Dear Austin ISD Families,

As part of the 2026-27 budget approved by the Board of Trustees last week, we will be implementing adjustments to our transportation services starting in August. We know these adjustments will require our families to modify morning and afternoon routines, and we recognize the stress and anxiety this causes. 

To help you navigate these transitions, we have compiled a comprehensive Austin ISD Transportation: 2026-27 Service Changes FAQ to answer your questions regarding:

• Campus-specific reductions

• The transition to a localized "hub stop" model for secondary students

• The return to the state-standard 2-mile distance eligibility

• Transportation-funded late activity buses will be discontinued. However, individual schools retain the option to request and secure after-school bus services using their own campus budgets. 

We remain committed to providing a reliable, safe way to get to and from our schools. However, running a comprehensive transportation network has become significantly more expensive due to stagnant state funding for transportation and rising fuel costs, which has led to these difficult changes. Currently, we only receive $1.00 in state funding for every $7.22 we spend per mile. This funding gap forces the district to absorb the remaining costs, placing a heavy strain on our local budget. 

Please know that our new secondary school hub process is actively a work in progress. Our dedicated team is currently conducting physical site visits to ensure every location we establish is thoroughly vetted, safe, and secure. Because this is an iterative, safety-first process, some locations may be adjusted as we approach August to guarantee they meet our highest standards. Our team is developing maps for hub locations for each attendance boundary and an interactive map tool, which will be shared with families soon.

Specific information regarding updated routes—including exact pick-up and drop-off locations at these non-campus hubs—will be available on August 3, 2026, through the "Bus Stop Finder" app, and will remain posted on the Austin ISD Transportation Website so you can stay fully informed.

These structural updates were evaluated extensively and were not decided upon lightly. By focusing our infrastructure where it yields the highest impact, we can protect our core mission: delivering a safe, sustainable, and highly reliable transit network that ensures every student arrives ready to learn and gets home safely.

We look forward to sharing additional details as this plan moves forward and to welcoming your child onto our buses in August. 

Sincerely,

Jaime Miller

Interim Operations Officer