Spring ISD leaders are considering whether to shutter some schools in the coming years, joining several Houston-area districts debating campuses closures amid stagnant state funding and declining enrollment.

District leaders kicked off a series of in-person and virtual meetings last week to gather feedback from parents, staff and community members about options for closing a projected $13 million budget deficit. The most drastic option on the table involves closing an unknown number of the district’s 41 campuses ahead of the 2026-27 school year.

“There’s nothing left to cut,” Matthew Pariseau, Spring’s chief of innovation and student success, told parents in a sparsely attended meeting March 24. “We’re down to cutting staff members who are carrying multiple facets in their role … so we’re taking a look at school consolidation, and that is also a term you may know as school closures.”

Spring administrators plan to host six more meetings through early May, then develop and present recommendations to the district’s school board by September.

Closing schools could place added strain on families in Spring, potentially cutting off established relationships with staff, lengthening commutes and disrupting routines. Many Spring schools also serve as a central community hub.

“It’s hard because if anything there’s more things we need, not things we want to take away,” said Sara Gomez, a Spring parent with two children at Northgate Crossing Elementary School.

Yet districts across Texas are increasingly turning to shutting down schools to narrow budget deficits largely resulting from enrollment losses, rising costs due to inflation, federal COVID-19 stimulus funds driving up and no significant increase in state funding. 

Large, urban districts like Spring have been hit particularly hard by declining enrollment tied to lower birth rates, migration to surrounding suburbs and the growth of charter schools. Spring ISD’s neighbor, Aldine ISD, voted in February to close six campuses this summer, also citing declining enrollment and budget woes. Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio ISDs have closed schools in recent years or are considering closures.

Spring sought last year to create more budgetary breathing room by asking residents to pay higher school taxes, but voters overwhelmingly voted down the proposal.

Spring’s enrollment has declined from 36,900 to 33,600 over the past decade, with the bulk of the losses coming after the COVID-19 pandemic. The 9 percent decline is moderate relative to districts like Aldine and Houston, which have lost nearly 20 percent of their enrollment during that time.

Unlike other districts closing schools, Spring has few small campuses, with none enrolling less than 500 students. 

Still, Pariseau said Spring schools are, on average, about 60 percent full relative to their capacity. Efficient schools run at 75 to 85 percent capacity, he said.

“There’s a lot of room in our schools, and so there are efficiencies that come with being able to consolidate schools and having more resources within one school,” Pariseau said.

Pariseau said district administrators were primarily looking at building age, condition, and capacity when deciding which schools may get the ax. 

Closing underutilized campuses would help address the $13 million hole in the district’s $345 million budget without cutting programs most helpful to kids, Pariseau said. The district recently expanded prekindergarten to include all 4-year-olds regardless of eligibility, and it hopes to expand a pilot prekindergarten program for 3-year-olds beyond the roughly 80 students served this school year.

In Monday’s meeting, Pariseau told parents and staff that the district has avoided school closures by making several cuts. 

Spring leaders scaled back on campus support staff, interventionists and central office employees. The district also consolidated multiple schools, such as combining Clark Elementary and Clark Middle schools to form Clark Intermediate School on one campus. At the start of this school year, the district discontinued a two-way dual language program at Spring International School at Bammel due to low enrollment and reverted the building back to serving only Bammel Middle School.

In two early community meetings, Spring administrators asked parents to list which programs they most value, what the district could improve, and what programs they think the district could do without. 

In the March 24 meeting, parents praised the district’s recently shuttered dual language program, its safety protocols and its teachers.

“My son’s teacher is very good at telling me what my son is struggling with,” Lewis Elementary School parent Gaspar Guevara said. “It’s the first teacher I’ve had that does that.”

But when asked to identify potential cuts, parents came up empty-handed. Russell Pickett, whose daughter attends Springwoods Village Middle School, said he would “begrudgingly” support closing schools, calling it a potential “major cost saving.” 

“I can’t honestly think of anything else that would be beneficial for cutting,” Pickett said.

Brooke Kushwaha covers Aldine, Alief, Pasadena and Spring ISDs for the Landing’s education team. Find her @BrookeKushwaha on X and Bluesky, or reach her directly at brooke@houstonlanding.org.

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