North East Independent School District’s school board could approve closing three schools at the end of the academic year as soon as November. 

This week, Superintendent Anthony Jarrett has been meeting with families from the three schools recommended for closing: Montgomery, Dellview and Oak Grove elementaries.

All three of those campuses meet NEISD’s criteria for consolidation: fewer than 450 students, below 60% campus utilization and a higher than average cost per child. 

Student enrollment declines have been hitting most school districts across the state and country, especially in large metropolitan areas. The second-largest district in San Antonio, NEISD currently has 51,393 students, but a decade ago, the district had over 61,000 students. 

“Never in a million years did we think … that we actually have to consider closing schools because we don’t have enough kids,” Jarrett told families on Wednesday in Montgomery Elementary’s cafeteria. 

During that meeting, Jarrett explained why he’s proposing closing Montgomery and what support NEISD would provide affected families. He also laid out his vision on how Montgomery could be repurposed if it closes. 

Consolidation timeline

Assuming the school board votes to close the three elementary schools, NEISD plans to transfer students from Montgomery Elementary to Windcrest Elementary nearly 3 miles away. 

Dellview Elementary students would go 1.7 miles away to Colonial Hills Elementary and Oak Grove Elementary students would go 1 mile away to Regency Place Elementary. 

NEISD officials also plan to meet with affected families in January to set up transition plans. 

“We will have resources and support for you,” Jarrett said. “Transportation will be here. Special education services, dual language, school choice, school nutrition.”

Montgomery’s staff size is small enough that most teachers would have spots at the receiving campus, Jarrett said, but that may not be the case for the other two schools being proposed for closure. 

Jarrett also said there wouldn’t be staff layoffs at the schools being proposed for closure. 

Montgomery families were concerned about keeping students and staff together, especially special education students who may have more difficulty with change. 

Parents were also worried about access to transportation and what would happen to Montgomery’s principal, Terry Click. Jarrett told the San Antonio Report that principals are usually placed in open principal spots in NEISD or co-lead at the receiving campus until a position opens up. 

Officials said they are reviewing bus routes for the proposed move to Windcrest, and elementary students would not be expected to walk more than a quarter mile to a stop. 

If Montgomery does close, Jarrett said there are several possibilities for repurposing the campus: a reduced-cost childcare center, an event space available for rent, a discovery learning center or a place to relocate the district’s adult and community education programs. 

Why NEISD is losing students

NEISD is dealing with a $20 million budget deficit, and closing three elementary schools would save $4.06 million, officials say. 

At the end of the 2024-25 school year, NEISD closed two elementary schools and one middle school, which saved the district about $6.6 million. But this school year, enrollment dipped by 1,700 more than officials budgeted for. 

“Operating expenditures are exceeding our revenue due to lower enrollment,” Jarrett told families. In Texas, public schools are funded based on student enrollment and attendance. 

Base public school funding has stayed relatively stagnant since 2019, with the state providing increases largely for safety equipment and teacher raises. 

As for why NEISD lost so many students last year, Jarrett said he could only speculate about increased immigration enforcement and higher costs. 

According to the district’s own analysis, NEISD is the region’s fourth most expensive school district to buy a home in, behind Alamo Heights ISD, Boerne ISD and Comal ISD.

What officials do know is that birth rates have been declining for several years and homeowners are staying in their houses longer, which means NEISD’s families are aging out of the K-12 school system. 

Jarrett said 70% of NEISD’s families don’t have school-age children.

Birth rates started steeply declining around 2008, said Lloyd Potter, Texas’s recently retired state demographer. 

“In particular, we noticed that the Hispanic population had a fairly steep decline in birth rates,” Potter said. “The declining birth rates, of course, are having an impact in Bexar County.” 

Potter also pointed to NEISD’s empty nesters. “Their kids grew up there, went to school there, and they’re still living there, but their kids aren’t, and their kids aren’t there having babies,” he said. 

There are likely some parts of NEISD that are still growing, Potter said, but not at the same rate as years prior. 

In the future, as new generations move into the district, NEISD could decide to reopen schools if demand increases again, a rare but not unseen phenomenon. 

“Ten years from now, everybody who’s aging in those neighborhoods is either going to die or move into assisted living or something like that,” Potter said. “Those houses will then become available … that could be something that happens in the inner city school districts that are losing enrollment.”

‘Fierce’ competition for students

In recent years, over 10,000 students have transferred out of NEISD and roughly 8,000 of those have gone to charter schools, said Jarrett. 

There’s also about 2,000 students within the district’s boundaries participating in the new Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, which allows families to use state funds for private school tuition and education services. 

In the face of declining enrollment and swelling school choice, school districts have also grown more competitive with each other. 

After the unexpected dip in enrollment last year, NEISD’s board voted to open the district’s boundaries to attract more students across Bexar County. 

This move to boost enrollment, also taken by neighboring districts, yielded 386 students for NEISD for the 2026-27 school year. 

“It may feel a little icky because that means some other district may be losing, but now we’re in a world of competition, and we had to make those choices,” said Jarrett. “We have been trying to do everything to say ‘pick us.’ … The reality of it is, there may not be anybody to pick us because birth rates are down and competition is fierce.”

NEISD is also beefing up its magnet school options, expanding career and technical education tracks and opening more specialized early-college high schools. 

Closing Montgomery, Dellview and Oak Grove at the end of the 2026-27 school year wouldn’t be the end of consolidations at NEISD. 

Last month, the district identified 16 schools that met all the criteria to be considered for closure but left several of them untouched because they have students affected from previous closures or had better facilities. 

“We’re talking about Montgomery today,” Jarrett said. “We’re going to have to talk about somebody else next year and somebody the year after that.”

If Montgomery does close, Katie McCart said she would likely transfer her kindergartner and second grader to Windcrest as long as their teachers went with them. 

McCart owns a home right down the street from Montgomery and often walks her kids to school. They’re also within walking distance of her in-laws, who help out after school. 

“It’s still upsetting. … Change is hard,” McCart said. “I want to make sure that my kids are happy and keep their friends.”