San Antonio ISD makes plans for closed school buildings
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
San Antonio ISD could turn its empty school buildings into sites for fresh food, housing, health care, job training, early childhood care and more, a new report says.
Why it matters: Many of the shuttered schools are in underserved areas that lack such resources. Also, neighbors don't want abandoned buildings in their communities.
Catch up quick: SAISD closed 10 elementary schools and three early childhood centers when the school year ended last month. Another two buildings, Baskin Elementary School and Carroll Early Childhood Center, are slated to close in the future.
- District officials said the closures were necessary as they faced declining enrollment — state funding is determined largely by school attendance.
The latest: The district on Wednesday shared a preliminary report of best practices for reusing the buildings from The Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) Consulting Corps, funded through a grant from the National Association of Realtors.
- To make the recommendations, the CRE group spent the first week in June interviewing over 75 people, including district board members and staff, community leaders, residents, parents and others.
Zoom in: The report supports either finding a district use for shuttered buildings (such as storage or offices) or leasing them out to the city, county or nonprofits to help address a community need. That could include looking to Bexar County-owned University Health.
- Tenants would be able to renovate a building for a new use if warranted and sign a long-term lease.
- The district should look at what services neighborhoods are missing and need most, like community centers or health care facilities.
Case in point: Closed SAISD early childhood centers could be leased to the city to continue using the spaces to care for young children, according to the report.
- But any leases between two large government entities like the city and SAISD will likely move slowly.
If the district uses a building for its own needs, it should look to make surrounding green space available for the broader community, the report says.
- And if a building isn't going to be repurposed, it should be demolished and remade into green space "to avoid urban decay."
How it works: The process could take several years or as little as nine months, during which time SAISD will likely hold community meetings about possible uses and leases.
Zoom out: Nationwide, many vacant schools have been turned into apartments.
- Austin ISD is converting two former school properties into 600 apartments with affordable rents for district employees.
What they're saying: "You have to be good stewards of your property while you continue your focus of quality education for your students," Jacqueline Buhn, with CRE Consulting Corps, said in a statement.
- "These experts have pushed my thinking on ways to make this process even better for our community," SAISD superintendent Jaime Aquino said in a statement.
What's next: The CRE group expects to deliver a full report in about two months.