San Antonio ISD board delays picking next permanent superintendent
San Antonio Independent School District trustees delayed choosing a permanent leader and turned instead to a familiar face to serve as interim superintendent on Monday night.
Toni Thompson, the district's longtime former associate superintendent for human resources, will lead SAISD temporarily, starting July 1, after trustees voted unanimously to appoint her to the role. Most recently, Thompson has served as SAISD's chief of staff.
Monday's vote extends a roughly two-month superintendent search - one that, at its outset, was expected to end by July. The search began after Superintendent Jaime Aquino announced in March that he planned to retire.
Aquino is set to depart SAISD in January 2027. Although he said he intended to serve as district leaderuntil early next year, trustees moved to replace him by July and give his successor control of the district before the new school year began. Aquino will remain on the district's payroll as a consultant until next January.
During what appeared to be his last meeting at the helm, board members thanked Aquino for his time leading the district.
"You led with passion on equity, and you led with a strong conviction on really providing the leadership when tough decisions had to be made, and you never wavered on that, and for that I will always appreciate your leadership and your wisdom," trustee Ed Garza said.
Thompson will serve until "a permanent superintendent is hired," trustee Jacob Ramos said. An agenda item for Monday's meeting allowed SAISD board members to select a lone finalist for the district's top job. In Texas, state law requires a 21-day waiting period before a lone finalist can formally take over.
"We are truly excited to have Toni serve in this capacity. She has been a tremendous asset to this district for a number of years," Board President Alicia Sebastian said in a district news release. Sebastian did not return a call seeking further comment after the vote.
The decision to name an interim leader- following more than two hours of closed-door discussions - appears to shift the board's original superintendent search timeline, which suggested trustees would name a lone finalist by early July.
The next district leader will inherit several major challenges. The district has projected that one-third of its campuses will receive failing grades on the state's accountability system this year.
Those ratings are heavily influenced by scores on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, tests. Scores for students in grades 3-8 are set to be released on Tuesday.
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The district is also grappling with a $46 million budget shortfall and mounting pressure to close campuses because of declining enrollment. Both issues are tied to the state's funding system, which allocates money to districts based on the number of students in school each day.
On Monday, trustees approved a budget for the coming school year that eliminates more than 200 positions and saves about $19 million, helping the district work down its shortfall over two school years.
SAISD is San Antonio's third-largest school system. Its boundaries encompass most of the urban core, and it serves nearly 40,000 students.
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