Dear Austin ISD administration and Board of Trustees:

As the Becker Elementary PTA, our mission is to advocate for all children. We recognize that you face the difficult task of making decisions that will profoundly impact students, staff, and communities across Austin. While we appreciate the efforts of Austin ISD staff and trustees to promote transparency in the planning process, and acknowledge the plan has been in flux, inconsistent messaging has contributed to outcry from the community, including from Becker Elementary. Moving forward, we believe transparency and buy-in is critical for expedient success. We share your goals of minimizing harm and ultimately creating a more just and supportive learning environment for all students. With these common goals in mind, we encourage you to do the following for all Austin ISD school communities: 

1) Engage with teachers and staff. 

The success of any consolidation plan depends on the exceptional educators and school staff who bring it to life. Many teachers and staff have shared that they feel excluded and unseen in the decisions AISD is making. We are deeply concerned by this. As AISD knows, educators and staff members are not commodities to be moved around a map; they are the heart of our programs. Their deep knowledge and dedication are irreplaceable for student progression, and, without their buy-in, any plan will fail.

Before finalizing any proposal, we urge you to:

• Directly consult with teachers and staff. 

• Understand their needs and concerns. Understand whether they will in fact move to other campuses or seek opportunities outside of AISD. 

• Work with them to ensure program continuity and success.

• Communicate the takeaways from these conversations to the larger AISD community so that we can understand this critical perspective.

• Ensure that teachers and staff at schools slated for closure are offered new positions at multiple locations so that they are able to make choices best for their families and are not forced into positions and commutes without a voice.

2) Increase transparency and prioritize policy change prior to closure. 

Lack of clarity and openness undermines public faith in the district and reduces buy-in for the upcoming changes. Closures should be the last step – not the first – and only after clear policies are in place. 

Prioritizing and publishing a closure list before assessing programmatic needs, policy standards, and cost evidence immediately puts families on the defensive instead of bringing them to the table.

The district must be transparent about its decision-making process moving forward, and show how decisions were made, what options were not chosen, and why. We ask that you provide clear, accessible information on:

• Dual Language Audit: A districtwide audit of DL programs (teacher certifications, FTE allocations, enrollment priorities, outcomes) to guide decisions with evidence and align next steps with policy objectives.

• Dual Language Program Policy: Districtwide standards for program objectives, enrollment priority, bilingual teacher certification, building and campus requirements (i.e., accessibility for EB students), transfer rules, and long-term plans that consider inevitable demographics shifts over time. 

• Decision Criteria: The data used to close and consolidate schools, including decision points that divert from the published rubric, (receiving school standards, location, accessibility for EB students, staff and currently participating families, commitment to wall-to-wall of the receiving school, buy-in from staff and leadership from both campuses); alternatives that were considered, expected cost savings, and how you will ensure past inequities do not repeat themselves;

• Comprehensive timeline for next steps in the process, including a clearly articulated plan for if and how stakeholder input is considered and at what level of influence; Measurable metrics for what a successful transition looks like (How will the implementation of this plan be monitored? How do proposed changes align with the community-informed long-range plan? What is AISD’s plan to grow and invest in their bilingual staff and identify barriers that currently exist to fully staffing these programs? What plans are being considered to sustain and grow this vital asset?)

• Plans for mitigating harmful effects of worst case scenarios, including the projected impact of school vouchers, student and teacher attrition, and other known threats to public school in Austin; 

3) Address community impact. 

This process, even if done with the best intentions, will create emotional harm and practical disruption. To minimize harm and ensure success, closures of wall-to-wall dual language programs must be treated as true mergers, not simply school closures. This requires: 

• Continuity: Families who committed to the wall-to-wall dual language program must be guaranteed the ability to complete the full K–5 pathway. Disruption midstream breaks the reciprocal promise between families and  the district that is critical to program success, undermines years of student progress, and disproportionately harms heritage-language speakers for whom dual language is not enrichment, but a restorative and essential academic pathway.

• Equity: Without full buy-in, the district risks closing schools like Becker — which is fully enrolled and benefits from state add-ons that cover bilingual teacher costs — only to disenfranchise families, lose enrollment, fail to save money or meet the stated goal of expanding access for EB students; and

• Provide guidance for parents and staff to help students navigate these significant changes with empathy and understanding.

We are the inheritors of a school district that still feels the impacts of historical and current de facto and de jure racial segregation. We are also a part of today’s harsh realities of State defunding of public education. We have entrusted AISD and Becker Elementary with our children’s education and we are invested in improving outcomes for all children in Austin public schools.

We are in this together whatever comes next. 

Together with you, 

Herman Becker Elementary PTA