South San Antonio ISD's Athens Elementary School, which reopened in 2017, is being considered for closure in a school board vote scheduled for March 22.South San Antonio Independent School District trustees will again consider a proposal to close three schools, less than three months after voting down a similar measure. The agenda for the March 22 meeting includes separate items for permanently closing Kazen Middle School, Kindred Elementary School and Athens Elementary School.
The high school had been closed before, in 2007, because of flood damage. In 2017, Athens and Kazen were shut because of declines in enrollment. All three were reopened in a controversial 2019 vote by trustees, leading to an investigation by the Texas Education Agency. Kindred also has low enrollment, according to district officials., and enrollment already was trending down.
The district has shored up its finances in recent years with the help of federal funding designed to help school systems recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, but with that funding running out, the district will have to dip into its general fund, similar to a savings account, to cover operating expenses that are outpacing revenue the district is receiving.