San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
SAISD closures will reshape local education
Since the unveiling of San Antonio ISD’s rightsizing plan, thousands of local families have worried about whether their neighborhood school would be closed.
Facing declining enrollment due to lower birth rates and higher costs of living, SAISD leaders voted in November to shutter 15 schools. When I watched the public comments before the board vote, I could sense the frustration many families felt and expressed. So many families built their lives around a school now slated to close. What’s next for them?
As the founder and executive director of San Antonio Charter Moms, or SACM, a nonprofit dedicated to helping San Antonio’s parents explore all local school options, I have the same goal as SAISD: equal access to high-quality education. I can understand the benefits of the rightsizing plan, which frees up much-needed funding for its remaining 70 or so schools. I also understand the anxiety felt by so many San Antonio families.
While SAISD’s hard-working Office of Access and Enrollment Services will potentially assist more than 4,000 students obligated to transfer, the assignment is formidable. However, having combed through the rightsizing
closure list, as well as the nearby public and choice/charter schools that could absorb their students, I am optimistic that families can use this circumstance to explore their options and even improve their children’s education.
Families should first look at SAISD Choice Schools, the largest authorizer of charters in the city. These high-quality schools already attract some 5,000 students from outside the district.
By visiting the SACM website, families affected by downsizing would learn where they are to be rezoned, as well as nearby SAISD
Choice campuses and open-enrollment charter schools in or near their district.
In Texas, charter schools have been an option for nearly 30 years, with a rigorous vetting process and stricter closure laws than most public schools. They exist to provide students with alternative, free paths to education, and many outperform on academic standards while remaining accessible to those who cannot afford private tuition. However, it can be intimidating for busy parents to investigate all the different options available, especially with
looming enrollment deadlines.
Many highly rated charter schools, such as BASIS, Valor, and the School of Science and Technology, are enrolling students now; SAISD Choice Schools’ open enrollment runs from Dec. 1 to Feb. 15. To prepare, our family-friendly School Discovery Days are excellent places to meet representatives of more than 45 choice and charter schools, and our online enrollment guides are available at any time.
Campus closures are not an issue unique to SAISD, or our city:
South San Antonio, Edgewood and Harlandale ISDs have all voted to close campuses. And more recently, Spring Branch ISD in Harris County announced impending school closures. As the SAISD rightsizing plan notes, “in large urban districts across the nation, school district leaders are facing the same challenge of the need to downsize.”
Once the Texas Education Agency releases its latest school rankings early next year, following new guidelines aimed at college and career readiness, several schools across the state could be downgraded and at risk of closure. Given the political and demographic climate of our state, Texas families should prepare themselves for more public school turmoil in the years to come and prepare themselves to understand the full picture of available options that might replace their current learning model.
Armed with unbiased information on all learning models — public, private, or charter — local families have a unique opportunity to search for the school that best fits their child instead of searching for ways to make their child a better fit for an inadequate school.