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District overview

Austin Independent School District

How Austin ISD is funded, governed, and what's underway right now

Why does Austin ISD send $630 million a year to the state?

A property-wealthy 'recapture' district under state law

Austin's property values generate more local school tax revenue per student than the state's funding formula guarantees the district. Under Texas Education Code Chapter 49 ('recapture', sometimes called 'Robin Hood'), a district in that position must send the excess to the state, which redistributes it to lower-wealth districts. For the FY2026-27 budget the board adopted, that payment is $629,781,625 -- about 41% of the district's entire general fund. That structural gap, on top of declining enrollment, is the backdrop for the budget cuts and campus closures described below.

Local taxes exceed the state's per-student guarantee

Austin ISD's per-student property-tax base is high enough that state law treats the district as 'property wealthy', triggering recapture rather than state aid.

About 41 cents of every general-fund tax dollar leaves the district

The FY2026-27 adopted budget sends $629,781,625 of the $1,536,606,808 general fund to the state under Chapter 49, rather than spending it locally.

The gap has driven real cuts, not just a budget line

The adopted FY2026-27 budget includes a district-prepared 'List of Reductions' covering both overall spending and department staffing.

The board does not set tax rates on its own

The FY2026-27 total tax rate ($0.9184 per $100 of property value: $0.7954 for day-to-day operations, $0.1230 for bond debt) is bounded by state law; exceeding certain thresholds generally requires voter approval.

Recapture is not a sign AISD is mismanaged -- it affects most property-wealthy Texas districts under the state's school-funding formula. The November 2025 campus-closure plan followed a public evaluation process (community comment cards, a board work session, and a public update) rather than a unilateral decision, and the board's June 2026 surplus-property vote explicitly reserved a further board vote before any building is actually sold or leased.

Where the district stands

FY2026-27 total adopted budgetverified
1,806,308,968 USD
FY2026-27 recapture payment to the stateverified
629,781,625 USD
FY2026-27 total adopted tax rateverified
0.918 USD per $100 value
Campuses the board voted to close (Nov. 2025)verified
10 campuses
Total enrollmentcontext
72,272 students (2024-25)
General fund spending per student (context)context
~21,300 USD/student

Major projects

2022 Bond Program -- mechanical/electrical/plumbing replacement

active

A districtwide pilot to replace aging HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems using 2022 bond funds, delivered through Job Order Contracts with three vendors.

Next: Continued Job Order Contract task orders (capped at $2,500,000 each) for districtwide MEP 'like for like' replacement projects.
  1. Board approves $36,000,000 for bond-funded professional services (23RFQ106)
  2. Board increases professional-services funding to $51,000,000 total, citing more construction/renovation activity than originally scoped

Funding

2022 voter-approved bond

Campus consolidation and closure plan

closures in effect for 2026-27; property disposition underway

A districtwide plan closing 10 campuses for declining enrollment, budget shortfalls, and state accountability ratings, now moving into deciding what happens to the vacated buildings.

Next: Board votes on specific lease, sale, or redevelopment agreements for the 6 surplus properties; the remaining 4 sites (Martin MS, the Bedichek MS building, Barrington ES, and Winn Montessori) stay land-banked, with Barrington and Winn currently used as swing space for the Wooldridge and Andrews campus modernizations.
  1. Board work session on the proposed consolidation plan
  2. Community comment-card update presented to the board
  3. Board votes to close 10 campuses effective 2026-27
  4. Board declares 6 of the 10 closed properties surplus, recommending reuse, lease, or sale

Funding

General fund (planning); future property sales/leases are a prospective revenue source, not yet realized

FY2026-27 budget adoption

adopted

The district's annual general fund, food service, and debt service budgets, adopted alongside a list of spending and staffing reductions.

Next: Tax rate must be formally adopted no later than September 30, 2026, once the certified appraisal roll is received (or 60 days after receipt, whichever is later).
  1. Board holds the public hearing and adopts the $1,806,308,968 budget the same day

Funding

Local property tax and state formula funding, net of recapture

Local elections & school board members

Elections & votes

Board electionScheduled

Austin ISD Board of Trustees election (Districts 1, 4, 6, 7, and At-Large Position 9)

Austin ISD

Five of the board's nine seats are on the ballot: single-member Districts 1, 4, 6, and 7, plus At-Large Position 9. Austin ISD contracts with Travis County to administer the election.

Official source · verified Aug 23, 2026

School board members

This page is built from Austin ISD's own board-meeting records: the Diligent Community ('iCompass') portal the district uses for agendas, at austin-isd.community.diligentoneplatform.com, covering meetings from September 18, 2025 through August 13, 2026. The district's prior BoardDocs archive (go.boarddocs.com/tx/austinisd) could not be collected -- see Limitations.

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