Last fall, Austin ISD voted to consolidate several schools, including Oak Springs Elementary, whose students will attend Blackshear Elementary next school year.

AUSTIN, Texas — Friday was a special day at Blackshear Elementary School in East Austin. 

“Today we’re celebrating our 135th anniversary,” Principal Tonia Bell said. “[The] school opened in 1891 as Gregory Town [School] and then was moved to a brick and mortar at our current location on 11th Street.”

The school is rich in its history of accomplishments and challenges – ranging from being one of the first schools to provide a hot lunch, to navigating desegregation – and will now be adding one more to the list. 


Austin ISD consolidation impacts and a new reality for students 

During the fall semester, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted in favor of consolidating several schools in an attempt to address a budget deficit and declining enrollment. 

Ten schools will be closing in the 2026-2027 school year as a result, and the closures will impact nearly 4,000 students. 

“Oak Springs is one of our neighboring schools, and we’re gonna be merging with them next year,” Bell said. “I think a lot of our parents were really excited to have more students to come into our school to diversify our classrooms.”

Principal Bell said she is not too worried though. She said the school had been at around half capacity for the past few years, and that the additional students will bring the school back up to capacity.

“I know what the school looked like. I know what the systems look like,” Bell said. “So we’re excited to have a full school with the additional Oak Springs students. It’s gonna be great.”


Parents and alumni look to the future with optimism

Neal Hall, who heads the PTA for Blackshear Elementary, said he shares the same confidence Principal Bell has for the school’s future in the midst of consolidation efforts from the school district.

Hall said he is also prepared to welcome the new families who will be heading over to Blackshear.

“I haven’t really gotten my head around how busy the school is going to be,” Hall said. “It’s going to be a lot different, but I think it’ll be exciting to have a lot of new students here.”

Frances Fowler-Carter graduated from the historically Black elementary school in 1967, and said she is confident the longstanding school spirit will continue into the future.

“I think it’s important that we keep this school, Blackshear Elementary, open because it has so much history and it is a historical place that is in our community,” Fowler-Carter said. 

Part of the AISD consolidation plan includes moving Blackshear Elementary and Oak Springs Elementary students into a new building. The historic school building would close as a result.