AISD to Close Historic School Campus in 2028

Last November, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees approved the closure of 11 schools at the end of the school year, including Oak Springs Elementary in East Austin. Oak Springs students will attend Blackshear Elementary for the 2026-2027 school year, just over a mile away down Rosewood Avenue, consolidating the two student populations. 

In November, the AISD administration also told East Austin families the decision between closing Oak Springs or Blackshear permanently could still be made by the administration after the trustees’ vote, leaving the families of about 450 students unsure if their current school will close or not. 

“If a school is combined, the state of Texas decided that [decision] rests with the administration,” AISD Trustee Candace Hunter, whose district includes Blackshear and Oak Springs, told the Chronicle.

Oak Springs has received three consecutive “F” accountability scores from the Texas Education Agency as of 2025, but they also have a new modernized school building under construction with 2022 bond dollars. On the other hand, Blackshear is one of the oldest historic school buildings in Austin, first opening in 1891 to educate Black students living in segregated East Austin.

Now, Blackshear will permanently close as a school instead of Oak Springs. After Oak Springs students attend the Blackshear building for three semesters, the combined student population will move mid-school year to Oak Springs’ newly constructed building in January 2028, according to a letter sent to families from AISD Superintendent Matias Segura on March 30.

In the letter, Segura calls the new Oak Springs building, now resuming construction, a “long-term investment in East Austin.” He added the Oak Springs construction plans will also now integrate dance and theatre studios, an orchestra hall, and an outdoor stage to preserve Blackshear’s fine arts program.

“By moving forward at Oak Springs now, we avoid the risk of leaving students in aging facilities indefinitely and ensure we can recruit top-tier educators to learning spaces equipped with the best technology and safety features,” Segura wrote, citing inadequate funds to upgrade the Blackshear building to modern standards.

But the new combined elementary school won’t necessarily be called Oak Springs – Hunter says the Blackshear and Oak Springs communities could consider a new name, colors, and mascot for the new school.

The district must also implement a state-mandated turnaround plan at Oak Springs next school year, which will be inherited by Blackshear. AISD hopes that by combining the two schools and providing additional instructional support, the campus will achieve a passing accountability score.

According to Segura, Blackshear students can’t attend Oak Springs next school year because the state would not accept that turnaround plan option. “From their perspective, you’re taking a C-school and moving them to a school that hasn’t met accountability. So that’s a big hard ‘no’ for the state of Texas,” Segura told parents in November.

But the move of Oak Springs students twice in two years, all while implementing their turnaround plan, has met pushback. “Asking students to endure repeated disruptions during a critical period of academic intervention puts their success at risk,” one AISD community website reads, whose petition against the closure of the Blackshear building has over 700 signatures.

Hunter said Oak Springs students would have needed to move to another “flex” location until the new school is built anyway. “So instead of them being in portables, they’re in an actual school building. That doesn’t make that transition any easier, but they would have had to do it anyway,” Hunter said. 

How the historic Blackshear building will be used after a long tenure as a school is uncertain. As someone with roots in East Austin, Hunter hopes the future use of the building will allow the community to continue to use it.

“I would love for the local university that’s close by to be a part of that,” Hunter said. “I’d love to see it be a historical site, a museum, where … that history isn’t lost. That is really important to me.”

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