SAN ANGELO ISD
Editor’s Note: This story was updated on January 21, 2026 at 7:20 p.m.
In light of recent history, declining revenue, declining enrollment and teacher shortages, the closure of two more elementary schools was a foregone conclusion.
At its regular meeting Tuesday night the Board of Trustees voted 6-1 to close the Reagan and Bowie campuses at the end of the 2026-2027 school year.
The reason for the one-year delay is to allow SAISD to form a Committee for Academic Progress, Stewardship and Efficiency, which will redraw attendance boundaries before students and families have to move to their new schools.
Redrawing Attendance Boundaries
According to Superintendent Dr. Christopher Moran, to goal is to redraw the attendance zones and have students attending the school in the zone where they live.
When asked about the gifted-and-talented magnet schools such as Fort Concho, Santa Rita and Holliman, Moran said his preference was to have all GT students receive services in their own schools, which would mean doing away with the transfers of hundreds of students between elementary schools.
To achieve this goal, the district will have to evaluate the current transfer policy as well as redraw attendance boundaries.
It was not clear at the Board meeting if redrawing attendance zones would also include the zones for the secondary schools. We reached out to SAISD and asked this question.
The District responded saying,
At this point, it’s too early to say for sure. The Committee on Academics, Stewardship and Efficiency (CASE) has been charged with reviewing attendance boundaries across the entire district, so we can’t rule out the possibility that middle or high school boundaries could be part of the discussion.
That said, no decisions have been made. The committee will review enrollment trends, capacity, and other data before developing a recommendation for the Board of Trustees.
The Debate
The debate over closure was long and passionate, but the outcome was never really in doubt.
But Trustee Karla Cardenas came well prepared, mounting a strong challenge to the equity of school closures, and the closing of Reagan Elementary in particular.
If anyone was surprised by the strength of her challenge, they shouldn’t have been.
Karla Cardenas and San Jacinto’s Closure
Cardenas ran for school board in the aftermath of San Jacinto’s closing last year. Over the opposition of many San Jacinto families — including her’s — San Jacinto was closed and her children sent to Reagan.
Now her children and many others will be faced with starting over at a new school twice in less than three years.
Cardenas Corrects Superintendent
Cardenas corrected Dr. Moran who had mentioned earlier in the discussion that Reagan had been identified for closure in 2022.
She cited videos and other information on the district’s website, quoting from the sustainability plan prepared under Superintendent Detloff in 2022.
Cardenas asserted it had only been recommended to merge Reagan and San Jacinto, and to build a new school on the Reagan site in 2022. Reagan had not been identified for closure at that time.
District Transfer Policy To Blame
She also cited the large number of transfers within the district, especially to Fort Concho and Santa Rita, at the expense of schools like Reagan and Bowie, pointing out that the resulting imbalance in attendance is now being used as justification to close schools on the north and east sides of San Angelo.
Cardenas asked why smaller, more crowded schools like Santa Rita and Fort Concho did not rate higher on the closure list. She suggested it was because those schools were protected by trustees, and said she believes all schools are not being treated the same.
Cardenas said she did not believe the administration had provided the data necessary for her to evaluate one elementary school against the others to determine which schools should be closed.
She also asked repeatedly for the backup data to justify the scores used to rate elementary schools for closure.
The other trustees and Dr. Moran responded that the board already had all that data under examination for the last six months.
In the end, it was the age of Reagan Elementary, at 118 years, Dr. Moran finally said, that put it at the top of the closure list.
Gallegos Responds
Gerard Gallegos, the longest serving school board member provided historical context for the current problems facing the District.
“We knew we needed to get down to 12 campuses back in 2005.” Gallegos said, explaining that the district still had 22 elementary schools at that time, as the paid consultants advised the board they needed to close 10 schools.
According to Gallegos the board did not heed that advice, and in fact, trustees have done everything they could to keep all the elementary schools open for years.
“This has been a burden for 25 years.” Gallegos said.
Gallegos also argued that “right-sizing” and closing schools was presented as part of the 2025 bond package, which voters approved.
He did not believe the board had the right to change direction now and go against the will of the voters who passed the bond.
Trustees Dendle, Duncan, Gallegos, Kingman, Mills and Mizell- Flint voted in favor of the motion to close Reagan and Bowie. Cardenas voted against the motion.
