This week, Southwest Unbiased College District college board members permitted the closure of Sky Harbour Elementary College to cope with a finances deficit and shifting enrollment traits.
Sky Harbour at present has 592 college students and can shut on the finish of this college 12 months.
District officers mentioned closing the campus will save SWISD $6.5 million for the reason that college was in want of a number of development and upkeep tasks and is predicted to lose enrollment as inhabitants progress strikes farther south in Bexar County.
Demographers for the district predicted enrollment for the college might have dropped beneath 400 as quickly because the 2026-27 college 12 months.
“Making this resolution — we received’t take it very frivolously. We’ve been finding out this attempting to determine one of the best ways to do that,” mentioned SWISD Deputy Superintendent Brandon Crisp.
SWISD serves about 14,800 college students on San Antonio’s far Southwest Facet inside and outdoors Texas 1604 Loop, reaching components of Von Military, Lytle and Lacoste. The Sky Harbour campus sits contained in the loop, landlocked and with out room to develop, Crisp mentioned.
Pupil enrollment strikes exterior 1604
Following inhabitants progress on the South Facet, SWISD plans to open a brand new elementary college exterior Interstate 410 between Monarch Freeway and Palo Alto Highway, a venture funded by the district’s 2023 bond election.
To accommodate for the brand new campus, named the Juan Alvarado Elementary College, and the closing of Sky Harbour, the district additionally redrew the zoning boundaries for 2 different campuses: Indian Creek Elementary College and Hidden Cove STEAM Academy.
Indian Creek and Hidden Cove are each underutilized, working with fewer than 470 college students though max capability at each faculties is 880.
Indian Creek and Hidden Cove are predicted to lose enrollment at a slower price than Sky Harbour and are each B-rated campuses by the state. By transferring college students from Sky Harbour to those two faculties, the campuses could have an enrollment nearer to 650, officers say.
Crisp additionally predicts about 200 of Sky Harbour’s college students will switch to the brand new Alvarado campus based mostly on the district’s new zoning strains. The aim in “rebalancing” SWISD’s enrollment is for campuses to make use of at the least 85% of classroom seats, he mentioned.
College closures unpopular however ‘needed’
College districts in Texas receives a commission per common scholar day by day attendance, that means increased enrollment is best for public faculties.
“Sky Harbor and that space is hurting us fiscally due to enrollment,” Crisp defined. “Smaller campus are dearer to keep up wherever.”
SWISD at present faces a $3.4 million finances deficit, a monetary feat confronted by most districts in San Antonio.
The district first gave Sky Harbour households discover of the closure Oct. 22 in a letter and later, held guardian conferences on Nov. 7. The choice to shut was met with pushback from Sky Harbour mother and father.
Sylvia Ramirez mentioned she moved to the Sky Harbour neighborhood particularly for the college.
“Let’s take into account what this closure would imply for our communities,” Ramirez advised trustees at a Nov. 18 board assembly. “Lack of neighborhood — Sky Harbour isn’t just a constructing. It’s a gathering place for households, a spot the place friendships are shaped and the place our kids be taught the values of teamwork and cooperation. Closing it will sever these very important connections.”
SWISD just isn’t the one San Antonio college district to shut campuses going through finances challenges and declining enrollment. Earlier this 12 months, North East ISD closed three campuses and final 12 months, San Antonio ISD closed greater than a dozen campuses for related causes.
Native training consultants say college closures will be needed for the monetary well being and educational progress of a complete college district.
“Whereas closures are painful, they may also be acts of accountability and care when accomplished with transparency and integrity,” Jillian Duran, chief of operations and investments at Metropolis Schooling Companions, writes. “As our metropolis grapples with declining start charges and shifting enrollment patterns, we should lead via these modifications in ways in which defend each our kids and the way forward for public training in San Antonio.”
Subsequent steps for SWISD
District officers mentioned closing Sky Harbour won’t lead to job losses, since a number of positions will both switch to receiving campuses or can be open at Alvarado, opening subsequent 12 months.
Alvarado can also be set to obtain college students from Spicewood Park and Southwest Elementary Colleges, each campuses with greater than 700 college students.
SWISD will work on notifying households affected by consolidation to allow them to know which campus they’ll be zoned to for the 2026-27 college 12 months, and transportation can be supplied.
College students are additionally allowed to use for a switch to a faculty exterior their zoning, however the switch is contingent on the scholar’s educational standing and approval by the campus principal. Crisp mentioned transportation wouldn’t be supplied for college students attending faculties they’re not zoned to.
The district didn’t say what it plans to do with the Sky Harbour campus as soon as it’s empty.
“This has not been an in a single day resolution, we did a number of finding out to discover a answer,” mentioned SWISD College Board President Sylvester Vasquez Jr. “However I do need the Sky Harbor neighborhood to know that your board of trustees will do all the pieces doable to assist make this variation as clean as doable.
