Sunset Valley Elementary School facing possible closure in proposed consolidation plan
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Sunset Valley Elementary School, located in the City of Sunset Valley within the Greater Austin area, is among the many schools at risk of closure under a consolidation plan proposed by the Austin Independent School District (AISD).
The current draft plan calls for Sunset Valley to close down, and the neighborhood students would be reassigned to Cunningham Elementary School and Boone Elementary School based on their address.
AISD has been holding community meetings to talk with parents at every school expected to close. On Oct. 21, AISD held a community meeting at Sunset Valley where AISD Superintendent Matias Segura emphasized the potential school closures and redrawing of school boundaries are intended to reduce the district’s nearly $20 million budget shortfall and ensure the long-term health of the school system.
“We also have to acknowledge that there is a strain in our stability from a financial perspective—we’ve been running a deficit budget,” Segura said. “This plan attempts to reduce the number of empty seats we have in our school system. And that includes boundaries and consolidations. It also attempts to not overburden any one specific part of Austin.”
Sunset Valley also has a school-wide dual language program. Under the district’s current plan, Sunset Valley’s dual language program would move and merge with Odom Elementary School and become a non-zoned program.
Ashley Coffey is a parent who currently has two children at Sunset Valley, and she said their family bought a house to specifically go to that elementary school.
“The fact that there are these schools that have native speakers and non-native speakers that are engaging in a bilingual community together is just really special,” Coffey said. “We really wanted dual language instruction.”
Parents whose children would be affected by the potential closure of Sunset Valley Elementary can apply for a priority seat in the school-wide dual language program at Odom. AISD said that Odom has enough room to accommodate all Sunset Valley students who wish to continue in the program.
“When you think about where wall-to-wall language programs are and the current emergent bilingual student populations — they are moving in the wrong direction and they’re low,” Segura said. “This plan will ultimately add more seats.”
According to the Texas Education Department (TEA) Accountability Rating, Sunset Valley got a B-rating in 2025. In comparison, Cunningham has a B-rating, Boone has a C-rating, and Odom has a D rating.
“It’s naive to think that you can just throw the kids together and they’ll all be suddenly performing well,” Coffey said. “That’s kind of where my fear lands now: how will those staffing resources and academic supports come into play?”
In terms of enrollment in the 2024-2025 school year, Sunset Valley has a student population of 441 students, and the school is at a capacity of 64.92% as a result. Compared to the 2019-2020 school year, student enrollment was 590 students.
Segura said the district is working on an updated consolidation plan. The school board will discuss proposed changes during Wednesday’s work session and during Thursday’s school board meeting.
