This week, Southwest Independent School District school board members approved the closure of Sky Harbour Elementary School to deal with a budget deficit and shifting enrollment trends.
Sky Harbour currently has 592 students and will close at the end of this school year.
District officials said closing the campus will save SWISD $6.5 million since the school was in need of several construction and maintenance projects and is expected to lose enrollment as population growth moves farther south in Bexar County.
Demographers for the district predicted enrollment for the school could have dropped below 400 as soon as the 2026-27 school year.
“Making this decision — we won’t take it very lightly. We’ve been studying this trying to figure out the best way to do this,” said SWISD Deputy Superintendent Brandon Crisp.
SWISD serves about 14,800 students on San Antonio’s far Southwest Side inside and outside Texas 1604 Loop, reaching parts of Von Army, Lytle and Lacoste. The Sky Harbour campus sits inside the loop, landlocked and without room to grow, Crisp said.
Student enrollment moves outside 1604
Following population growth on the South Side, SWISD plans to open a new elementary school outside Interstate 410 between Monarch Highway and Palo Alto Road, a project funded by the district’s 2023 bond election.
To accommodate for the new campus, named the Juan Alvarado Elementary School, and the closing of Sky Harbour, the district also redrew the zoning boundaries for two other campuses: Indian Creek Elementary School and Hidden Cove STEAM Academy.
Indian Creek and Hidden Cove are both underutilized, operating with fewer than 470 students even though max capacity at both schools is 880.
Indian Creek and Hidden Cove are predicted to lose enrollment at a slower rate than Sky Harbour and are both B-rated campuses by the state. By moving students from Sky Harbour to these two schools, the campuses will have an enrollment closer to 650, officials say.
Crisp also predicts about 200 of Sky Harbour’s students will transfer to the new Alvarado campus based on the district’s new zoning lines. The goal in “rebalancing” SWISD’s enrollment is for campuses to use at least 85% of classroom seats, he said.
School closures unpopular but ‘necessary’
School districts in Texas get paid per average student daily attendance, meaning higher enrollment is better for public schools.
“Sky Harbor and that area is hurting us fiscally because of enrollment,” Crisp explained. “Smaller campus are more expensive to maintain anywhere.”
SWISD currently faces a $3.4 million budget deficit, a financial feat faced by most districts in San Antonio.
The district first gave Sky Harbour families notice of the closure Oct. 22 in a letter and later, held parent meetings on Nov. 7. The decision to close was met with pushback from Sky Harbour parents.
Sylvia Ramirez said she moved to the Sky Harbour neighborhood specifically for the school.
“Let’s consider what this closure would mean for our communities,” Ramirez told trustees at a Nov. 18 board meeting. “Loss of community — Sky Harbour is not just a building. It’s a gathering place for families, a place where friendships are formed and where our children learn the values of teamwork and cooperation. Closing it would sever these vital connections.”
SWISD is not the only San Antonio school district to close campuses facing budget challenges and declining enrollment. Earlier this year, North East ISD closed three campuses and last year, San Antonio ISD closed more than a dozen campuses for similar reasons.
Local education experts say school closures can be necessary for the financial health and academic growth of an entire school district.
“While closures are painful, they can also be acts of responsibility and care when done with transparency and integrity,” Jillian Duran, chief of operations and investments at City Education Partners, writes. “As our city grapples with declining birth rates and shifting enrollment patterns, we must lead through these changes in ways that protect both our children and the future of public education in San Antonio.”
Next steps for SWISD
District officials said closing Sky Harbour will not result in job losses, since several positions will either transfer to receiving campuses or will be open at Alvarado, opening next year.
Alvarado is also set to receive students from Spicewood Park and Southwest Elementary Schools, both campuses with more than 700 students.
SWISD will work on notifying families affected by consolidation to let them know which campus they’ll be zoned to for the 2026-27 school year, and transportation will be provided.
Students are also allowed to apply for a transfer to a school outside their zoning, but the transfer is contingent on the student’s academic standing and approval by the campus principal. Crisp said transportation would not be provided for students attending schools they’re not zoned to.
The district did not say what it plans to do with the Sky Harbour campus once it’s empty.
“This has not been an overnight decision, we did a lot of studying to find a solution,” said SWISD School Board President Sylvester Vasquez Jr. “But I do want the Sky Harbor community to know that your board of trustees will do everything possible to help make this change as smooth as possible.
