Austin Independent School District
Austin Independent School District
Learn about the latest News & Events for Austin Independent School District, and sign up to receive news updates.
Learn about the latest News & Events for Austin Independent School District, and sign up to receive news updates.
Austin Independent School District (“Austin ISD”) plans to price approximately $750 million of Unlimited Tax School Building Bonds, Series 2024 (the “Bonds”) on or about March 26, 2024. The pricing date is preliminary and subject to change. The Bonds are the second installment of bonds being issued to fund district-wide projects approved by voters as part of a $2.44 billion November 2022 bond election.
Cabrera Capital Markets LLC will serve as Lead Manager in the sale of the Bonds, with UMB Bank, N.A. serving as Co-Lead Manager.
Austin ISD anticipates the issuance of a single series of bonds with a 25-year amortization. The preliminary official statement and official statement for the Bonds will be available via BondLink at BondLink.com and via the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s Electronic Municipal Market Access system at emma.msrb.org.
Austin ISD anticipates that the proceeds from the sale of the Bonds will be used for (1) the design, construction, acquisition, rehabilitation, renovation, expansion, improvement and equipment of school buildings in the District (including but not limited to improvements to enhance safety, security, and energy efficiency) and the purchase of the necessary sites therefor and the purchase of new school buses, (2) the design, construction, acquisition, rehabilitation, renovation, expansion, improvement and upgrading of technology systems, infrastructure and equipment, (3) the design, construction, rehabilitation, renovation, expansion, improvement and equipment of stadium facilities in the District, and (4) paying costs of issuing the Bonds.
This news release is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Bonds. Any such offer or solicitation will only be made pursuant to the applicable preliminary official statement and/or official statement that prospective investors should review in entirety before making any investment decision.
The Austin ISD School Board of Trustees appointed Matias Segura as the district’s superintendent at its regular board voting meeting Thursday.
Segura's deep roots in the Austin ISD community, as both a former student and the son of a longtime teacher, make him uniquely qualified to understand and address the needs of the district.
He attended Kocurek Elementary, Covington Middle School and graduated from James Bowie High School. His mother was a former teacher serving more than four decades at Austin ISD.
The board officially extended and approved a contract for Segura during the meeting.
Segura is currently completing a Superintendent Educator Preparatory Program, which along with other requirements would allow him to obtain a Superintendent Certification.
Background
The budget process for the 2024-25 school year has begun!
What to know: The Austin ISD Finance Department presented a budget update to the school board and explained how we’ll work to reduce our $52 million budget deficit for this fiscal year.
The department is focusing on some key areas within the district to reduce the deficit.
What they’re saying: “Our goal is to reduce our overall budget deficit by 50%. Once a budget is adopted we begin to perform budgetary reviews, making sure they align with the district scorecard and initiatives,” said, Eduardo Ramos, chief financial officer at Austin ISD. “That process is year-round as we continually monitor our budgets.”
What’s Next: We’ll present a preliminary budget to the board in April and the final budget is scheduled to be adopted in June.
Get involved: The district will host a series of community conversation throughout the spring semester where everyone is invited to weigh in on budget priorities.
Full event details are listed on the district calendar.
Thank you for your support in 2023! Over the last year a lot of work has gone into the 2022 Bond projects and we’re wrapping up the year on a high note.
On Dec. 12, we hosted the construction kick-off for Odom Elementary School — the first major school renovation as part of the 2022 Bond. The upgrades to Odom’s open-concept floor plan will fully enclose learning spaces and improve safety for students, teachers and staff.
In the new year, we will continue gathering community input, which is an essential step for the bond projects. Keep an eye out for community meetings at the following schools in January and February:
Follow the 2022 Bond calendar or sign up for campus newsletters here to learn more about upcoming community engagement opportunities. Visit AISDFuture.com for more details about your school’s project.
In case you missed it, watch our 2022 Bond 1-Year Anniversary video to learn more about 2022 Bond progress and what has been accomplished so far. The Spanish version can be viewed here.
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Austin Independent School District (ISD), Texas' Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and unlimited tax (ULT) bonds as follows:
--Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'AA+';
--Approximately $2 billion in outstanding ULT bonds at 'AA+' (underlying rating).
The Rating Outlook is revised to Stable from Negative.
It's been one year since Austin voters approved the $2.44 billion 2022 Bond Program.
Thank you to the Austin community for supporting these much-needed improvements that benefit students across the district!
Over the past year, we’ve been building the foundation to support all the 2022 Bond projects.
By the Numbers: Some of the highlights from year one include:
The bottom line: These projects wouldn’t be possible without the support of our Austin ISD community. We are honored to work alongside students, teachers and staff to bring these projects to life and improve the learning experience across the district.
Go deeper: Watch our 2022 Bond by the numbers video to find out more about the status of the 2022 Bond.
AUSTIN– Thursday evening, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved changes to the Superintendent profile and voted to proceed with posting the position for the long-term superintendent.
Board President Singh explained that the board had several options to name a permanent superintendent. One of them was to do a national search, which would take several months to complete. The other option would be to post the position immediately if they felt a national search was not necessary. When school boards do this, it’s typically because a strong candidate has been identified already.
The board voted to post the position from November 17, 2023 until 5 p.m., December 7, 2023.
“There was an overwhelming message of wanting stability, focusing on strengthening systems to improve student’s outcomes and wanting someone with a demonstrating commitment to Austin ISD,” President Arati Singh said. “Although we have a strong internal candidate we are committed to considering every application that is received.”
On March 30, the Board of Trustees paused the current superintendent search and extended the contract of the Interim Superintendent through June 30, 2024. Their decision was to ensure that the most urgent issues were addressed and that the 2023-24 school year was strong and successful.
“We’ve been progressing, we see an improvement in climate and culture, increase in retention and staffing,” said Matias Segura, Interim Superintendent of Austin ISD. “I think Austin ISD is well positioned to do great things and I’d love to continue to be a part of it.”
At the end of October, the Board of Trustees resumed their community and staff conversations to seek input on the profile and hiring process. These conversations helped shape the board’s revision to the superintendent profile as well as their decision to forego a national search.
The board will review the applicants during their Dec. 7 executive session.
In November 2022, Austin voters approved $2.44 billion in bond funds for improvements across the district. Since then, the district has been designing projects, ordering materials and gathering community input.
What you need to know: We’ve held 33 Campus Architectural Team meetings for our communities to provide input on the design and function of the open-concept schools.
How it works: Principals of the four open-concept school renovations and nine modernization projects selected the members of their CATs, which include teachers, parents, students and community members who will work with the architects to ensure that the schools are designed by and for the communities they serve.
Get involved: We’re still recruiting for CATs as we kick off more modernization and comprehensive projects this fall.
Learn more about joining a CAT and stay up-to-date about upcoming CAT and community meetings.
All open-concept, modernization and comprehensive projects with a CAT will host at least four community meetings throughout the design and construction process to share timely updates and continue to gather feedback.
HUB support: Since the voters approved the 2022 Bond, we’ve hired providers for 40 different services with more than 120 businesses.
Go deeper: For more information on the 2022 Bond Program visit AISDFuture.com.
Early Friday morning, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a $1.86 billion budget for the 2023–24 fiscal year, which starts on July 1.
The budget includes $940 million in recapture payments to the state, about 50% of the district’s total expenditures for the year.
On May 18, the trustees approved across-the-board pay raises for all district teachers and staff for the 2023–24 school year. Trustees agreed to spend $52 million of district savings to fund the pay increase.
“Our commitment to increased pay is already showing strong results. This time last year, the district faced about 1,000 teacher vacancies. Today, we have just 80 vacancies. When our students return in August, we expect every campus to be staffed with the highly-qualified teachers, librarians, principals, counselors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians who are essential to every child’s success,” Trustees Arati Singh and Lynn Boswell wrote this week in the Austin American-Statesman.
The new compensation package provides meaningful raises for all teachers and staff:
On Tuesday, voters passed all three of Austin ISD’s bond proposals, an investment of $2.44 billion in local schools.
Why it matters: Nearly every campus will receive improvements with these bond funds, which will help the district save money on repairs and maintenance by modernizing many of its older campuses, freeing up money that can be used to increase teacher pay.
What they’re saying: “This is a day to celebrate, and now we roll up our sleeves and get to work. We are 90% finished with work from the 2017 bond package, so we can hit the ground running on these new bond projects to advance equity in our community.” --Board of Trustees President Geronimo Rodriguez.
More info: Voters also elected four former new members of the Board of Trustees and re-elected one incumbent.
What’s next: The district will be forming architectural teams with families and community stakeholders for all campuses that are slated for renovations.
Yesterday evening, the current AISD Board of Trustees met with the four newly elected members who will be joining the board Dec. 1. Our shared goal was to begin discussing the process of choosing a new interim superintendent to serve Austin ISD until a permanent hire is made.
As current and future trustees, we stand together at a moment of many transitions. We know that you stand here with us – part of our Austin ISD community that cares deeply about our students, our staff, our district, and our shared success.
This is also a moment of opportunity. Our community sent a clear message of support for Austin ISD by passing a historic $2.44 billion bond last week. Enrollment is steady, with families across our district choosing Austin ISD schools for more than 73,000 students. Thousands of teachers, bus drivers, custodians, principals and other staff are working to ensure that great things happen every single day in our schools. The love we all share for the district and our students is a powerful source of strength, and we thank each of you for all that you do to support and improve our schools.
As we begin to plan for this important transition, we want to share an update with the Austin ISD community so you know where things stand, what to expect in the weeks ahead, and how you can be part of this process.
Thank you for being part of our Austin ISD community, and thank you for working with us to serve our students, support our staff, and strengthen and celebrate our schools.