AUSTIN, Texas — Austin ISD trustees voted Thursday night to change attendance boundaries for Linder Elementary School and to establish an attendance area for Marshall Middle School, moves the district said are aimed at easing overcrowding and giving families a designated neighborhood middle school.

The impact will vary depending on where families live. Under the approved changes, some students currently zoned for Linder will be reassigned to Travis Heights Elementary School. Raechel French, Austin ISD’s executive director of planning and learning environments, said the reassignment “is due to overcrowding at Linder.”

The district also approved creating an attendance area for Marshall Middle School. French said families in that part of Austin have had significant campus choice and will continue to have options.

“There’s a lot of choice in that part of Austin and there will still be choice, but basically families are assigned to one school but then could choose General Marshall,” French said.

Crystal Brothwell Hernandez, president of the Austin ISD Council of PTAs, said boundary changes can be challenging for families, including when it comes to transportation and whether students can remain with classmates.

“Boundary changes are… difficult,” Brothwell Hernandez said.

She said families often have to consider whether to seek a transfer and whether staying at a current school is feasible.

“It definitely you start to weigh in of like, do we want to do we have the option to put in for a transfer? Can we stay at the current school that we’re at? Is it something that we is feasible for us to do?” Brothwell Hernandez said.

Austin ISD estimates the new attendance area would assign more neighborhood students to Marshall than the school can accommodate. The district said students already attending another middle school can stay there under an expanded continuation transfer policy.

“So basically if you are attending a middle school and love your middle school, and we hope that you do, stay there,” French said.

The boundary changes are set to take effect in the 2027-2028 school year.