Austin ISD outlines $177M shortfall and proposes deep cuts; teachers and parents urge preservation of stipends and planning time

Austin — Austin Independent School District officials on May 21 laid out a $176–177 million budget shortfall for 2026–27 and presented $130 million in proposed reductions, prompting an hours-long public response from teachers, parents and students who said the district should protect classroom staffing, bilingual and special-education stipends, and teacher planning time.

Superintendent Segura said the district has identified strategies that include central-office cuts, campus rescaling, duty-day reductions for some central staff and adjustments to benefits, but that about $48 million remains to be found. "There are lots of things that we're doing that are painful," Segura said, adding the administration was "being very intentional" about limiting harm to the most vulnerable campuses.

Why it matters: Austin ISD officials said staffing accounts for roughly 80% of the budget, so personnel and program changes are the primary levers for savings. Teachers and clinicians told the board that cutting stipends or moving to a reduced planning model would undermine legally required services, federal reimbursement streams and retention of experienced staff.

Front-line concerns: Several callers and in-person speakers described concrete losses under the proposed plan. "A bilingual speech-language pathology assistant on my campus would lose $5,500 to her annual compensation" under the stipend changes, said Zeb White, a speech-language pathologist. "Please protect the special education and bilingual stipends," he said.

Educators also warned about the proposed secondary staffing model several speakers described as "7 of 8" (administrators described the district's allocation as a 6.5-out-of-8 staffing model in some slides). "7 of 8 is how program erosion happens," Aaron Bourgeois, a choir teacher, told trustees. "Reject 7 out of 8. Preserve full planning time, and do not solve a budget crisis by creating a program crisis."

Administration response: Segura and finance staff said the district has been pursuing multiple parallel options — including property monetization, changes to transportation hubs, and a review of nonessential central programs — and has been working to avoid breaking Chapter 21 contracts. Segura said principals have been given allocations based on revised ratios and that Talent Strategy will meet this week to place affected staff, with final letters to impacted employees planned by June 19.

Trustee questions and next steps: Trustees pressed the administration for clearer, side-by-side comparisons of old and new stipend schedules, a campus-level list of proposed CIS (Communities In Schools) rescalings, and a public accounting of central-office reductions already made. Trustee Kaufman asked for a clear comparison so affected staff could see what would change; Segura agreed to provide more detailed materials and said administrators would avoid hasty contract breaks.

What’s next: The board heard the budget presentation as part of a regular meeting schedule that leads to a recommended budget presentation in early June and a June 25 vote on the budget. The superintendent said the administration would continue refining proposals and provide further detail to trustees and the public ahead of the formal vote.