SAN ANTONIO – On Monday, the San Antonio Independent School District board discussed a recommendation to close Carvajal Elementary School after the 2025-26 school year.
Declining enrollment, academic performance and consolidation of bilingual programs prompted the recommendation to close Carvajal Elementary.
On Dec. 3, district staff held a community meeting at the school with administrators, faculty, parents, students and community members to discuss the proposal and gather feedback.
During the board meeting, staff summarized the discussion and shared participants’ input.
Families expressed concerns about transportation, the receiving school’s higher facility index, and whether bond funds will follow students, among other issues.
SAISD Board of Trustees members were also concerned about the school closure.
Board Trustee Christina Martinez said closing the campus would leave part of the West Side underserved, emphasizing the need to maintain a neighborhood school in the community housing area.
“It pains me to see us close a campus that is connected to a really great resource ... Good Sam (Good Samaritan Center) is an incredible community resource,” Martinez said. “It is a lifeline for that campus, many of the schools around there. And so I do have some reservations about the proximity of where the location is and where we need to have a campus.”
She suggested consolidating other schools instead and highlighted the importance of investing in the West Side corridor to retain students.
“This is a community housing area that really needs us to continue to invest in and not disinvest in with this campus,” Martinez said.
If the campus closes, a majority of Carvajal students would be transferred to Barkley-Ruiz Elementary at the start of the 2026-27 school year. Some students would also be transferred to De Zavala Elementary, staff members said during the meeting.
The district will vote on the recommendation at a later date.
Carvajal Elementary School is located at 225 Arizona on the city’s West Side.
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