San Angelo ISD says enrollment decline could force elementary closures; rezoning planned for 2027

Taylor Kingman, president of the San Angelo Independent School District Board of Trustees, opened the Jan. 12 pre‑agenda meeting and introduced a long‑term planning presentation from Superintendent Dr. Moran addressing enrollment, staffing, and fiscal pressures.

Dr. Moran said recent demographer forecasts project district enrollment in 10 years between 10,453 (low) and 11,747 (high) students, compared with about 12,300 students now. "Declining enrollment translates into less money to educate our students," he said, and reported a current $2.1 million shortfall for this school year and projections that the shortfall could grow to more than $4.3 million within 18 months if the trend continues. He added that "the current savings of closing one elementary school is over $900,000," based on the district's savings estimates.

The presentation also documented staffing gaps across the district: Dr. Moran reported roughly 27 manual trades vacancies, 21 paraprofessional vacancies, 30 teacher vacancies and 10 open administrator positions districtwide. He said the district paid about $125,000 in penalties in fiscal 2025 for retiree rehiring and is currently paying "about $11,000" per month in penalties to hire retirees to fill classrooms.

To address the combined fiscal and staffing pressures, Dr. Moran described a rightsizing approach informed by a facility evaluation and a scoring rubric that ranks campuses on condition, age, capacity, expandability, special programs and educational adequacy. "According to the score sheet, the lowest score in campus was Reagan. Next was Bowie, Santa Rita, and then Glenmore," he said, noting those campuses scored worst in the district's evaluation.

Board members and parents pressed for alternatives before approving closures. One parent, who identified himself in public comment as Virgil Posetti, told the board, "today, your agenda is let's close some more schools," and urged a policy that closures only occur when replacement schools meet an 'A' standard and that displaced students transfer to higher‑performing campuses. Board members asked administration to provide detailed rezoning plans showing where students would be reassigned and to explore other cost‑saving options such as moving administrative offices or alternative calendar models.

Dr. Moran said rezoning would be a months‑long community and committee process intended to "disrupt the least number of families" and recommended making attendance‑boundary changes effective July 1, 2027 if the board decides to close campuses. He emphasized that the board must decide which schools, if any, to close and that the facility advisory committee's role is to develop boundary options for the board's consideration.

The board did not take votes on closures during the Jan. 12 pre‑agenda meeting; Dr. Moran said administration will prepare options and data for the board and that the district will solicit community representation for any rezoning committee. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 20, where additional information, including an audit presentation, is expected to be presented.

Ending: The board concluded discussion of long‑term planning without a vote and planned further review: administration will provide detailed rezoning options, staffing and budget estimates to inform any future action on campus closures.