Austin (KXAN) – Austin’s independent district of schools said that enrollment numbers in the province leave a lot of schools under their capacity and see the closure of the campus and monotheism as part of the solution.
While he refused to specify the number of universities that could be closed, Matthias Sigura said it would be “more than a handful”, adding that the region is looking to reduce costs by $ 30 million.
This statement comes days after the province was issued new data showing universities that have the largest number of open seats, and announced a goal for all universities to reach at least 85 % of the academic year 2026-27.
The boycott is currently reviewing data and will meet with society and stakeholders to obtain reactions before completing the list of universities that must be closed in October.
Segura spoke to KXAN about this process and the other challenges facing the province as a new academic year begins.
This interview was lightly released for clarity and brevity.
Tom MillerISD loses students for years, and he looks at this closure and unification. Can you explain the scope of the problem?
Matthias Sigura: Here in Austin ISD, you have grown with the city. As the city changed, we have had a decrease in joining over the past ten years. We have seen some sharp declines, eight, nine years ago, but they were really settled. It is about 73,000 students, but when I slept to this size several years ago, we built a lot of schools. While we are thinking about becoming more efficient, because we have limited resources, we need to make sure that these resources go where they are needed. We have to think about doing things differently, and this means reducing our general silence within the ISD as much as the structures and number of buildings. The idea here is, let’s determine where we have an imbalance in our system. Where are the issues of border change or border alignment issues? Where do we have the headquarters of the team’s vertical? Where do we have transfers that create unintended consequences? Where do we have excessive schools? The idea is during the next two months to work with our societies, work with employees, work with stakeholders, and determine the options that can be. We will make a recommendation in early October.
Tom: How many schools are you looking for?
SiguraWe did not specify the number of schools. A healthy system contains between 85 and 90 % of its seats filled with primary and middle schools and high school. We have numbers ranging from 76 to 84 %. It’s more than a handful, I will say that, but we are not completely ready to give an actual number. The total cost that we aspire to reduce is about $ 30 million.
TomDoes this mean that teachers and employees will lose their jobs?
SiguraWe are lucky because we can absorb a lot of changes due to the attrition we see on an annual basis. In Austin, we have a very healthy drain rate of 5 %. But we still see about 600 teachers, or from 400 to 500 teachers, they move every year. We will be able to find homes for almost every one employee. Even if we have two schools together, the number of students is added together. So we will have the same number of teachers who support them collectively. But where do we see savings on administrative costs, right? He is the main principal, schools, all this support.
Tom: There are some new laws in force, including the base of the lack of mobile phones used on the campus. How will the boycott do that, and what is your personal opinion about that?
SiguraI support reducing correspondence and cell phone devices in our schools. I feel strongly that we need systems in place to control mobile phones. We will help us to be more effective teachers. Our policy will ask our students to keep their mobile phones in their bags, out of view, and not operated. We want to make sure that it can be reached if there is an emergency, so we try to achieve this balance.
TomAnother new law related to the ten wills, and the condition of publication in each semester. Is this something we can expect to see on the first day of school?
Sigura: Not in ISD. The way the law is written, it must be donated to us. We have more than 5,000 semester, and we have no limited resources.
TomWhen we start a new academic year, what are you looking for or you are excited?
Sigura: ISD is incredible. If you choose ISD and go anywhere else in the state, we may not be able to do the things we do. We are a lot in our values and philosophy about public education. We are Faridon in that we are a school system between 50 and 50 years in relation to economically deprived students. There is a wonderful texture of cultures in our society. We are closer to the end of the arrangement overlap in tea in relation to private education from the beginning. This will be a significant lifting of this organization. Some time has passed since we got this kind of stability in our organization. We are 97 % of employees. We were not there at some time. The systems are in place, the goal now is to continue, do difficult work around the budget, address modifications. These things are aligned, we are one ISD. This is our school area, and we need to protect it.