At the San Angelo Independent School District Board of Trustees pre-agenda meeting Monday night, Superintendent Dr. Chris Moran dropped a bombshell on San Angelo. He informed the Board that staff was recommending the District redraw elementary school attendance boundaries in 2026.
The reason for this now is the planned closure of two more elementary schools during the next year. While recommended by staff, the Board has yet to decide if it will close two additional schools, and if so which schools that will be.
Although it has long been rumored that Reagan and Bowie will be the next two elementary schools slated to close.
Scoring Elementary Schools for Potential Closure
In determining which schools to close the district rates its elementary schools by several factors. These are:
- Cost per student
- Facility conditions
- Age of the facility
- Capacity
- Expandability
- Special Programs
- Educational Adequacy
- Spatial Adequacy
According to the scoring on these criteria the four lowest rated elementary schools are Reagan (2.97), Bowie (3.37), Santa Rita (4.77) and Glenmore (5.28).
Up To Four Closures May Be Necessary
Assuming Reagan and Bowie will be closed, the District may still have to consider additional closures to avoid deficit budgets in the future. Indications are that up to four closures may be necessary.
Recent demographic studies of the District indicate that in ten years SAISD’s enrollment could range from as low as 10,453 to a high of 11, 747. The higher estimate is 600 fewer students than SAISD’s current enrollment.
Dr. Moran reported that the District has lost 420 students since May of 2025.
Changes to attendance boundaries will be necessary as closures and consolidation of elementary schools take place.
The Redrawing Process
Redrawing attendance boundaries will require a months long process, according to Dr. Moran. The proposed schedule calls for a community boundary evaluation including formation of a community advisory committee and public meetings in the Spring of 2026.
New boundaries would be enacted in June of 2026. The new boundaries would take effect July 1, 2027 if the Board approves the plan to move forward.
Under this plan elementary closures will not take place this year but be put off until the 2027-2028 school year.
Part of the Superintendent’s reasoning was the need to slow the process down, and engage the whole community in the discussion before finalizing the closure decision.
1 Comment
I am glad they are going to go slowly. When they redraw the lines, wonder if Middle schools and high school will change as well? People bought houses in certain areas for the school they wanted their children to attend and while it may be necessary to do it, there are going to be some unhappy people.