Austin Independent School District officials presented a proposal to reassign students from Oak Springs to Black Share as part of a districtwide “transformation” plan and told neighbors the board will consider the recommendation at its meeting next Thursday.

District leaders said the plan is intended to create stronger, better-resourced neighborhood schools. “En el centro de este plan es que todas las familias tienen que tener acceso a un vecindario, una escuela en el vecindario que sea excelente,” the meeting host said, summarizing the district goal of improved access and supports.

Why it matters: Parents and staff said the consolidation could produce heavy short-term disruption — displacing classroom cohorts, changing teacher assignments and altering transportation for students who currently walk to school. Several speakers urged the district to hold joint community meetings so Oak Springs and Black Share families can weigh in before any final decision.

What district officials said: The superintendent, who said he has led the district for three years, described several legally allowed turnaround options under Texas accountability rules — reassigning a school’s students to another campus, restarting a school under new leadership, charter partnerships or creating a new campus or grade-span configuration. He told the meeting the district is working on design and logistics and will publish a final draft Friday for the board to review Thursday. “No hay decisión, esto es en realidad basado en lo que hemos escuchado de otras personas,” he said, emphasizing the proposal was still being refined.

Community concerns: Parents asked how the district will keep student groups together, whether the smaller Oak Springs campus will be broken up, and how transportation will be provided for students who currently walk. Emely Flowers asked how students would be kept connected to teachers and said parents feared communities could be split: “Los niños van a estar conectando con los maestros… y después van a ser divididos,” she said. A number of speakers stressed Black Share’s historic identity and local programs and requested plans to limit long-term harm to community ties.

Budget, facilities and timeline: District staff acknowledged tradeoffs between short-term disruption and long-term cost savings, and noted some campus buildings need modernization. Officials mentioned portable classrooms and the age of some units as factors in deciding where permanent construction is justified. Specific budget numbers were discussed at a high level but were not finalized at the meeting.

Next steps: District staff said they will post the draft plan on Friday and the board will consider a motion on reassignment next Thursday. No formal vote was taken at the meeting. The superintendent also committed to arranging additional community meetings with both neighborhoods to review options.

Context and caveats: District speakers referenced state accountability timelines and ratings from 2023–2025 as drivers of the urgency behind some proposals and said the Texas Education Agency has been involved in monitoring. Officials and community members offered differing perspectives about whether consolidation would raise or lower academic performance; no new performance data beyond summaries presented at the meeting were supplied.

The board’s scheduled consideration next Thursday will be the next formal step; the district said it will return to the community with more details and materials before that session.