As a member of the Austin community, I am opposed to AISD’s School Changes 2019 proposal in its current form (9/2019). I ask the AISD trustees to vote NO to school closures and ask AISD to redraft the proposal using equity as the foundation. 

AISD’s School Changes 2019 proposal will result in more harm than good, and it will not yield the savings projected by the Chief Operating Officer. Research and history has shown that school closures end up costing the school district more than estimated savings. 

The school closures proposal:

• Negatively and disproportionately impacts low-income families and students of color. The schools slated for closure are “majority non-white students,” meaning Black, Latinx and multiracial students will receive the brunt of the impact.
• Ignores feedback from the impacted school communities and families. Those families have repeatedly stated that they value the historical and cultural significance of their campuses. They have pleaded with AISD for help with maintaining and revitalizing their existing campus. Parents of impacted schools have asked AISD to help make their campuses more attractive to increase enrollment and draw students back from charter schools. 
• Ignores recommendations from both FABPAC and the Budget Stabilization Taskforce, namely that boundary changes should occur first and school closures should be taken as a last resort, not a first measure, to address AISD’s budget shortfall.
• Will not solve the inequity and racial segregation AISD claims it aims to address. AISD claims school consolidation and closures will be a first step in reversing the historical inequities of the past. However, four of the schools slated for closure will be moved to campuses with lower facility scores and already strained or limited educational resources. The promised new buildings are not fully funded and depend on a future bond that is unlikely to pass. Furthermore, AISD has not used most bond money from 2017 to maintain and fix buildings that are being proposed for closure. This increases distrust in AISD bonds and decreases likelihood of future bonds passing.
• Continues AISD’s complicity in Austin’s disgraceful history of unequal treatment of Black, Latinx, and low-SES neighborhoods, and the unchecked gentrification of communities with majority Black and Latinx families, which drives low-income and working-class families out of Austin. 
• Demonstrates AISD’s biased school curriculum decision-making. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of STEM/IB programming will go to campuses with economically advantaged communities and racially homogeneous student bodies (majority white), which are unrepresentative of Austin’s racial diversity.
   

I ask AISD to propose a restorative “school changes” model guided by the Chief Equity Officer and incorporating community feedback, so that AISD can accomplish its stated goal of improving equity and educational outcomes for all AISD students.