Austin School District Members Mull South Austin Magnet School Expansion

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX -- The Austin Independent School District board of directors met this week to discuss fututre plan expansion -- with South Austin figuring prominently in those plans.

The revelations came during a work session on Monday reported by KXAN-TV. Discussed was the potential for a South Austin magnet school, a extension of past talk on opening a second Liberal Arts and Science Academy in the southern sector of the city, KXAN reported.

Currently, LASA is AISD’s only high school magnet program, and it shares space with the LBJ Early College High School in East Austin. Given that shared set-up, some 578 students have tried to get into the school in the past three years, but the facility is only able to accept 340 students every year.

According to district data, the majority of LASA applicants live in Central and South Austin. Members of a planning committee are scheduled to provide feedback on future expansion plans during a series of information sessions beginning this month.

So far, the committee has come up with four different themes for magnet proposals: Civics and Legal; Comprehensive Advanced Academics; Enterprise and Leadership; and Health Sciences.