Southwest Austin - Dripping Springs | April 2024

Austin ISD faces budget deficit, high transfer rate From the cover

By the numbers

The overview

District transfers The amount of students that have transferred out of Austin ISD has increased by 89% over the past ten years.

Enrollment at AISD has remained on a steady decline for the past five years. From the 2017-18 school year to the 2022-23 school year, the district experienced an 10% decline in enrollment. The number of students who have left AISD increased by 89% from the 2012-13 school year to 2022-23; enrollment within the same time frame has not seen any major growth, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. There are a few outliers in the area, including Dripping Springs ISD, where enrollment has steadily increased over the past five years, while both transfers in and out each year have remained at the same pace, according to the TEA. “Just because you have students leaving doesn’t mean that your costs necessarily dimin- ish,” Popinski said. “The decline in enrollment is not spread out equally among campuses.”

Transfer data from the TEA shows 90% of students that transferred out of AISD for the 2023-24 school year choose a charter school. These are public schools and receive federal funding but are subject to fewer state laws, according to the TEA. Bob Popinski, senior director of policy for public education advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas, said for the 2023-24 school year a drop in enrollment impacted traditional Texas school districts while charter schools saw an increase in enrollment. “Over time, we have seen a drastic increase in enrollment in our charter schools, and a decrease in enrollment especially in urban areas of traditional school districts,” Popinski said. Popinski noted that some of the enrollment issue are due to early childhood education not enrolling at the same level it was prior to 2020, and potential upticks in private and homeschooling. No Texas agency tracks private or homeschool student enrollment. Matthew Abbott, superintendent of charter Wayside Schools, said many student transfers come in during the middle school years—sixth to eighth grade—and are often from surrounding districts, such as AISD or Del Valle ISD. “[Students are] transferring in usually because the parents are wanting a dierent opportunity for their kids, or they felt like maybe their [students’] needs were not met wherever they were before,” Abbott said. Wayside Schools saw over 1,600 students transfer in for the 2022-23 school year, with 76% coming from AISD, according to data from the TEA. Wayside did not report any transfers out.

0 4.5K 9K 13.5K 18K Transfers in Transfers out 0

16,222

2,479

Students transferring from AISD into charter schools and other school districts in 2022-23

Charter schools

School districts

14,689

1,067

Top schools AISD students went to in 2022-23

3,347

Idea Public Schools

Enrollment decline

3,034

KIPP Texas Public Schools

1.958

Harmony Public Schools Austin Achieve Public Schools

Enrollment

Census total school- age population (5-19)

1,494

150K

1,256

Wayside Schools

835

Valor Public Schools

120K

SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCYCOMMUNITY IMPACT

110,334

90K

U.S. Census Bureau data shows over 110,000 school-aged children lived within AISD’s boundaries in 2022. The district’s enrollment for the 2022-23 school year was over 73,000, meaning the district captured about 66% of local students.

60K

73,384

SOURCES: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU/COMMUNITY IMPACT

COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM