Dozens of parents, volunteers and students told the Lake Travis Independent School District Board of Trustees on Sept. 17 that the district should reverse a recent decision to cancel elementary school field trips. Speakers said the cancellations remove important hands-on learning opportunities and that the decision was not communicated clearly to families.

Parents and volunteers told the board that field trips provide exposure to museums, farms, science centers and live theater that in-classroom or online activities cannot replicate. “Field trips are foundational,” said Hailey Van Wageningen, a Lake Point Elementary parent. “The greatest gift we can give [students] is a love of learning itself. That spark is lit through fun, through curiosity, through moments when the classroom walls expand into the world.”

The appeal included personal accounts of missed milestones: Darby Pearson, who has four children in LTISD, said fifth-grade twins would miss their last elementary field trip after also losing kindergarten trips during COVID. “This is personal for my kids,” Pearson said. Kristen Powell, another parent, asked the board to improve how the decision was communicated, saying some families first learned of the change from a Facebook post.

Speakers suggested alternatives including increased PTO contributions, help from the Lake Travis Education Foundation and modest per-student fees. Jordan Stewart, who compiles classroom memory books, said field trips are “an equal opportunity for everyone” in the district and recalled that most students name trips as their favorite memory. Zelda and Samantha Kernan, students at BK Elementary, also spoke, telling trustees that field trips teach social etiquette and give physical, outside-the-classroom learning that “computers” cannot replace.

Board policy and state law limit discussion of agenda items raised during public comment; the district reminded attendees that specific grievances should follow the grievance processes in board policies DGBA, FNG and GF and that the Texas Open Meetings Act prevents board deliberation on items not posted on the agenda. The board did not take immediate action during the meeting on the field-trip cancellations.

The parents’ comments came at the start of the meeting during the public comment period, before several agenda items on finance, construction and committee organization. Speakers repeatedly asked for clearer, top-down communication and asked the board to consider bringing back traditional off-campus trips rather than in-school alternatives. They also acknowledged district financial constraints but said many PTOs and the Lake Travis Education Foundation indicated willingness to contribute toward trip costs.

The district did not state a timetable for revisiting the field-trip policy during the Sept. 17 meeting. Trustees and staff who took part in subsequent agenda items did acknowledge tight operating budgets and state funding dynamics that constrain discretionary spending.

If the board chooses to address the issue further, common next steps would include an agenda item on funding or policy, an administrative report clarifying legal or budget limits on parent contributions, or directing staff to evaluate alternatives for restoring trips while complying with district procurement and bond rules.