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As Austin ISD shutters its doors to students at Hyde Park’s Ridgetop Elementary School , community members and arts advocates are pushing to preserve one of the campus’ most unusual features: a rare, specially-designed theater they say could become a desperately needed creative space in increasingly expensive Austin.

Ridgetop is one of 10 Austin ISD campuses that permanently closed as a district cost-saving effort, a move that sparked widespread community backlash over the future of the schools. Austin ISD may choose to sell, lease or readapt surplus campuses in an attempt to monetize its property and offset a growing budget shortfall. At Ridgetop, a century-old land deed and community advocacy to preserve the use of a historic theater could play a determining role on the school building’s future.

Though Austin ISD’s current plans call for the Ridgetop’s preservation and reuse, the community is trying to help figure out what that reuse will look like. At a May 19 meeting with community members, district construction leaders discussed potential paths for reusing the Ridgetop campus as arts advocates pitched ideas centered on arts education and broader community use. Much of the discussion focused on the school auditorium, which advocates say is one of the few remaining theater spaces of its kind in Austin ISD.

Community advocates said any future use of the property should preserve an educational mission, pointing to a deed restriction dating back more than a century that limits the land’s use to free public education. However, legal questions remain about the enforceability of the provision.

Sharron Anderson, founding executive director of ATX Theater, proposes Ridgetop Elementary’s auditorium be preserved and repurposed for use with the Austin theater community during a community meeting on May 19, 2026. LEILA SAIDANE FOR AUSTIN CURRENT

Nonprofit ATX Theater Founding Executive Director Sharron Anderson, who also serves on Austin’s Arts Commission, said Austin has long-lacked open use creative spaces. After finding out about the unique theater online, she developed a proposal for a campus that would combine arts education, early childhood programs and a cafe operating out of the school cafeteria to help generate revenue.

“I am not a parent of this school, but I am a parent, and I can understand how much it feels like a community is being torn apart,” Anderson said. “My hope is that the arts community can support the parent community in getting some of their wishes but also at the same time create a place where gatherings happen, humanity is encouraged, conversations happen, community is built. The arts do that.”

A push to preserve the arts scene

Lindsay Palinsky, member of the Austin nonprofit community theater The Baron’s Men, checks out the Ridgetop Elementary auditorium on May 19, 2026. LEILA SAIDANE FOR AUSTIN CURRENT

Ridgetop’s auditorium, built with a “raked floor” designed to improve stage visibility from every seat, has long served as a hub for arts education and community events. It is one of few such auditoriums in the district. The space, with its brick walls, wooden stage and red velvet curtain, has hosted class plays, summer camps and intergenerational programs for decades.

Caroline Reck, founder of Glass Half Full Theater, said she has seen other former school buildings be sold or adapted as multiuse community centers and, as a longtime parent and member of the Ridgetop community, she wanted to be involved in the campus’ future. The challenge, she said, is creating a space that provides enough income for Austin ISD while remaining affordable for the nonprofits that would run it.

Glass Half Full Theater has partnered with Austin ISD for a decade, Reck said, and Ridgetop served as the group’s first venue for a student performance in 2016. Reck described the auditorium as a rare dedicated performance space with lighting and sound controls and more than 300 recently renovated seats, adding its Central Austin location makes it especially valuable.

“People want that in-person connection more than ever, but it is very expensive for a nonprofit to try to run and have a space to do that,” Reck said.

Questions remain about restricted use

While the current Ridgetop Elementary dates back to the 1930s, the land itself was first gifted to the former Ridgetop Independent School District in 1917 by the North Austin Reality Company for the purpose of free public education. The land’s deed explicitly restricts limiting the property’s use to that mission and states ownership could revert the ownership of the original owner or its successors if the land is used for any other purpose.

Community members say the district should honor the original intent of the deed and publicly clarify how it interprets the restriction. Some residents argue arts programs could still satisfy an educational purpose, particularly if paired with other community education services. Uncertainty remains over what legally qualifies “free public education” and who would have standing to enforce the restriction.

During a May community meeting, Austin ISD leaders acknowledged the deed restriction, but said the district’s legal analysis of it was not public. The district has forwarded questions about its interpretation of the deed to its legal team.

In a statement to Austin Current about its analysis of the deed, the district said it would prioritize “accessible, educational opportunities.” Potential partnerships could include fine arts programs, early childhood services, or other community-based educational uses, the district’s statement continued, but specifics of its future use will depend on proposals received and approval from the school board.

“The district’s intent is to pursue reuse of the existing building, which would allow Austin ISD to retain ownership and partner with organizations, including nonprofit partners, to provide community-serving and educational uses,” Austin ISD said in a statement. “This direction is aligned with neighborhood input and is intended to be consistent with the deed language.”

Austin Attorney Bill Aleshire told Austin Current the deed clearly restricts the property’s use “for public free school purposes” and states the land would revert to The North Austin Realty Company “and its assigns and successors” if that use is abandoned. However, he said, Texas Secretary of State records show the company’s charter has expired, and additional information is not readily available online.

“Unless someone can show they are an ‘assignee or successor’ to The North Austin Realty Company, I don’t know who else would have standing to enforce the deed restriction,” Aleshire said in an emailed statement.

A decision on Ridgetop’s future could come as early as this summer.

Jaime Miller, senior executive director of operations at Austin ISD, James Valadez, director of real estate at AISD and Lynda Rife, senior strategic advisor for Rifeline, answer questions about future use of Ridgetop Elementary School from parents and community members on May 19, 2026. LEILA SAIDANE FOR AUSTIN CURRENT

Acacia Coronado is Austin Current's education reporter. She is a Texas native and has previously written for The Associated Press, The Texas Tribune and The Wall Street Journal, among others.