Austin Independent School District this week notified over 200 staff members that their position could be cut or reduced to part-time roles this fall as part of district leadership's efforts to reduce a $181 million budget deficit.
Many of those people could find another position in one of Austin ISD’s 457 vacant positions.
At a meeting Thursday, trustees asked Segura and administrators to take a harder look at trimming non-essential programming that could stave off widespread cuts like planning time reductions, which more dramatically impact teachers and students.
"We've still got couch cushions to check," trustee Candace Hunter said.
Austin ISD still has more to slash. The cuts proposed so far would save Austin ISD $130 million, but officials say they need to find another $47 million in cuts to come closer to a balanced budget.
"Everything is a bad option," Segura said. "We're trying our best to protect the student populations, the schools that have been historically underserved."
These cuts will make teacher effectiveness and services for students worse, trustee Kevin Foster said.
More than 200 staff members learned this week that their positions could be "impacted" by being eliminated or shifted to a part-time job.
Getting that letter was extremely disheartening, said Cristina Coro, who teaches art at Becker Elementary School.
Austin ISD middle and high school teachers have two planning periods in an eight-class period schedule, but officials have proposed giving only one planning period for many teachers next year.
At a school like Bowie, where students only have four class periods a day, the change means teachers would only get a planning period every other day, Bourgeois said.
Austin ISD’s board is slated to vote on the budget June 18.