules that accommodate new routes.

District staff addressed staffing, student supports and the financial case. Superintendent Segura and his presentation team — including Dr. Maxwell (assistant superintendent for academics), Christine Seamport (operations officer), Dr. Rachel French (director of planning), Yvette Cardenas (director of multilingual education) and Dr. Lashonda Lewis (executive director, student support services) — said the draft is intended to reduce operating costs and to align facilities with where students live. The district’s draft estimates roughly $25.6 million in recurring annual savings from the combined set of proposed changes; a modeling example shown in the presentation estimated about $1.3 million saved by consolidating two similarly sized campuses into one.

Staff said the plan addresses obligations under an agreed order with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the district’s turnaround planning obligations; Superintendent Segura noted the district has lost significant grant and program funding in recent years. On bilingual staffing, Yvette Cardenas told the board that Austin ISD reported roughly 456 bilingual or ESL certification exceptions for 2024–25, a shortage the district cited as a constraint on how quickly it could expand dual‑language seats.

Speakers raised process, data and timing concerns. Several commenters challenged the demographic and enrollment numbers used to justify rezonings; one speaker said campus enrollment figures in the district’s annexed spreadsheets did not match campus records. Parents and community advocates asked for more time — some suggested a year rather than weeks — and for the board to require the administration to present multiple options rather than the single draft put forward. Trustee Hunter asked staff to post the community comment form widely and to make paper forms and QR codes available at schools to ensure broad access.

Staff described transition planning they said is already underway if the board advances any proposals. Christine Seamport said staff would survey employees in November 2025, name principals for affected campuses in December 2025, finalize staffing allocations in January 2026 and hold internal match fairs for staff in February and March 2026. Dr. Lewis outlined a transition plan for students and campus culture, and staff reiterated that the draft is a proposal open to change based on the more than 1,700 written comments the district said it had received.

What remains unresolved: the draft does not yet include final boundary maps or finalized program moves, and staff repeatedly described the plan as “proposals” that will be refined with community input. Several community members expressed particular concern about guarantees for transportation, protection of existing dual‑language cohorts and the potential loss of Title I supports and interventionists at schools that would receive new students.

Next steps: staff said they will continue community meetings and refine the draft; the district has internal deadlines tied to TEA turnaround planning in November, and staff signaled they expect to return with revisions based on public feedback. The board did not take action at Tuesday’s meeting; public comment concluded and the board moved to the scheduled information items.

Additional context: speakers and staff repeatedly noted that the district faces state accountability measures and long‑standing financial pressures, and staff emphasized prior district decisions to retain librarians, nurses and planning time while reducing other costs.