AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Independent School District Superintendent Matias Segura said in a Monday update that reductions made in the district’s budget for 2026-2027 are necessary to help the district repair its “safety net.”
“As we close out the 2025-26 school year budget, we’re expecting our fund balance to sit at 10% — half of what is typically expected to help weather any unexpected costs,” he said. “We identified an additional $19 million in expanded reductions…which will bring our reserves back up to 13% by the end of the fiscal year.”
Austin ISD fund balance falls to 10% as district considers cuts, possible loan
The AISD board of trustees approved the $887M operating budget on June 18. It allows the district to keep its librarians, as KXAN previously reported.
Austin ISD board prepares to vote on budget plan to close its $181M deficit
The budget also made $205 million in reductions in order to close a $181 million deficit triggered by a gap in state funding, lower increases in per-student funding, declining enrollment and falling property values. Again as KXAN previously reported.
Here’s how the budget will change, according to Segura:
- 2% salary decrease for some Central Office staff
- Stipends adjusted to ensure they are tied directly to supporting students and families
- At schools with “fewer academic challenges”:
- Some teachers’ planning periods reduced to one per day
- Grades 2–5 get modest class-size increases
- Campus support roles scaled back based on enrollment
- Every school will retain a counselor and armed officer, per state law
- Smaller campuses’ assistant principals will go part-time
- Move away from the “1:1 student-to-device technology model”
- Partner-provided student support services will be concentrated to highest-need campuses
- No more bus routes for “choice schools” and the Alternative Learning Center
- Transportation hubs to be used for secondary schools; no more late activity buses for those
- District will return to “2-mile policy” for all schools
These changes will affect “more than 500 positions,” Segura said. He added that AISD has worked to keep those people employed with the district. KXAN previously reported this number as 558…