Parents, students and residents urge Leander ISD board to pause school-closure plans, cite equity and data concerns

Dozens of parents, students and residents told the Leander Independent School District Board of Trustees during the meeting that proposed closures and repurposings of neighborhood elementary schools — including Steiner Ranch and Cypress — would harm students and neighborhoods and should be delayed for more study and community input. "Closing Steiner or any other schools should be a last priority," said Charlotte Martin, a fifth-grader at Steiner Ranch Elementary. "There are so many other ways to save money, and I think if we get together as a community, we can come up with a creative solution." The speakers pressed the board to slow the long-range planning process and provide clearer data, arguing that recent changes to capacity calculations, the district's staffing plan and bond-era investments make current closure proposals premature. "Capacity calculations are being used to justify closures but when a school's capacity increases 32% overnight on paper only, we need to ask critical questions," said a parent who noted differences across campuses and the…