Help keep Blanton strong.
Blanton's annual support budget is now more than $500,000 lower than it was three years ago, while our student enrollment has increased approximately 15%. Community support helps us preserve the incredible experience of growing up as a Blanton Bobcat—the teachers, opportunities, traditions, and sense of belonging that make these elementary years so special.
Support Blanton
There are three simple ways to help.
Give
Make a direct contribution to Blanton through Austin Ed Fund to support campus needs.
Rent
Bring your program, class, meeting, activity, organization, or community event to Blanton.
Connect
Know someone who might donate or need a space? Share this page with friends, businesses, nonprofits, neighborhood groups, and community organizations.
See What Community Support Makes Possible
Grants and community partnerships can create lasting opportunities for Blanton students. Here are two examples of outside support that became resources and experiences used across our school.
Making Every Classroom More Sensory-Friendly
An Austin Ed Fund grant helped Blanton provide sensory-support tools throughout the school, including noise-reducing headphones, fluorescent-light filters, and flexible seating in classrooms.
The goal was not simply to provide accommodations for a small group of students. By making these tools widely available, students could discover what helps them regulate, focus, and learn while normalizing their use for everyone and reducing the stigma that can come when supports are associated only with students who have identified disabilities.
Growing More Than a Garden
A $10,000 grant from the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation helped Blanton expand and improve our school garden and create new opportunities for students to learn outdoors.
The investment supported garden improvements and helped create Farm Friends, an after-school gardening club for students in grades 3–5. Across the year, students planted, watered, harvested, helped care for the garden, and explored, ate, and cooked with the plants they grew!
The result is a stronger outdoor learning environment that supports hands-on learning, student ownership, enrichment, and community involvement.
Why Community Support Matters
Blanton has continued to grow while the recurring resources available to our campus have declined. These funding changes affect staffing, intervention, family support, instructional materials, enrichment, and other services students experience each day.
How Blanton's Funding Has Changed
The reductions below reflect changes in the district, state, and federal resources available to support campus staffing and programs. The totals represent the recurring annual reduction affecting Blanton in each school year. PTA bridge support is one-time funding that helps reduce the immediate impact, but does not permanently replace those resources.
2024–2025 School Year
Annual funding reduction affecting this year: $136,000
PTA one-time bridge support: +$35,000
See how we got here
New recurring funding reductions beginning this year: $136,000
- Loss of Title I funding for intervention staff, tutoring, instructional materials, and supplies: $136,000
PTA provided $35,000 in one-time bridge support for intervention staff.
2025–2026 School Year
Annual funding reduction affecting this year: $271,000
PTA one-time bridge support: +$23,000
See how we got here
Continuing recurring reductions from prior years: $136,000
Additional recurring reductions beginning this year: $135,000
- Loss of Parent Support Specialist funding: $52,000
- Loss of Instructional Coach funding: $83,000
Together with the continuing $136,000 reduction from the prior year, these changes brought the annual reduction affecting Blanton to $271,000.
2026–2027 School Year
Annual funding reduction affecting this year: $557,000
PTA one-time bridge support: +$25,000
See how we got here
Continuing recurring reductions from prior years: $271,000
Additional recurring reductions beginning this year: $286,000
- Loss of campus discretionary funding for instructional materials, supplies, and tutoring: $13,000
- Loss of 0.5 Counselor funding used as alternate funding for 0.5 Instructional Coach: $45,000
- Loss of 0.5 Assistant Principal funding: $49,000
- Loss of 2.0 Teacher Assistant funding: $96,000
- Loss of 1.0 Essential Areas funding for Art, Music, and PE: $83,000
Together with the continuing $271,000 reduction from prior years, these changes bring the annual reduction affecting Blanton in 2026–2027 to $557,000.
How Blanton Is Responding
Blanton is working to expand the resources available to our students through community partnership, creative programming, grants, earned revenue, and support from our PTA.
PTA Support Helps Protect What Makes Blanton Special
Blanton PTA plays a major role in supporting both student learning and the experiences that make Blanton such a special place to grow up.
PTA investments support student intervention, instructional differentiation, field trips, teacher supplies and grants, family engagement, and student enrichment opportunities. Some of the most visible enrichment investments include the Blanton Barn & Farm, Bobcat Choir, and Blanton Guitar Club.
PTA has also stepped in during recent funding reductions, providing $83,000 in one-time bridge support over the past three years to help Blanton protect important student services while we adapt to lower recurring funding.
PTA support does two important things at once: it helps protect essential student supports and makes possible the distinctive programs, clubs, experiences, and opportunities that students remember long after elementary school.
Blanton Summer Camp: Great Programming That Also Supports Our School
Blanton Summer Camp allows us to strengthen the school financially while offering incredible summer programming to students at affordable rates.
When families choose Blanton Summer Camp, they get a valuable summer experience for their children while directly helping strengthen their public school.
Summer Camp information and registration are posted each January.
Donate Directly to Blanton
Families, neighbors, alumni, businesses, and community members can make a direct donation to Blanton Elementary through Austin Ed Fund. These funds help our campus respond to student and staff needs that are no longer fully covered through existing funding sources.
Your Employer May Match Your Gift
Many employers match charitable donations made by their employees. A quick employer-match request could double the impact of your contribution without increasing what you give personally.
Where Does Your Donation Go?
At least 95% of a campus-directed gift remains designated for the campus you choose. Austin Ed Fund may designate up to 5% to strengthen its capacity and outreach in support of Austin ISD.
That broader work matters to Blanton, too. Austin Ed Fund's grant program funded our $10,000 Sensory-Friendly Classrooms project, helping us put meaningful sensory supports into classrooms across the school.
Looking for a Giving Amount?
There is no right amount to give. Here are two ways families might think about what feels meaningful and manageable.
Pay the Meal Benefit Forward
Blanton provides free breakfast and lunch to every student. At many other schools, families above the income limit to qualify for free or reduced-price school meals would pay for those meals.
If that describes your family, consider paying some or all of that benefit forward by investing it directly in Blanton.
$106 — approximately one month of breakfast and lunch
$456 — approximately half a school year
$912 — approximately one full school year
Continue a Small Part of What You Were Already Investing
Coming to Blanton from paid childcare, preschool, or private school? Your family may suddenly be spending substantially less each month on your child's education and care.
If your family is able, consider continuing even a small portion of that investment—perhaps 5% or 10%—by investing it in your child's public school.
A modest fraction of what your family was already investing can help Blanton continue offering an extraordinary public-school experience for all of our students.
Ready to invest in the Blanton experience?
Donate to BlantonNeed a Place? Make Blanton Your Space.
Blanton facilities may be available for approved community programs, classes, meetings, youth activities, sports, cultural events, neighborhood gatherings, faith communities, nonprofits, businesses, and other community uses.
Renting at Blanton does more than give your organization a great place to meet. Choosing Blanton also gives you a simple way to show your clients, members, employees, and neighbors that your organization invests in strong public schools and the community around them.
Eligible facility-use revenue creates a shared benefit for both our campus and the broader Austin ISD community.
Facility requests are submitted through Facilitron and require campus approval.
View spaces, rates & nonprofit discount
| Facility | Rate |
|---|---|
| Classroom | $50/hour |
| Cafeteria with Stage | $150/hour |
| Library | $150/hour |
| Gym | $150/hour |
| Field | $80/hour |
| Playground | $80/hour |
| Blacktop/Basketball Court | $80/hour |
Nonprofit organizations with valid documentation receive a 50% discount on facility-use rental fees. Custodial and support fees may still apply.
Businesses and Community Partners
There are many ways businesses and community organizations can invest in Blanton. Partners can make financial contributions, rent campus facilities, sponsor projects or events, or provide useful in-kind donations.
In-kind support might include:
- School and classroom supplies
- Meals or refreshments for teachers and staff
- Gift cards or donated items for student and staff recognition
- Prizes and incentives for students
- Materials or services for special projects and events
Have something else in mind? We would be glad to talk about whether it could meet a campus need.
Call us at (512) 414-2026 and press 0 for the front office, or email our bookkeeper at silva.delrio@austinisd.org .