By Edmond Ortiz
The San Antonio Independent School District is starting 2026 by beginning an improvement project at one campus, and considering the closure of another school.
Proposed closure of Carvajal Elementary
The school board is due to meet Jan. 20 to formally consider shuttering Carvajal Elementary School after the end of the current academic year. District administrators briefed trustees on the issue Jan. 12, but the board opted to wait until its Jan. 20 meeting to act because trustee Arthur Valdez was absent at this week’s meeting due to a prior engagement.
Named after late educator and civic leader Esther Perez Carvajal, a descendant of an original Canary Island settler of the city, Carvajal Elementary opened to 550 students on the West Side in 1949. In 2009, Carvajal became an Early Childhood Education Center, and presently enrolls about 400 preschool students.
But SAISD officials have spent the last few weeks mulling the closure of Carvajal Elementary, citing declining enrollment, decreasing academic performance rankings, and a bilingual program that is enrollment.
Between 2020 and 2026, Carvajal’s enrollment has dropped from 499 to 314, and 79 students are presently participating at the school’s bilingual program. Deputy Superintendent Shawn Bird said at least 155 students are needed to have a robust bilingual program.
Additionally, the Texas Education Agency has given Carvajal an F grade over three straight recent years, increasing the risk of a state takeover of the district.
According to Bird, while five straight F rankings could enable TEA to take over SAISD, four straight F ratings would be enough for some type of state intervention.
Declining student enrollments, a contributing factor to other SAISD campus closures in recent years, are exacerbated by decreasing birth rates, Bird said. Between 1999 and 2024, the birth rate has dropped 37% inside SAISD boundaries, and 43% inside ZIP code 78207, which feeds into Carvajal.
Bird said enrollment at Carvajal is unlikely to improve because 151 school-aged children who currently live in Carvajal’s attendance zone are going to other schools.
Also, Carvajal has a situation where one teacher instructs 21 kindergarteners and first-graders in one classroom, and another teacher instructs 17 second- and third-graders in another classroom.
“There are splits here that are contributing to this problem,” Bird said.
Decreasing enrollment over the past two decades, among other factors, have prompted SAISD officials to close more than one dozen campuses in recent years, and merge several other schools.
If Carvajal were to be closed, students at Carvajal’s single-language program will be reassigned to Barkley-Ruiz Elementary School, and students who request bilingual services may ask to go to DeZavala Elementary School.
A handful of attendees at the Jan. 12 meeting voiced their concern about the recommended closure, saying SAISD officials could ask community members to offer ideas on how to keep the campus open.
Esmeralda Rodriguez, a COPS/Metro leader, suggested that the district find a way to enhance Carvajal or build a new, modern campus for the West Side. She also said neighborhood residents understand the adverse reality facing older, inner-city schools.
“The school district has to do something different. We need to reimagine these schools,” Rodriguez said. “We need to be investing in our public schools, not just divesting from the neighborhoods that rely on them the most.”
But Noah Lipman, a former SAISD teacher, a current district resident and a retired attorney, said closing Carvajal is a sad yet necessary step because it would allow district leaders to focus more on improving classroom instruction and academic performance districtwide. He also asked trustees to stop delaying an order to shutter the campus.
“I urge this board to show the same courage and meet the obstacles we all face head-on,” Lipman said. “Leaving Carvajal only increases the pain that will result down the road.”
Improving Burbank High School
While SAISD leaders contemplating the closure of yet another campus, district officials and residents are celebrating the launch of the latest bond-supported construction project.
SAISD officials broke ground Jan. 13 on a $19.3 million upgrade of Burbank High School. Funded by the $1.3 billion, voter-approved 2020 school district bond, the project will yield a new gymnasium, weight rooms, storage areas, coaches’ offices, new interior and exterior security cameras, and improvements to the campus athletics fields, including the track and tennis courts.
San Antonio District 5 City Council member Teri Castillo, a Burbank graduate, said she was thrilled to participate in the ground-breaking ceremony.
“A big day for Burbank High School. Today, we celebrated the groundbreaking of bond 2020–funded campus upgrades that will enhance spaces for students, athletes, and the entire school community,” Castillo said on her Facebook page.
