Austin ISD Approves $887 Million Budget, Saves Librarians in Last-Minute Amendment — But Deeper Cuts Follow
Late last night, the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees voted 7–1, with one abstention, to approve an $887 million budget for the 2026–27 school year. The vote closes out months of public debate, protest, and uncertainty — and ends, for now, one of the most painful budget cycles in recent district history.
The headline news for many families: every AISD campus will keep a full-time librarian. But that win came packaged with an even deeper round of cuts than the district had originally proposed.
CUTS ORIGINALLY PROPOSED
A Late Save for Librarians
For weeks, one of the most contested pieces of the budget was a plan to convert librarian positions at smaller campuses (those with fewer than 400 students) from full-time to part-time. Roughly two dozen schools were on the list, and librarians — some of whom said they’d learned about the change only in the final days of the school year — became the public face of the budget fight.
In a last-minute amendment Thursday night, trustees reversed course, finding nearly $1 million from the district’s fund balance to keep a full-time librarian at every campus districtwide.
It was a rare bright spot in an otherwise grim meeting — but the money had to come from somewhere.
Cuts Grew, Not Shrank, in the Final Hours
Trustees walked into Thursday’s meeting expecting to vote on roughly $185 million in reductions. By the time the gavel came down, that number had grown to $205 million — $20 million more than planned, layered on top of the original $181 million deficit the district had been wrestling with since spring.
The extra cuts were added after trustees insisted the district’s emergency fund balance not be allowed to fall below 10% of its operating budget — a hard line prompted by the discovery, just one week earlier, that the current year’s deficit had ballooned from a projected $19 million to $95 million. Superintendent Matias Segura attributed the larger shortfall to lower-than-expected student attendance in the final weeks of school and property sales that didn’t close as planned.
To find the additional $20 million, the district will increase student-to-teacher ratios beyond what was originally proposed, cut spending on substitute teachers, trim employee benefits further, and eliminate already-vacant positions.
Who and What Is Affected
In total, the approved plan touches at least 582 positions across campuses and the central office:
- 196 are unfilled jobs that will simply be eliminated
- Of 386 currently filled positions affected, only about 20 employees still need to be placed elsewhere in the district — the rest have found new roles internally
- Cuts also reach stipends for special education and bilingual specialists, technology spending, and transportation — including changes to after-school routes and a new bus-stop “hub” system for middle and high schoolers
Why This Happened
District officials point squarely at state funding. Texas lawmakers, Segura said, approved only a fraction of the money needed to keep pace with inflation in the 2025 legislative session — a gap compounded by the state’s recapture program, which clawed back $715.5 million from AISD’s roughly $1.7 billion operating budget last year alone.
“We’re at a point where there’s very little that we can do to get back to a balanced budget that doesn’t create disruption,” Segura said.
Reserves, Loans, and One-Time Fixes
Going into this cycle, AISD’s reserve fund — meant to cover payroll gaps and emergencies — had already slipped from the district’s 20% policy target down to about 10%. The new budget is projected to rebuild that cushion slightly, to around 13%, but officials say the district will still need to take out a loan this September just to make payroll, following a similar $19 million loan last year.
The plan also leans on $60 million in one-time property sales — including formally declaring six of the ten campuses closed this year as “surplus,” clearing the way for AISD to sell or lease them. Trustees have been blunt that this revenue won’t be there again next year, meaning the search for a sustainable fix is far from over.
A Contentious Footnote: The Superintendent’s Contract
In the same meeting, trustees approved a new contract extending Segura’s tenure through 2030, at his existing base salary of $362,250. An earlier draft would have paid him a bonus for every campus that raised its state accountability rating from a D or F to a C; that bonus clause was removed after public pushback.
Several speakers questioned the optics of extending leadership’s contract on the same night hundreds of jobs were being cut. “It seems insensitive and inappropriate to be discussing a two-year contract extension and bonuses for leadership,” AISD teacher Traci Dunlap told the board.
What’s Next
Board members acknowledged the budget could still change. Trustee Lynn Boswell said the board may revisit specific line items in August based on community feedback, and the district has now committed to monthly budget check-ins with trustees going forward — an effort, officials say, to avoid repeating a cycle in which a budget shortfall nearly doubled in a matter of weeks.
For now, AISD families can count on one thing staying the same: a school librarian on every campus. Everything else about the year ahead — busing, staffing, support services — looks set to look noticeably different come fall.
ENTIRE AUSTIN ISD BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING – JUNE 18, 2026
A city audit found seven Austin Energy employees improperly used city-owned vehicles to commute for about a year, logging more than 56,000 miles and costing taxpayers over $37,000. (Austin American-Statesman)
An Austin Water employee is recovering after they fell into a manhole near the airport Wednesday.
A legal hurdle has been cleared for the expansion of the Austin Convention Center. On Thursday, Travis County District Court Judge Sherine Thomas ruled that the city’s financial strategy for the project is entirely lawful. (KUT 90.5)
Austin’s long-debated light rail project moved into another phase as the Austin Transit Partnership met to discuss design and preconstruction work, while some businesses along the planned route continued to raise concerns about potential displacement.
Austin Marks Juneteenth With City Closures, Historic Parade and Rosewood Park Festival
City offices, courts, libraries and museums across Austin and Travis County are closed today as the region joins the nation in observing Juneteenth, the federal and state holiday commemorating the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned they were free.
The centerpiece of the day’s festivities is the Central Texas Juneteenth celebration at Rosewood Neighborhood Park, running from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., featuring the historic Juneteenth parade along with food, music and family programming.
The event, produced by the Greater East Austin Youth Association for the 25th consecutive year, draws crowds to Rosewood Avenue and Boggy Creek Park.
Additional events around the city include an independent filmmakers showcase at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex and community gatherings at libraries and recreation centers, as Austin honors what organizers call both a celebration of freedom and a reflection on the ongoing journey toward equity.
It’s Juneteenth, and it’s time for another trek through town for the Black History Bike Ride. The organization has been hosting the event for a few years now and a new documentary has been made highlighting the mental and physical journey of the ride. We’ll sit down to chat with the filmmaker about the project.
It’s been a celebration for more than 160 years — but only a federal holiday for a few. We’re recognizing Juneteenth on today’s Texas Standard.
Dallas’ Opal Lee is known as the grandmother of Juneteenth for her efforts to get the holiday recognized on a national level. We’ll delve more into the history, as well as other stories about Juneteenth celebrations.
And we’ll revisit conversations that explore Black Texan history and modern-day experience: a National Park Service site in Texas that served as a refuge for enslaved people seeking freedom in Mexico, the joy of a Black Rodeo in the 1970, and the ongoing role of the Black-owned bookstore.
BREAKING
A man was found dead in Lake Pflugerville this morning.
Austin Police are investigating a homicide after the body of Francesca Ortiz was discovered Wednesday afternoon behind a South Austin apartment complex.
Officers responding to the Waters at Bluff Springs Apartments on S. IH 35 found Ortiz with fatal, visible injuries; an autopsy has since confirmed she died from blunt force trauma. Detectives believe Ortiz was visiting the complex around midnight before being killed and left in a field behind one of the buildings. (Austin Police Department)
Police have identified two people found dead inside a Southeast Austin residence on Tuesday afternoon in what investigators are calling a murder-suicide.
According to the Austin Police Department, officers responding to a welfare check in the 4700 block of East Oltorf Street at 3:21 p.m. on June 16 discovered the bodies of Kristin Standford and her husband, Barton Skubi. A preliminary homicide investigation revealed that Standford shot and killed Skubi before turning the gun on herself. Both were pronounced deceased at 8:10 p.m. from apparent gunshot wounds. (Austin Police Department)
The City of Austin is inviting community members to help paint a new street mural downtown this Saturday, June 20, as the city prepares to retire its iconic rainbow crosswalks to comply with state traffic laws.
Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center is in line to become the operator of the South Austin Housing Navigation Center (SAHNC), a city-owned facility that officials say will help connect people experiencing homelessness with housing, case management and other support services.
Wiliam Cannon Drive at Bluff Springs Road, a busy intersection that has gotten complaints about potholes and safety concerns will get a revamp next month.
THIS WEEKEND IN THE ATX
Barton Springs Pool is still closed until further notice due to flooding that occurred earlier this week.
Lake Pflugerville has reached an elevation of 635.21 feet thanks to the River Pump Station returning to service and this week’s rainfall.
WEATHER
THURSDAY’S HIGH / LOW TEMPERATURES
AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
CAMP MABRY
Yesterday’s temperatures in the upper 90’s, combined with high humidity, created heat indices of 117 degrees.
More of the same today, although perhaps not as extreme.
5-DAY FORECAST / AUSTIN, TEXAS
Millions remain at risk as Arthur’s remnant moisture continues to fuel life-threatening flooding across the South. A Level 3 of 4 flash flood risk has been issued for toiday across parts of the Southeast, where repeated rounds of heavy rain will compound the threat.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Thursday approved stricter standards for data centers looking to connect to the state’s power grid — the final step in the development of new regulations meant to weed out speculative projects. (Houston Public Media)
The Air Force says it has been managing a localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base for the past three weeks. (Texas Public Radio)
Checkpoints are being placed around the state to prevent the unauthorized movement of animals infested with New World screwworm.
Texas lawmakers have released a new report detailing four key failures from Camp Mystic’s response to last summer’s deadly floods.
This week on The Texan’s “Weekly Roundup,” the team discusses:
- This week on The Texan’s “Weekly Roundup,” the team discusses:
- VIDEO: Former Vice President Mike Pence on His New Book, Party Politics, and Texas
- Texas GOP Vice-Chair D’Rinda Randall Defeats Chair Abraham George at State Convention
- Penalties, Protections for Abortive Mothers at Center of Pro-Life Platform Debate at Texas GOP Convention
- In Pictures: The Texas GOP 2026 State Convention in Houston
- 2026 STAAR Scores Show Improvement in Math, Little to None in Reading
- Democratic Land Commissioner Nominee Diagnosed with Leukemia, Will Continue Campaign
State Rep. James Talarico escalated his campaign-trail attack on Attorney General Ken Paxton this week, standing outside the McLennan County Courthouse in Waco to demand his U.S. Senate rival release internal records on a controversial plea deal for an admitted child molester.
Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee, likened the case to an “Epstein-style sweetheart deal,” invoking the widely criticized 2008 nonprosecution agreement federal prosecutors gave Jeffrey Epstein.
An image of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo apparently perusing World Cup tickets during a Commissioner’s Court meeting has surfaced online.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says some customers’ personal information might have been exposed after a cybersecurity incident.
The Supreme Court found in a unanimous decision Thursday that the government’s prosecution of a Lewiston, Texas marijuana user for owning guns was inconsistent with the Second Amendment. (Texas Standard)
San Marcos is about to have its own Buc-ee’s.
SPORTS
2026 WORLD CUP: North Texas turned into a sea of green, white, and red as Mexico’s last‑minute 1-0 victory over South Korea set off massive celebrations across the region. Sundance Square in Fort Worth was jam‑packed, with fans chanting, waving flags, and turning the plaza into a full‑blown fiesta.
TODAY
MLB: The Texas Rangers are backsliding as the season heads toward the midway point.
Brooks Lee hit a three-run homer as Minnesota scored multiple runs in the first inning for the third consecutive game, and the Twins went on to complete a series sweep of the Texas Rangers with a 9-3 win Thursday.
Texas has lost five of their last six games. (Associated Press)
ON THE SCHEDULE
The Houstin Astros had Thursday off. They host Cleveland this weekend.
The Rangers host San Diego.
AL WEST STANDINGS
How do you remove a 60-year-old bridge span?
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), in coordination with project developer Flatiron/Dragados LLC (FDLLC), successfully completed the safe removal of the center span of the historic 1959 US 181 Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi.
