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Austin ISD considers consolidating schools
Austin ISD is looking at ways to cut its budget as the district faces a $100 million deficit. One of the main ways consultants suggest cutting funds is to consolidate schools.
AUSTIN - As costs increase and funds decrease, budget cuts are necessary for one of Central Texas' largest public school districts.
Austin ISD budget concerns
Photo: Julie Zweig (FOX 7 Austin)
By the numbers:
The Austin Independent School District has a more than $100 million budget deficit.
"The board approved the budget in June of 2024 with a deficit of $78 million," said Katrina Montgomery, the district's Interim Chief Financial Officer. "Now we're projecting that the budget deficit will be $110 million."
The district is running out of time to decide on what needs to go. The 2025-2026 fiscal school year budget has to be approved by June.
"There's no good or fun cost-saving options because we're operating at the bare bones here," said Montgomery.
In the general budget update portion of the meeting, board members stated that cost-reducing measures that have been implemented have already proven effective. However, there is still work to be done.
Some cost-cutting measures have already been implemented, including an active hiring freeze, which will continue through June 30th.
"Our income statement is telling us that we're reducing our expenses, which is what we want," said Montgomery.
Cost-Cutting Options
What we know:
An audit from Gibson Consulting took a look at the district's budget starting last August.
The group looked at options to reduce the budget by about $63 million.
"The objective of this audit was to identify major cost savings opportunities to help address the projected budget deficit fiscal 2026," said Greg Gibson, the President of Gibson Consulting.
According to the Gibson Audit, school consolidation is the top cost-saving option. AISD has more than 95,000 seats available for students, but around 25,000 are empty.
While consolidating looks easy on paper, with an estimated cutback of $43 million, the numbers are not exact.
"The total savings if the district moves forward with this will be dependent on the number of schools that it wants to recommend for consolidation," said Gibson.
Not to mention the other factors that come into play when discussing closing schools.
"It's important to recognize that closing a school comes with emotional and financial costs," said Gibson.
What we don't know:
The audit did not detail which schools would be likely to close.
If consolidations do happen, the smaller elementary and middle schools will likely be selected to close.
"Your high schools are all pretty big high schools," said Gibson. "So there were no consolidation opportunities there."
The Source: Information in this article comes from an audit from Gibson Consulting and comments made at an AISD board meeting.