Austin ISD eliminating jobs at its central office to reduce budget deficit

Austin ISD is trying to slash up to $10 million in spending by restructuring its central administrative office. Staff will learn the future of their positions Wednesday.

“The process will include eliminating positions, reassignments, new reporting structures and pay scales,” district officials told KUT News in an email.

The changes at the central office, which will take effect on Aug. 1, are part of an ongoing effort to reduce Austin ISD’s budget deficit, which currently totals about $93 million.

District officials proposed the reorganization as the school board prepares to approve the 2025-26 budget this month. It’s not yet clear how many employees will be affected.

“We are closely reviewing Central Office positions to identify opportunities for savings while minimizing the impact on staff and maintaining our commitment to supporting schools and students,” Austin ISD officials said. “At this point, we do not have a target number of employees.”

Superintendent Matias Segura told employees in late May the reorganization would happen in phases, beginning with assistant director-level roles and above. But, about two weeks later, he told employees the changes were all going to happen at once.

“A combination of new, unanticipated costs—including school restart plans, additional special education costs due to a slower phasing out of our reliance on contractors than we were aiming for and curriculum expansion — has left us with no choice but to expedite those efforts,” officials told KUT News in an email.

Compensation is largest part of budget

The district eliminated 77 positions in the central office last school year, according to district officials. Fifty-nine of those roles were vacant.

Still, a 2024 cost-savings audit commissioned by the school board found the district could stand to make more cuts to its central office. The Gibson Consulting Group noted the number of senior management positions within the district has increased even as student enrollment has declined. It estimated Austin ISD could save $6.6 million if it eliminated 48 director-level positions.

Segura has repeatedly said the district wants to avoid making cuts that directly impact the classroom, but remarked at a school board meeting last week, central office roles support schools.

“Every single person in this building, in this organization has a role to play,” he said. “I believe that.”

Austin ISD School Board President Lynn Boswell said trustees will sometimes hear from people who want even deeper cuts.

“We know we could eliminate central office and still not get to where we need to be,” she said. “And the work does support our campuses and we’re having to make really horrible, hard decisions right now.”

Amanda Brownson, deputy executive director of the Texas Association of School Business Officials, said about 80% of a school district’s budget goes toward compensation.

“It’s very hard to make a substantial dent in a district budget without hitting staffing in some way,” she said.

Brownson said when districts are considering staffing cuts, they will typically look at non-classroom staff first. But she said it’s important for districts to look at where they may be overstaffed, whether that’s in a central office or a school.

“What we recommend they do is some benchmarking and look at similarly sized districts by position,” she said.

Other deficit-reduction strategies 

Central office staffing cuts are not the only strategies the district is recommending to reduce its budget deficit. Other options include requiring departments to make more than $15 million worth of budget cuts, reducing property insurance costs and extending a hiring freeze that’s currently set to end June 30.

Austin ISD also plans to consolidate schools in an effort to cut costs. The school board is expected to vote in November on which campuses to close; the closures would take effect during the 2026-27 school year.

The district is also anticipating about $36 million in additional revenue from the state as a result of an $8.5 billion school funding bill the Texas Legislature passed this year.

The new law requires most of the funding to be spent in specific ways, such as increasing teacher pay. That leaves about $9 million that Austin ISD can use to reduce its deficit. Austin ISD’s chief of governmental relations, Jacob Reach, said the new funding amounts to about a $551 increase in funding per pupil.

“We needed about $1,300 [per student] to keep up with inflation,” Reach told trustees at last week’s board meeting.

The board is scheduled to vote on the 2025-26 budget June 26. Board members will also vote then on plans for three middle schools that have received failing grades from the state. Plans to improve Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools will cost $1.7 million per campus.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.  

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