You can definitely see the discomfort when Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura is hit with a question he’d rather not address. It doesn’t happen often, but it did on Dec. 12, during a board of trustees meeting detailing the strategies the district is considering to reduce its $92 million budget deficit.
AISD already cut $30 million from last year’s budget and the administration has identified another $26 million to cut this year – all without laying off teachers or touching classroom instruction. At the meeting, interim CFO Katrina Montgomery presented ways to cut $47 million more in fiscal year 2025-26. The strategies include allowing employees to work from home; reconfiguring bus routes; eliminating the district’s many portable buildings; and re-negotiating contracts for special education services, among others.
