Earlier this year, San Antonio Independent School District developed a five-year strategic management plan called Always Learning to ensure we deliver on our promise of high-quality education for every child. What became clear as we collaborated with our community to create Always Learning was that we could do better for our children by ensuring each student had the same access to extraordinary educational experiences and resources regardless of the campus where they were enrolled. In order to deliver this level of educational equity, we needed to address school facilities that were becoming emptier, underutilized and under-resourced.
Earlier this summer, our Board of Trustees called for a study of school building capacity to “rightsize” student enrollment with building capacity, for the purpose of supporting thriving schools, classrooms, students, teachers, and school leaders.
The study will assess all of the district’s schools, analyze the student enrollment at each school, evaluate if SAISD is providing high-quality education as promised, consider whether the building is being used effectively and determine whether resources are fairly distributed to support all children. The result of the study may lead to restructuring to better serve students. Rightsizing may involve closing school buildings, co-locating schools to the same campus or consolidating multiple schools into one school.
Change is always difficult, but it also brings new opportunities.
This is our opportunity to begin open and frank conversations with our entire community about the inequities created after decades of declining enrollment. Fewer students are the result of lower birth rates and families unable to afford living in the urban core. Only about 20% of our student loss is a result of in-district parents selecting out-of-district options. In fact, in large urban districts across the nation, school district leaders are facing the same challenge of the need to downsize.
As demographers Van Schoales and Brian Eschbacher wrote in EdWeek last year, “Many demographers have focused on the long-term risk to Social Security or Medicare posed by the lower birthrates, but K-12 education is actually the first institution to be dramatically affected. Shrinking is hard. But it does not have to be catastrophic, and if done thoughtfully, can even be an opportunity to restart or build higher-quality schools.”
In SAISD, we believe that rightsizing will allow us to reimagine the way we support all students so both children and educators benefit.
Some of the advantages could include consistent student-to-teacher ratios and campuses having greater access to extraordinary academics, special education services, fine arts and athletics, among other essential services such as social-emotional learning and mental health support. Teachers may no longer be at a campus where they are the only ones teaching a certain grade level or subject, and now with peer educators, be able to collaborate on curriculum and feel more supported, further enhancing a child’s education and a teacher’s experience. Students also may experience a broader range of student peer interactions, and now with more educator and staff support, receive more enrichment or intervention services based on their individual needs.
All of these advantages could lead to more thriving students and staff, and therefore, more thriving schools — and that is the ultimate goal of this study.
We will stand by our staff and families throughout this process, beginning with gathering and acting on their input. We have developed a framework for evaluating campuses that is available for review and feedback on our website. In August, we will host in-person meetings in each trustee district. Community feedback will shape the initial recommendation we present to the board in September.
After the board presentation, we will publish the initial recommendation on our website for additional review and feedback and hold another round of in-person meetings. A final recommendation will go to the board in November, which if approved, allows time for families to select the best school option for their children for the 2024-2025 school year. There will be no impact to schools in the 2023-2024 school year. Additionally, our expectation is to keep most, and preferably all, staff. We expect minimal impact on our campus staffing.
I am confident we will emerge from this stronger. We want to — and we will — live up to our promise of an excellent education for all students.
