As of late, local Austin movers and residents have been concerned about the talk of plans for boundary changes in the Austin Independent School District. The mere suggestion of changing school attendance zones is making families, real estate agents, and Austin movers shudder.

The Austin school district faces issues with the attendance zone shifting plan, as it did not fare well when the last high school opened in 2000.

According to the Austin American-Statesmen, “The annual report prepared by Davis Demographics & Planning. Over the next decade, Austin schools are expected to lose about 6,100 students, or a decline of 7.4 percent. The trend will not be experienced uniformly. Currently crowded schools in Northwest and Southeast Austin are expected to become even more crowded. Centrally located schools will continue to empty out, as single-family homes are replaced by condos and upscale apartments.”

Local Austin moving companies and former residents say that the issue is due to the fact that affordable housing is not being built in Austin. As a result, school attendance numbers are declining in the area as families move to areas that are affordable, transferring their children to their according schools.

School board members say that they do not have many options, as they cannot afford to keep the schools the way they are with the staff that they have. So, if the attendance zone shifting plan is not implemented, either residents will have to raise their property taxes in order to build new schools in the more popular neighborhoods, or rezone children to less popular schools. The latter of the two options would most likely anger a lot of parents into sending their children to private charter schools instead.