Superintendent Josh Segura told Austin ISD trustees at a Oct. 29 work session that the district would release a revised consolidation draft on Oct. 31 and would include several addenda on academics, special-education transitions, finances and transfer policies. Segura said staff had reviewed more than 7,000 comment cards and would publish an annotated, redacted set of materials to show how public feedback shaped the draft.

The administration outlined six clarifications that will be reflected in the updated plan: rising sixth- and ninth-graders who have been following a feeder pattern will be allowed to continue at their planned school; students who transferred into a program at a campus that is later moved will be guaranteed the opportunity to remain with their cohort at the new location; pre-kindergarten students may remain at their campus; staff and sibling transfer requests will be automatically approved unless the superintendent denies them; students who live in the attendance boundary for a new schoolwide dual-language program will receive transportation from their tenant zone; and Mandarin instruction currently at Riley will be offered at Wooten.

"Continuation transfers will also include rising sixth and ninth graders if their feeder school has changed," Segura said, explaining the changes that would appear in the Oct. 31 document. "Transfer students in a school proposed to close or have a program change will be guaranteed a spot to stay with their peers at the new school location." The administration said it would also preserve staff- and sibling-transfer approvals except in cases such as application-based magnets where program rules differ.

Trustees pushed for more granular financial analysis. Trustee Singh asked for multiple sensitivity scenarios that model different enrollment outcomes and transportation costs, including conservative and aggressive attrition cases. "We need to be very realistic with the public about what the anticipated savings could be, and when," Singh said.

Segura said staff would present campus-by-campus financial detail the following Friday and apply sensitivity analysis to the district's projections. He cautioned that several variables

(vouchers, broader demographic shifts) are difficult to quantify but said staff would model enrollment swings and transportation impacts as requested. The superintendent also told trustees the administration would track every change in a "proposed change tracker" and provide a cover sheet listing outstanding areas of exploration that could not be fully resolved by Oct. 31.

Trustees said they expected the updated package to include clear timelines and translations for community use and again urged the district to provide the raw (redacted) comment-card data to trustees quickly. Segura said the working comment-card file would be available to trustees by midday the next day.

What happened next: Segura said the Oct. 31 release would incorporate the listed clarifications plus a set of attachments (an academic-framework addendum, a special-education transition plan, a finance addendum and an enrollment-and-transfer-policies addendum). Trustees will discuss the materials in a follow-up session and have asked for more detailed financial sensitivity scenarios before any final vote. No votes were taken at the Oct. 29 work session.

Sources: Superintendent Josh Segura; board remarks and recorded public comments at Oct. 29 work session.