San Antonio Independent School District’s top leader abruptly announced his retirement on Friday, right before the district’s scheduled spring break.
Superintendent Jaime Aquino said he will retire in January 2027 to spend more time with his family, according to a statement released by the district.
“This was not an easy decision,” Aquino said. “I look forward to spending more time with my family, whom I have, for many years, unintentionally placed second to the demands of this work.”
Aquino has served as SAISD’s leader since 2022 after his predecessor Pedro Martinez left the district to lead Chicago Public Schools.
An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Aquino entered SAISD with 35 years of experience in some of the largest school districts in the country, including in New York City, Los Angeles and Denver. He worked as a consultant for Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado and a charter school network in New York before moving to San Antonio.
When he was officially hired by the SAISD board during a public meeting, Aquino read a letter to his younger self, where he talked about growing up in an “impoverished country” with loving parents who would become his inspiration.
Aquino’s departure will come only a year after the superintendent of another large San Antonio school district, North East ISD, retired from his post. In this case, the board picked one of the superintendent’s cabinet members to lead as interim.
At SAISD, officials said the board would announced “next steps regarding the superintendent search process” in the next weeks.
Aquino’s tenure kicked off at the tail end of COVID-19 shutdowns, when students were still masking, and later marked by numerous school closures in 2023. Under his leadership the district has made big moves in “rightsizing” to deal with lowering enrollment and multi-million dollar budget deficits, two issues that aren’t likely to go away anytime soon — and which most school districts in San Antonio are also dealing with.
Aquino will also be leaving as the district implements a “new way forward” to address growing challenges, which includes future bond elections, consolidating schools, tearing down some of SAISD’s oldest building and building state-of-the-art campuses that could serve as community hubs as well as traditional schools.
He will also be leaving as state and federal leaders put more political pressure on public school systems.
School board president Alicia Sebastian, who’s served on the board since 2019, said she was “deeply grateful to Superintendent Aquino for his dedicated service to public education” and for choosing SAISD nearly four years ago.
At a “State of the District” event in February, Aquino told a crowd of SAISD students and educators that though he doesn’t have children of his own, being superintendent to a district with more than 40,000 students fulfilled his lifelong dream of being a father.
He has also linked his passion for education to his upbringing in the Dominican Republic and his time serving in a seminary of the Redemptorist Order.
In Friday’s announcement, Aquino offered a message directly to students:
“You are the reason for everything we do. You are powerful, brilliant, and full of possibility. Never let anyone define your limits or tell you what you cannot become,” he said. “Long after I step away, I will continue cheering for you, believing in you, and taking pride in all that you will accomplish.
“Your future is bright — and it is yours to claim.”
