Chapter 18 — Board of Trustees regular voting meeting (October 30, 2025)

**Date in the room:** Thursday, October 30, 2025, called at **6:01 p.m.** Quorum physically present at AISD central office. Broadcast Spectrum 22 / AT&T 99; English captions. **Source:** `meetings/clean/20251104-Austin-ISD-Board-of-Trustees-Regular-Voting-Meeting--October-302025.txt` **This is the vote night.** Closures / TAP are **not** on this agenda. They remain November 20.

Caption errors: Trustee names (Kintana / Quintana, Kaufman / Compman, Sigura / Figura), campuses (Barrington / Bington, Bedichek / Betach, Covington / Cington, Paredes / Pedes / Pettis, Walnut Creek / Waldridge, Pickett Springs / PCON springs, Winn / Win / Wedane).

Who is on the dais

**Board (speaking):** President Lynn Boswell; Secretary Gonzalez; Trustees Hunter, Singh, Foster, Quintana (Kintana), Whitley, Kaufman (left mid-meeting for Paredes 50th anniversary; Hunter reads his TAP question), Gonzalez.

**Staff (speaking):** Superintendent Segura; Chief of Staff Lakeisha Drinks (TAP overview); Dr. Wilson (secondary); Dr. Ammerson (school improvement); Jennifer Pace (elementary); Joshua John (intruder audits); CFO Katrina Montgomery (budget / TRAN); Zach Kratic and Principal Elizabeth Miranda, Third Future / Mendez; Ashley Paws (Lone Star Governance coach, Zoom); Dr. Maxwell (mental-health contract follow-up).

Public testimony (`00:00:13`–`00:16:30`)

Three in person, nine recorded, one minute each. In-person: Edna Parara, Leah Kelly, Jared Schroed (captions).

**Edna Parara** (`00:02:19`), East Austin parent: five underutilized properties / surplus evaluation unnamed. Maplewood meeting yesterday: budgets and academics inconsistent. Campbell families not contacted. Merging Maplewood with Campbell (historically Black) risks displacing Black families. 60% of Maplewood parents already looking at charters. Asks a public assessment of real estate vs. budget and academics.

**Leah Kelly** (`00:04:24`), Austin High grad parent, partner of an AISD teacher, former employee: **item 10.1** mental-health RFP — Prop A as promised; vote yes.

**Jared Schroed** (`00:05:34`), two minutes / two items: **11.1** commercial real-estate RFP went out 6–8 weeks before the consolidation list, first time in a decade AISD did not name properties. Nine undeveloped properties, 233 acres. Rosedale sale ~$26 million plus $1.6 million in commissions if brokers are skipped. “Let’s stop closing schools. Let’s sell current acreage.” Second: Novium / Steady State Impact / TNTP “$20 million” turnaround consulting; Segura disclosed a relationship / shared investments with the owner; conflict of interest?

**Recorded**

Clarifications after testimony (`00:16:34`–`00:24:28`)

**Quintana:** TAP conversations — count toward or against student-outcome minutes? Answer: TAP update later tonight **does not count** (`00:16:50`).

**Kaufman** (three questions): What $20 million contract? Conflict of interest? Does the real-estate RFP include listed schools?

**Segura** (`00:17:51`): Real-estate item is a **renewal** of professional services (RFQ/RFP, as with attorneys), used as needed for acquisition or disposition; expired terms. He has “no idea” what a $20 million TNTP / City State contract is; TNTP is a technical partner for TAPs, not that value. Disclosures have been on the website for years. “Nothing has changed.”

Kaufman: transparency matters; so does “refuting… allegations that are unfounded” (`00:19:22`).

**Hunter:** When is the campus-by-campus savings?

**Segura** (`00:19:55`): October 3 draft estimated **$24 million**. Revision **tomorrow** will break it down campus by campus, with staffing assumptions at receiving schools. Sensitivity: ±5%, ±1% for attrition. 2019 closures are unusable because the pandemic hit three months after the November 2019 vote. TAP spend is **not** an offset of consolidation savings: “If no consolidations… you’re still going to have the expense” (`00:22:24`). Extra bus routes for a merger *would* be a consolidation cost.

Hunter restates: offsets happen either way; without the $24 million the deficit is deeper. Segura: yes; if a year from now the $24 million is not “identified and directly tied to the fund balance,” people will say they were not transparent because the district also chose other spending (`00:23:02`).

Executive session (`00:24:39`–`00:25:25`)

Out at 6:25 p.m. (Gov’t Code 551.074, .072, .073, .087, .076, .0821, .071). Back **6:45 p.m.**

Nan Clayton (`00:25:28`–`00:29:36`)

Died Friday in Albuquerque. Clayton Elementary (2006) named for her. Kaufman tribute: elected 1978, 14 years, second woman board president; full-day kindergarten; desegregation era; UT degrees; water-quality chemist; AISD and Del Valle teacher; Barton Hills PTA; first woman into Inner Space Caverns. Kaufman met her in 2005 as Becker principal. Dr. Drew Robinette: first Clayton volunteer, hard hat in 2006, ex officio CAC more than a decade.

Committee reports (`00:29:36`)

Policy and audit posted on BoardDocs. No oral report.

Superintendent report: TAP strategies (`00:29:49`–`01:01:32`)

Drinks: drafts on the school-improvement website with a survey. Still drafting.

**Restart** (highly qualified staff turnover; often modernized; too many students to reassign; growth showing):

**Reassign** (majority to an acceptable nearby campus; some also on the consolidation list — “intersection”):

**2UA:** school-improvement model (wraparound, extra staff, teacher tiering) — not “extreme.”

Calendar: TAP public hearing **November 20**; board votes TAPs the same night; TEA deadline **November 21**.

Boswell: this TAP block **does not count** as student-outcome minutes; three minutes each; maybe a later public meeting.

**Foster:** if Montessori continues, what is substantively different? Follow up in writing.

**Hunter:** UA-to-UA moves (Barrington split to Andrews / Pickett Springs / Hart). Learning-lab / lighthouse (TNTP). Life-skills at Barrington → Walnut Creek / GT; communicate. Pickett Springs EB/sped; Oak Springs Domain 2A literacy; board monitoring after implementation.

**Singh:** summer school / community-building before fall; family-engagement KPIs; every parent gets human contact on math/reading; child-study teams / fidelity.

**Gonzalez:** will submit in writing.

**Boswell** (list, also emailed): statewide A–F for similar demographics; F2D / F-to-C why it will work; root-cause; how TNTP was chosen, who else, cost; TEA family-engagement lever; chronic absenteeism; high sped % vs. nearby charters; mobility tool they used to pay for; extended year; outside expertise; Dobie / Webb / Burnet lessons; options if TAP isn’t working; staffing to TEA “highly qualified”; 2UA vs. last cycle.

**Foster** (`00:54:13`): if Pickett Springs / Linder / Walnut Creek / Bedichek get F in 2026 and F in 2027? Drinks: 3UA now; another F = 4UA; fifth UA can mean **board of managers or closure**. Segura: a **D pauses** the chain; a **C breaks** it. Paredes already a 59; they expect pause or break this year (`00:56:34`).

**Quintana:** bond dollars at closing campuses; TAP dollars following students; restart staffing; staff at the majority-receiving campus; recruitment. Already sent in.

**Hunter for Kaufman:** lessons from last three years of TAP. Segura: Dobie, Burnet, Webb — state timeline too tight, hiring late spring. This cycle, consolidations give time to staff by the start of the year. Drinks: first year of dashboards with in-year progress, not three data points a year.

Boswell: 7:21 p.m., inside 30 minutes. Close.

Intruder-detection audits (`01:02:11`–`01:03:09`)

Joshua John: Sept–Oct 2025, TEA audited 21 schools; **eight** had one or more findings requiring corrective action. TEA must audit 75% of AISD this year; currently 17.9%. Last two years TEA audited 100%. No questions.

Budget / cash (`01:03:11`–`01:18:23`)

CFO Katrina Montgomery.

**FY24–25:** unaudited landing **$79 million deficit** (had been projected higher; they cut in-year).

**FY25–26 context:** operating budget **$992 million**. Recapture estimated **$715 million** (`01:04:12`). Tax collections mid-November. October snapshot tomorrow for enrollment/ADA.

Fund-balance policy (June last year): 15% years 1–3, 20% by 27–28. FY24–25 estimated **above 15%**.

Amendment path: adopted net change $19.75 million (15% FB); September 25–26 revenue down (tax collections), recapture also down, adjusted net **$17.54 million** **if** they make additional reductions of **$92.5 million** → year-end FB **17.48%** (`01:05:08`–`01:06:02`).

Q1 spend $216 million vs. $251 million budgeted — **$35 million under**, same as last year Q1. Still must cut; don’t add.

**Item 14.2 — TRAN:** As of **November 30 they will not make payroll** without a loan (`01:06:52`). Tax and revenue anticipation note, **$19 million** (minimum; advisors wanted more). Rate **4.67%**. Repay **January 13, 2026**. Cash low/non-existent Nov. 30–Dec. 5 until tax collections. Same seasonal dip as 2024, when they ended the period with $50 million; this year they will not wait until November to find out.

Scale graphic: low cash/fund balance vs. programming, compensation, planning periods, 116 campuses — “overwhelming us” (`01:09:08`). Urgency.

**Hunter:** “Are you saying we don’t have any money… as of November 30th?” Yes. Approve a loan to make Nov. 30 payroll. “There’s a payday loan.” “Yes.” (`01:10:24`–`01:11:44`).

**Singh:** how did we get here? Segura: amalgamation of decisions/indecisions; deficit budget last year; statewide homestead tax-rate election slowed collections. Montgomery: every year 2017–18 onward except 22–23 (ESSER) they passed a deficit budget — “borrowing from ourselves.” Segura: this is **cash flow**, not year-end overspend. Homestead bills aren’t going out on the old calendar. “We’re spending $25 million less this fiscal year based on budget… We just got our superior FIRST rating.” Singh: “Please know that we… this is not due to overspending. This is due to a delay in tax… revenue due to new homestead laws… pending the election” (`01:15:32`).

**Quintana:** asked and answered.

**Boswell:** thank you for being ahead of crisis. Ask administration/policy committee whether 15% fund balance is too close to the edge. Rice study: 73% of districts, state funding not adequate. “We are not the only Central Texas district in this situation.”

Mendez / Third Future 1882 (`01:18:23`–`01:22:26`)

Quarterly update. Recorded presentation in BoardDocs. Kratic and Principal Miranda for questions.

**Singh:** blanks in her BoardDocs questions (contract criteria). Kratic: last three years of NWEA + AOT percentages when the analyst returns from vacation.

**Whitley:** how many Algebra I students at Mendez? **Zero** this year; none since Third Future took operations in 2022. Segura / Dr. Wilson: all other AISD middle schools offer Algebra I.

**Gonzalez:** sixth- and seventh-grade enrollment slides identical (gender/race). Kratic: “overlooked,” not coincidental. Gonzalez: liked the artifacts; watched virtual back-to-school night. Kratic: Halloween with 200+ an hour ago.

Votes — what passed

Linear-algebra innovative course **removed** before the meeting. SBOE reviewing innovative-course rules in November; TEA extended expiration to 26–27. Course still offered; no vote needed (`01:22:28`).

**Consent, unanimous** (`01:23:19`–`01:25:50`) Motion Gonzalez, second Quintana. **8.1, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2, 11.1 through 11.5, 12.1, 13.1 and 13.2.** Singh on 10.1: ~**$500,000** Prop A mental-health contract, **supplement not supplant**. Boswell: year-over-year? Segura / Maxwell: allocation may change; **intent is to keep investing** Prop A mental-health dollars.

**14.1** Lone Star Governance quarterly and annual evaluation (`01:25:58`–`01:48:16`) Motion Gonzalez, second Quintana. Ashley Paws (Zoom): eighth self-evaluation; two years under the TEA order. Need 60 points (“meets focus”) and hold three consecutive quarters. Hit it April 2024; now fifth consecutive quarter of meets; TEA calibrated; this should be **the last piece of that exit criterion**. Last month 74; monitoring-calendar tweak drops three points temporarily. Synergy/teamwork: board must own more LSG tasks (Gonzalez has been calibrating). Boswell: first required quarter plus three extra = **seven quarters of meets**. Hunter: TAP and Saturday workshop don’t count as student-outcome time — how to explain? Paws: 50% of board-meeting time on **student outcomes** (what students know and can do). Last month **77%**. TAP, budgets, consolidations are “critically important, but they themselves are not student outcomes” (`01:39:50`). Saturday: most of the workshop counts; she first said exec session wouldn’t, then corrected — self-evaluation in exec session **does** count as high-leverage time (`01:41:17`). Gonzalez: two-way engagement with Singh, campus-level data useful; middle-school scorecard after MS goals were removed? Paws: MS is the bridge from goals 1–2 to CCMR. Boswell: can they add more two-way dates in November and approve the calendar retroactively? Yes. Singh: board-led **staff** two-way with the new scorecard? Paws: never going to say don’t engage. **Passes by all on the dais.** Annual narrative is in BoardDocs.

**14.2** issuance of tax and revenue anticipation note (`01:48:35`–`01:49:07`) Motion Gonzalez, second Quintana. “This is the loan that we talked about with Miss Montgomery.” **Passes by all on the dais.** $19 million TRAN.

Close

Recess to executive session **8:09 p.m.** Reconvene **10:14 p.m.** Adjourned 10:14 p.m. on Gonzalez motion. No further public votes after exec session.

What this night did and did not do

Passed: consent (including mental-health RFP and real-estate professional-services renewal), LSG self-evaluation, and a **$19 million payroll loan**. Recapture **$715 million** is spoken by the CFO, not voted. Campus savings still promised “tomorrow.” Closures and TAPs are not items. Kaufman leaves for Paredes; TAP time is explicitly **not** student-outcome minutes, then the board spends the night on TAP, cash, and LSG.

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