Aldine ISD board will vote on whether to close six schools Tuesday. Here's what to know

The Aldine ISD Board of Trustees is expected to vote Tuesday night on whether to close six campuses, a move it's considering to save money in the face of rapidly declining enrollment.

If the board OKs the measure, the district will have closed nine campuses in the last two years, affecting just over 4,000 students across the district.

Here's what to know. 

Why is Aldine ISD closing so many schools?

In the last 10 years, Aldine ISD has lost 20% of its enrollment, Chief Transformation Officer Adrian Bustillos said at Monday’s workshop. 

The district reached its peak enrollment of 70,000 students in 2014 and now serves closer to 56,000. The loss of students equals the entire enrollment of some of Houston’s smaller suburban school districts, like Magnolia ISD.

And demographers project that by 2034, Aldine will lose another 9,000 students, mostly due to declining birth rates, charter school growth and a lack of new home construction in the area. 

The average enrollment decline for all six campuses was a 35% decrease over the past few years, and closing the campuses would save the district $35 million, helping to ease the projected $100 million budget deficit by the end of the school year.

Which schools are on the list for closure?

The closures come as part of the district’s optimization program, to help balance the budget amid enrollment and financial strain. On the list for closure are De Santiago and Stovall primary campuses, which each house pre-K and kindergarten, and Oleson, Smith, Raymond and Eckert elementaries. 

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Hoffman Middle School was originally on the list for closures, but trustees reversed course after parents expressed concern about losing the magnet program, Hoffman College Prep, that is housed there, according to reporting by the Houston Landing. 

Smith Elementary is one of four extended school year campuses in Aldine, meaning students attend school from mid-July to mid-June, with an extra 30 days of the school year. De Santiago Primary is one of four dual-language primary schools in the district.

Last year, the district closed Conley, Sammons and Gray elementaries, which enrolled a combined 1,200 students during the 2022-2023 school year. 

Why these campuses?

Campuses considered for closure had to meet one of four criteria: facility utilization (how many vacant seats and classrooms a campus has), financial data (schools that are in the top 25% for per student costs), student outcomes (how well students are doing academically) and family choice (schools that had enrollment declines more than 20% since 2020).

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Smith, Oleson and Raymond elementaries were identified as having the “worst conditions” from a facilities standpoint which is one reason why they were chosen for closure, Bustillos said.

Where will students be zoned?

According to the proposal, De Santiago and Stovall primary schools would be rezoned between Griggs, Hinojosa, Keeble, Kujawa, Reece, Vardeman and Vines primary schools, depending on a family's location and individual circumstances.

Eckert, Oleson, Raymond and Smith would be rezoned between Calvert, Carraway, Carrol, Ermel, Harris, Johnson, Marcella, Reed, Stevens and Worsham elementaries. 

How will this impact staff and students?

Officials have promised families that the schools they are rezoned to will meet their needs.

“100% of our students are going to buildings that will be a higher quality facility or higher performance school, or both,” Bustillos said Monday.

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He also cited that 96% of students will be going to a campus that is at the same or greater academic performance of their current campus.

If the board approves the measure, Bustillos said there will be a plan to try to give all teachers one of three preferences for their reassignment. Last year, Bustillos said they did not have a single instance where they couldn’t give an educator their preference for the new campus. 

The district also retained 90% of the students and staff from the three closed campuses last year, which Bustillos said was a higher rate than student attrition and teacher turnover in the district. 

“We did a very confident job of keeping everybody in our buildings. So we did not feel that people left because of the optimization work, and we will continue that service as well,” Bustillos said. 

If the closures are approved, the district would still have 1,000 open seats among 10 primary schools and 4,960 seats available between the 34 remaining elementary schools. 

Trustee Viola Garcia said that she had heard concern from community members that they would be rezoned to a campus that uses the extended year calendar, which could put them on a different calendar than their siblings. 

Bustillos said that any family in that position would be able to opt-out of that assignment to the closest elementary that is on an August-May schedule with busing provided if the student qualifies for transportation. 

He added that when the district adopted the extended year calendar, there were few families who asked to be moved to a new school.

Officials said Monday they have engaged in meetings with stakeholders since beginning the second round of district optimization in December. However, the Houston Landing reported in January that Aldine ISD had made few attempts to reach families before last year’s vote, not holding community meetings or other informational items about the vote to close three schools. The administration faced little opposition for the closures before and after the vote.

When is the vote?

This year, by contrast, the district held three meetings with community members and families before the vote expected at the meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday at 2520 W.W. Thorne Blvd. 

Parents, families and community members who would like to speak at the meeting during public comment must sign up at this link before 2 p.m. Tuesday.