Southwest Houston district records a 21% drop in enrollment since 2017–18. No campuses have been selected for closure yet and community consultations will continue through November.
Alief ISD studies possible closures, mergers of schools, and changes to attendance boundaries in response to a sustained decline in students in Southwest Houston. The district will hold a community meeting this Thursday, October 22, 2026, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Olle Middle School, to hear families’ input before defining possible changes.
The district’s enrollment has declined by approximately 21% since the 2017–18 school year. Among the options authorities are considering are consolidating campuses with small enrollments, modifying attendance boundaries, and reorganizing the grade configurations attended at each school.
Alief ISD has not yet approved closures or identified a list of schools that will close. The meetings are part of a public consultation phase and do not constitute decisions about specific campuses.
The October 22 meeting will be at Olle Middle School
The second meeting of the school reorganization process is scheduled for this Thursday in Southwest Houston.
- Date: Thursday, October 22, 2026.
- Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m.
- Location: Olle Middle School, also identified as the CITGO Innovation Academy at Olle Middle School.
- Address: 9200 Boone Rd., Houston, TX 77099.
- Participation: families, school staff, and community members.
- Languages: the district announced there will be interpreters.
Alief ISD also reported that the meetings will be recorded, allowing the conversations about the future of its schools to be documented.
The district’s meeting calendar confirms the October 22 gathering and four additional sessions scheduled through November 19.
Alief ISD has lost 21% of its enrollment since 2017–18
The enrollment decline is one of the main reasons for the review. According to figures presented by the district and disseminated by FOX 26 Houston, enrollment has fallen for nine consecutive years.
Currently, the district uses about 60% of its classroom capacity, according to those figures.
The situation is not uniform across campuses. Eleven elementary schools operate below 50% capacity, while three middle schools and three high schools have occupancy below 60%.
The district also identifies rising costs and competition from other educational options among the pressures it faces.
Lower enrollment can leave buildings and classrooms with unused spaces, while the school system maintains facilities, staff, and program costs. For that reason, Alief ISD is evaluating whether its current distribution of schools still meets the needs of its students.
Changes could affect schools, attendance zones, and grades
The process called School Optimization contemplates several alternatives for reorganizing the district’s resources.
- Close or merge schools with low enrollment.
- Modify attendance boundaries that determine which campus serves each residence.
- Reorganize the grades served by certain campuses.
- Redesign facilities and expand educational programs.
- Explore other models of school organization.
These options are still under evaluation. A change in attendance zones could alter the campus assigned to certain students, while a reorganization of grades could change the current distribution among elementary, middle, and high schools.
Alief ISD maintains a structure in which elementary schools generally serve from kindergarten through fourth grade; middle schools, fifth and sixth; and high schools, seventh and eighth. The review includes questions about whether that distribution should be maintained.
For now, the district has not announced how many campuses might be affected, which students would change schools, or when any potential modifications would take effect.
Families will have more meetings through November 19
Alief ISD has scheduled six community meetings between October and November. The first was held on October 15 at Alief Middle School, and the second corresponds to the meeting this Thursday.
The remaining dates are:
- Thursday, October 29: Killough Middle School.
- Thursday, November 5: Holub Middle School.
- Thursday, November 12: Albright Middle School.
- Thursday, November 19: O’Donnell Middle School.
All meetings are scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m., with interpreters available.
The campuses where these sessions are held are public consultation sites. Their appearance on the calendar does not mean they are being considered for closure.
The district seeks to learn which programs families consider priorities, which should be maintained or expanded, and what they think about possible changes in the organization of the schools.
The district has not yet made a decision on closures
The evaluation will continue after the community meetings. The planning presented by Alief ISD contemplates developing potential reorganization scenarios and submitting proposals for further discussion before a decision by the school board.
As of October 22, authorities have not presented a definitive list of affected campuses or a timeline for implementing potential changes.
The last community meeting of this stage is scheduled for November 19, 2026, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at O’Donnell Middle School.
