Superintendent Matias Segura and Austin ISD staff presented a draft consolidation plan at a community meeting at Sunset Valley Elementary that would close Sunset Valley Elementary as a zoned campus, reassign its neighborhood students to Cunningham and Boone elementary schools and move the campus’s wall‑to‑wall dual‑language program to Odom Elementary.

The district described the proposal as a regional, multifaceted effort to reduce empty seats, align feeder patterns and address financial strain. “We simply cannot continue without introducing real risk into our system, financial risk,” Superintendent Matias Segura said, explaining the urgency behind the one‑year timeline the district proposed.

The plan and why it matters

District staff said the plan seeks to position programs where student populations support sustainability and to reduce the number of under‑enrolled classrooms across Austin ISD. Under the draft, Odom would become a non‑zoned, receiving school for the wall‑to‑wall dual‑language model; Sunset Valley’s neighborhood students would be rezoned to Cunningham and Boone. District staff said they aimed to avoid concentrating consolidations in one part of the city and to preserve access to dual‑language instruction for emergent bilingual students.

“We do have enough seats at Odom for if we just basically took all of the students that are participating in dual language at Odom Elementary and took all of the students that are participating in dual language here in Sunset Valley, we would have enough seats for both campuses,” said Yvette Cardenas, who identified herself as supporting campuses with multilingual education and early learning.

Key details and district commitments

- Timeline: The district said the changes are proposed to take effect in August 2026. Staff said they are working on a tight timeline to allow families time to plan ahead of registration and hiring cycles.

- Seats and class size: Staff said the district will not change student‑to‑teacher ratios as part of the plan. Jennifer Pace and other staff noted the legal standard referenced is a 22:1 student‑teacher ratio, and the district said principals typically manage exact class sizes based on enrollment and student needs.

- Transfers and priority seating: District staff said families zoned to Sunset Valley could apply for priority seats in Odom’s dual‑language program; transfers from other wall‑to‑wall dual‑language campuses would be prioritized behind Sunset Valley families but ahead of other transfer applicants. Staff said they are refining transfer language and policy details.

- Transportation: The district said it is “very close” to committing to provide transportation within the receiving attendance areas for emerging bilingual students at the four receiving elementary schools (Odom, Pickle, Sanchez, Wooten), but that transportation for students living farther outside the receiving boundaries is more nuanced and may not be available in every case.

- Special education: Dr. Cherry Lee, assistant superintendent of special education, said special education services (speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, behavior supports, nursing where applicable) will follow students according to their individualized education programs (IEPs). The district said it does not plan to reduce special education positions and that ARD/IEP meetings will be held to determine placements and services for students whose campuses consolidate.

Community concerns raised at the meeting

Residents and parents raised multiple concerns during the Q&A, including: whether Odom will physically accommodate the combined dual‑language populations; whether transportation will be guaranteed for families who walked to Sunset Valley; how feeder patterns and middle‑school matriculation will be handled for students at a non‑zoned Odom; the future use of the Sunset Valley campus site; and whether bond money recently spent on Sunset Valley would be wasted.

District staff answered that local bond projects (for things such as secure entry vestibules, HVAC and life‑safety improvements) proceeded under prior planning and TEA safety compliance expectations and were not undertaken with knowledge of the draft consolidations. Superintendent Segura said the market value of sites or potential redevelopment revenue did not factor in the selection process: “Not a single point in the process [was] the value of any one of these tracts of land come into play.”

Other technical and policy points

- The district said pre‑K students were considered in the draft and that transfer and enrollment language would be clarified in the next plan version; staff indicated pre‑K continuation language would be updated for clarity.

- Staff said they intend to name principals for the affected schools in December if the board approves the plan, because principal placement supports staffing and transition planning.

- The district said changes in federal funding (Title I/II/III/IV) and state accountability timelines increase the urgency for a plan that stabilizes program enrollment and staffing. Staff said the district seeks to maintain Title I allocations by ensuring student counts meet thresholds, but warned of federal policy changes that could shift funding formulas.

Process, next steps and how to comment

Staff said an updated plan would be released next Friday (per the meeting timeline), a board workshop would be held the following week, and the board aimed to take final action on the draft at a meeting currently scheduled for Nov. 20. The district said the public comment period remained open through Oct. 28 and that staff were reviewing thousands of submitted comment cards.

What the district did not decide at the meeting

This meeting presented a draft proposal and fielded community feedback; no board vote or final decision occurred at the session. Staff repeatedly described the proposal as a draft subject to change based on community input and board action.

Ending

District officials encouraged families to continue submitting comment cards and said staff are compiling revisions for the next public draft. The district intends to post the updated plan and answer remaining scenario questions before trustees consider a final vote.