Austin ISD public commenters urge board to revisit end of campus-funded positions and retain graduation coaches

At an Austin Independent School District information session on May 13, 2021, multiple parents, former trustees and teachers urged the board to preserve community-funded campus positions and retain graduation coaches at Title I campuses as the district prepares its fiscal year 2022 budget and staffing plans.

Speakers said the district’s decision to end positions funded at the campus level risks losing staff who perform outreach and student-reengagement work. "These valued staff members go door to door in the community to find missing students and convince them and their parents and guardians that they need to return to their campuses," former trustee Anne Theich said, arguing that graduation coaches’ work "cannot be effectively done by already overburdened assistant principals or justices of the peace."

Theich urged trustees to keep graduation coaches at Title I middle and high schools, saying their work is tied to students returning to school and to state attendance funding the district receives. Several speakers echoed that view: an interpreter relayed Aurelie Rodas’ comments in English, saying of a Burnett graduation coach, "She is bilingual and does an extraordinary job," and asking that the district "take into consideration all the work she has done for many years."

Teachers and parents also raised concerns about timing, communication and staff protections. "I am very concerned that the timing and communication of this decision prevents a productive conversation," said Brennan Cruiser, identifying himself as an AISD teacher and parent. He argued staff and campus administrators were not given sufficient notice and asked the board to consider how to retain affected educators. Parent Ruth Tovar said staff were being asked to apply for their jobs by May 14 and warned this conflicts with the district’s strategic-plan priorities, which include teacher and employee well-being.

Not all public commenters opposed the change. "PTAs are not supposed to carry significant balances in their accounts from year to year," parent Emily Sawyer said in support of the administration's move to stop allowing individual campus PTAs to fund staff positions, arguing the practice exacerbates inequity between campuses. Sawyer said PTAs that pay salaries create an unfair advantage for better-resourced schools and expressed support for limits on PTA-funded positions.

Discussion-only: These statements were made during the public comment portion of the information session; there was no formal board motion, vote or directive recorded in the transcript excerpt. Commenters pressed the board for greater transparency about the timing and mechanics of staffing changes, retention plans for affected employees, and how those decisions will align with the FY22 budget and the district’s strategic plan.

Background: Commenters framed the graduation-coach role as focused on outreach and re-enrollment at Title I campuses and described the role as bilingual in at least one example. Speakers tied fiscal consequences to attendance-based state funding and warned that losing these positions could affect both student outcomes and district revenue.

The board did not respond to these public comments in the transcript excerpt provided; the items were presented to trustees for listening as part of the public comment period.