Abilene ISD's Building Brighter Futures initiative will cause partial closures of two elementary campuses and a pilot open enrollment program for the upcoming school year.

The AISD Board of Trustees approved the resolution and its next steps at their Monday meeting.

The purpose of the Building Brighter Futures initiative is to improve student accessibility to academic experiences and learning resources by ensuring every dollar spent, program offered and facility utilized contributes to the district's vision, according to AISD officials.

The initiative was announced in December following committee and community feedback given throughout 2024.

Dr. John Kuhn , AISD superintendent of schools, presented the Building Brighter Futures resolution to the school board.

"AISD's performance has not been where it needs to be and where it can be, and you hired me to change that state of affairs," Kuhn said.

Abilene ISD's current state

Before Kuhn's presentation, administration officials reported AISD's STAAR results and College, Career and Military Readiness scores were below the state average.

"My administration will always be completely honest. We will tell you the truth of the state of the school district because if you don't see it clearly, you can't tackle it," Kuhn said. "We are here to make change and do right by the city of Abilene and do right by our students because they deserve it and we are good enough to get it done."

Since Kuhn was hired in April 2024, administration has implemented a hiring freeze, adopted a deficit budget , implemented a staffing matrix, started emphasizing dual credit course enrollment, adopted a new curriculum to improve student performance and hired new personnel in key leadership areas.

Kuhn said the approval of the Building Brighter Futures resolution will take the district's pace of change and kick it into another gear.

The district has implemented a North Star Goal in 2024 through the Texas Education Agency's System of Great Schools strategy, education officials said. The SGS plan and North Star goal are used at the district level to determine the quality of education in its schools and to create achievable milestones to enrich school and student performance.

AISD's North Star goal is to have 75% of students receiving an A- or B-level quality education by the end of the 2028-2029 school year.

As of now, 6% of AISD students are at that level, Kuhn said.

Kuhn showed confidence in achieving the North Star goal by the 2028-2029 school year and presented the data to the public for transparency and accountability.

Changes happening in the 2025-2026 school year

With the School Board's approval to implement the Building Better Futures initiative, three main changes will be introduced in the next school year.

From research conducted in 2024, the district has learned the community's desires for its schools: more innovation, a deeper commitment to academic excellence for students and fiscal stewardship.

To achieve these, the district will work to integrate specialty programs at K-5 campuses, pilot an open enrollment program and repurpose facilities.

The piloted school choice program will start with two elementary schools during the 2025-2026 school year.

The district currently uses school attendance zones to delegate students to campuses, Kuhn said.

During the next school year, a limited pilot program will allow parents located in certain areas of Abilene to choose the elementary campus their children will attend.

If all goes well, and an effective plan is in place, open enrollment will extend across the district in the 2026-2027 school year, Kuhn said.

Thomas and Ortiz Elementary Schools will operate with only grades 2-5 — current first through fourth graders — for the upcoming school year. Parents of Thomas and Ortiz Elementary students were informed Tuesday in a letter from the district.

The schools were selected due to their lower student enrollment, the letters stated. The campuses will eventually be repurposed after the upcoming school year to enhance operational efficiency and better learning experiences.

Families can choose to keep their students at Ortiz and Thomas or enroll their children elsewhere.

Ortiz families can choose to enroll at Stafford, Martinez or Purcell elementary schools. All levels of the school's bilingual program will move to Martinez Elementary for the 2025-2026 school year.

Thomas families can choose from Taylor, Martinez, Purcell or Bowie elementary schools, as space allows.

All students now enrolled at Taylor, Martinez, Purcell and Bowie elementary schools will receive priority, according to the school website.

Both schools will host meetings and campus preview nights throughout January so parents can learn more and view the campuses their children can attend.

To improve the quality of education in the district, the School Board approved the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum at a December meeting. Action to implement specialty programs at all AISD elementary schools will also start soon.

Examples of current specialized programs in AISD include the transformation of Mann Middle School into a STEM campus and Stafford Elementary as a leadership-focused campus, Kuhn said.

Some programs Kuhn mentioned but did not promise included the classical education model, gender-specific campuses and dual-language programs.

"We plan to seek more input as we design the specialized programs that we want to implement at our K-5 campuses," Kuhn said.

School Board members expressed optimism with the foreseeable changes and shared a belief the district is moving in the right direction.