At least 135 public schools have closed or have been approved to close all across Texas since late 2023, as districts face budget crises amid state funding shortfalls, according to data gathered by the public school advocacy organization Our Schools Our Democracy.
Carrie Griffith, executive director of the Austin-based nonprofit, said every region of the state has been impacted by school closures. “It’s not specific to urban or rural areas. … It’s not confined to any sort of racial or ethnic breakdown.” Griffith said. “That is why we say it’s not a local failure; it’s a statewide trend.”
