Austin ISD work session flags $166M operating pressure, $171M reduction target as enrollment falls

At a work session of the Board of Trustees of Austin Independent School District on March 2026, district leaders told trustees that recent enrollment declines and property-value changes have widened the district’s fiscal pressure and will require substantial reductions in the coming fiscal year.

CFO Katrina Montgomery and budget staff presented a fiscal forecast showing roughly $166 million in operating pressure for next year and stated a target reduction of about $171 million to achieve the district’s planning goals. Montgomery said portion of gap-closing plans include property monetization (cited as about $56 million) and department vacancy savings and other efficiencies; campus staffing remains the largest budget component, consuming roughly 87–88% of total spending.

“We have to think about that balance to progress the work,” the superintendent said while framing priorities and implementation risk. Board members pressed staff for clearer KPIs and for a mechanism to track progress, with Trustee Singh asking for sample KPIs that would demonstrate whether the work plans are producing measurable results.

Staff told trustees that enrollment fell compared with the prior planning snapshot: the presentation referenced an earlier planning number and showed an October snapshot and an average-daily-attendance figure used for planning; presenters said the snapshot enrollment used previously (72,303 cited in the presentation) differs from the enrollment number carried into budget planning and that a roughly 4% decline in enrollment this year has increased the projected deficit.

Budget staff explained the district’s conservative approach to planning—using adjusted enrollment figures and cohort averages to model staffing—and warned that staffing is the budget line most sensitive to enrollment swings. They described a multi-year cadence to budgeting and said some KPIs and data collection systems to track progress are still being developed.

Trustees asked when campus-level detail would be available. Staff said they would provide more detailed information and scheduled a follow-up information session on April 6 to review specific campus buckets and to allow ad hoc work with board members and staff.

The superintendent and budget staff emphasized a priority to limit disruptions to campuses and protect instructional staff where possible: “If we’re 10 million short here or 15 million short there, I want to know which red button we hit to save the staffing here,” a trustee said, summarizing the board’s focus on protecting classrooms.

The board did not take votes at the session; staff characterized the materials shown as a fiscal forecast rather than a recommended or final budget and said detailed proposals and recommended actions would return to the full board for consideration in subsequent meetings.

Next steps: staff will return with campus-level breakdowns and additional details at the April 6 information session and continue work to refine KPIs and the FY26/27 budget proposal.