Board of Trustees approve $887 million budget for 2026-27 school year, preserve librarians districtwide

After district leaders cut $205 million in operating expenses for the upcoming school year, Austin ISD Trustees approved a $887 million budget, which includes a $19 million infusion to the district's fund balance, or savings.

The budget included an amendment to preserve librarians at all Austin ISD schools, a nearly $1 million investment. The funds will be drawn from the fund balance and restored in August 2026 with additional reductions identified by Superintendent Matias Segura.

This budget comes after months of hard decisions and painful conversations that reduced staff districtwide by more than 500 positions and shifted operating structures for staffing ratios, transportation and additional central office reductions.

The approved budget includes $1.48 billion in revenue from Austin taxpayers and $630 million to be sent to the state as part of recapture. Austin ISD is the highest payer to recapture in the state.

Inside the budget
Key changes for the 2026-27 school year will be felt districtwide as reductions are implemented at both the campus and centralized support levels. Approved budget reductions include:

Designated positions in Central Office staff will experience a 2% decrease in annual salary, the average equivalent to 5 duty days.

Stipends districtwide were adjusted to ensure any stipends were tied directly to work to support students and families.

While these reductions directly affect more than 500 current positions in the district, district leaders have worked to support staff and keep as many people employed within the district as possible. Certified campus staff under contract were offered placements in alignment with their certification area.

At schools with fewer academic challenges, some teacher's planning periods will be reduced to the state minimum (one per day), and grades 2-5 will see modest class-size increases.

Campus support roles will also scale back based on enrollment. While every school will retain a counselor, smaller campuses may transition to part-time assistant principals.

The district will move away from a universal 1:1 student-to-device technology model to minimize student screen time and prioritize rich, interactive instruction. Through the academic visioning process, guidelines for providing device access based on specific student needs and developmental appropriateness will be developed.

Partner-provided student support services will be scaled back to concentrate on our highest-need campuses.

A number of transportation changes will be implemented including:

Discontinued districtwide bus routes for several choice schools & the Alternative Learning Center

Transportation hubs for secondary schools

Discontinued late activity buses at secondary

A return to standard 2-mile policy for all schools

Rebuilding the fund balance
Years of deficit budgets compounded by increasing operating costs, declining enrollment, declining property taxes and near-stagnant state funding has district leaders laser-focused on increasing district savings.

The 2025-26 school year budget will end with a projected 10% fund balance - half of what is typically expected to help weather any unexpected costs. $20 million in expanded reductions were added to the 2026-27 budget to actively increase the savings to 13% by the end of the fiscal year.

Future budgets will need extra attention to find additional reductions, not only for the operational budget, but also to build back the fund balance to a healthy 20% of operating costs.

What's next

The budget includes an expected $60 million in revenue from real estate transactions before the end of the fiscal year. $31 million will be realized through restructuring staffing, attrition and leveling by December 2026.

While district leaders continue to find reductions for the 2026-27 school year, planning for the 2027-28 budget will begin almost immediately to cut back the budget by $60 million to account for the one-time real estate sales this year.

To learn more about the budget and dig into the details, visit the Austin ISD Budget website.

Get involved

As districts across the state, along with Austin ISD, grapple with deficit budgets, public education advocates are expected to continue vying for increased school funding when the Legislative Session opens in January 2027. However, district leaders cannot bank on legislative funding for the 2027-28 budget as the session ends just weeks before budgets are due for approval.

Information about the Ad Hoc Community Budget Committee for the 2026-27 school year will be released in the near future for community members who are interested in understanding and creating the district's financial priorities.

Read more about the objectives of the 2025-26 Ad Hoc Community Budget Committee to get a sense of what to expect for this year's committee.