District officials have identified $130 million in potential cuts, including districtwide magnet school transportation, reducing the number of police officers and changing how substitutes are paid. The lack of a plan is creating uncertainty for teachers and parents as they head into summer.
Members of the board of trustees have been critical about potential budget cuts that would directly affect teachers, such as increasing the student-teacher ratio and reducing planning time.
The district originally said it would release a plan for the next budget by Thursday. Now, it won’t be released until June 4, adding to the uncertainty teachers and parents have been feeling for the last few weeks. At Thursday's board meeting, Superintendent Matias Segura said district officials have identified $130 million in potential cuts. He said they pushed the date to share the recommended budget while they work to find close to $50 million in additional cuts.
"This isn't an opportunity for me to take things off the list,” Segura said. "There's refinement, there's adjustments, but $180 million is not something that can be covered by going backwards. ” Board members have asked the superintendent to reconsider cuts that would impact teachers. Trustee Kathryn Whitley Chu asked if the district has considered any feedback given by the board and questioned the current timeline, raising concerns about the changes that could impact teachers.
"It feels like the community and the trustees didn't get to be a part of the planning process,” Whitley Chu said. "We're in a position now where it looks like the administration is planning to move forward with something that the community and the trustees aren't comfortable with. ”by the budget cuts. May 15 was the deadline for principals to meet with potentially impacted staff, but some teachers didn't hear those updates until this week.
Some positions would be fully eliminated, others would move from full-time to part-time. Parents and teachers who spoke during the meeting said the uncertainty is affecting their decisions for the next school year. Parents said they still don’t know what programs will be offered at the schools their kids are enrolled in. Teachers said the proposed cuts are affecting the trust they have in the district..
She was planning to teach art at Casey Elementary next year, but on Wednesday was told her position is potentially going to be affected by the cuts.
"They say that our work doesn't go unnoticed. But the way that they have gone about this really demonstrates that it has,” said Coro, who is one year away from retirement.
"It just feels like I've just been strung along. And it's been really painful, disappointing, scary. ”a two-year plan with an estimated cost savings of $19.8 million. The plan would increase the number of students per teacher for second through fifth grade and cut planning time for middle school and high school teachers.
These changes would not affect schools with turnaround plans or those with an unacceptable rating from the Texas Education Agency. Teachers who were not affected by the potential cuts said they are also feeling the uncertainty, since they could be taking on more responsibilities because of staff reductions and more periods to teach.
"We're supposed to do curriculum writing in June, but we don't know what to write for anymore,” said Mindy Le Jeune, an art teacher at Bowie High School. "Because no one knows what we're gonna teach or who's gonna be the teacher. So it seems like everybody's just in a standstill. Even our admin is too, which is unfortunate.
” The information on how the budget will be balanced has been slowly trickling out as the district has been presenting information to the board. But the exact numbers and cuts are yet to be presented.stipends with estimated savings of $1.9 million. Segura has repeatedly said that the stipends for educators who interact with students would not be affected.
During a work meeting last week, Segura said some of the potential cuts include, reducing the number of police officers, changing the stipends for substitute teachers and creating a “partial fee” transportation model — where some families would have to pay — for districtwide magnet programs. District officials have identified $130 million in potential cuts, but the exact numbers are yet to be shared with the board and the community.
Some of the potential cuts presented Thursday include increasing the number of school days, reducing the “duty days” and pay for staff up to a certain level, cutting non-teaching staff, changing the transportation model for middle schools and high schools and adding properties to the list of real estate that can be sold. Other options to reduce the budget include reducing property insurance costs, cutting back on outside consultants and travel expenses and eliminating cellphone stipends overall.
The district is also thinking of closing its in-house printshop, as less paper is being used. Last week Segura also mentioned there would be “structural changes regarding the org chart,” but did not provide further details. In previous years, AISD officials have also faced tough decisions to balance the budget, including in 2025 when they decided to closeof central office positions, which impacted more than 170 employees.
For the 2025-26 school year, the district approved a budget with a projected $19.7 million budget deficit. Since then, the The proposed AISD 2026-27 budget is set to be made public on June 4. The board is scheduled to vote on the spending plan by mid-June. It will take effect on July 1.
AISD Layoffs Austin ISD Budget Deficit Matias Segura School Funding Teacher Cuts Teachers Texas Education Aisd Budget
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