Future of 10 closing schools under review by Austin ISD From the cover
The overview
291 Temporarily used for staging equipment and furniture during consolidation and moves 9 Winn Montessori Swing site for Andrews Elementary while undergoing modernization TBD 10 Blackshear Elementary 71 AISD properties by purpose Surplus 1 Becker Elementary Appraised value: $16.09M 2 Dawson Elementary Appraised value: $62.65M 3 Ridgetop Elementary Appraised value: $11.57M 4 Sunset Valley Elementary Appraised value: $16.19M 5 Widén Elementary Appraised value: $11.08M Land banked 6 Barrington Elementary Swing site for Wooldridge Elementary while undergoing modernization 7 Bedichek Middle School District training, Special Education Department, community partners and expanded 18-plus program 8 Martin Middle School
As the 2025-26 school year ends, AISD o cials have begun assessing how to repurpose eight elementary schools and two middle schools that will close this summer. The district has proposed designating six properties as surplus, including additional land at Bedichek Middle School, which could be leased or sold to another entity. Meanwhile, the district plans to keep, or land bank, four of these campuses for other educational purposes. This spring, the district held community meetings to receive feedback on the six surplus properties. AISD sta have been collecting data to assess campuses while seeking to monetize properties to alleviate the district’s $181 million budget shortfall for scal year 2026-27, said Jaime Miller, AISD executive director of operations. The district could maintain ownership of some properties while leasing them to other groups for purposes such as “a community bene t space or a nonpro t hub” or sell them to another owner for a one-time cash payment, Miller said. “There’s a lot of interest in keeping these as community-based spaces, but if we can’t make them nancially feasible for the district, those won’t be options,” she said. AISD has already been working to repurpose several former campuses, including selling the former Rosedale School site, which closed in 2022, to multifamily housing developer OHT Partners for $26 million. The development of a 435-unit, six-story apartment complex has been delayed by a lawsuit between AISD and dozens of homeowners over whether the project violates a 1938 deed restriction. Amid the pushback, Austin City Council passed resolutions to increase the city’s involvement in discussions around repurposing public land.
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Austin
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35
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71
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SOURCES: AUSTIN ISD, TRAVIS CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT COMMUNITY IMPACT
The background
Formerly closed AISD properties
AISD has repurposed four campuses that closed in 2020 alongside the former Rosedale School and Anita Ferrales Coy Facility, which formerly housed the Alternative Learning Center. In February, the district broke ground on a mixed-use housing development at Anita Coy featuring some income-restricted units for teachers and other community members. Chris Allen, a Rosedale resident organizing the Play Fair with Rosedale group, said his neighbor- hood is asking AISD to build a ordable multifamily housing that is 100% income restricted.
Pease Elementary
Anita Ferrales Coy Facility
• Year closed: 2020 • Proposed use: early childhood education center through United Way For Greater Austin • Timeline: TBD
• Year closed: 2025 • Proposed use: nearly 700 apartment homes and nonpro it space • Timeline: Feb. 2026-late 2027 (Phase 1)
Metz Elementary
Rosedale School
• Year closed: 2022 • Proposed use: 435-unit, six-story apartment complex • Timeline: TBD
• Year closed: 2020 • Current use: home to AISD departments, including health services and nursing, library media services, construction management
SOURCE: AUSTIN ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT
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