What’s Happening in Austin Education: Failing Ratings on the Move, AISD Appeals to Dodge Takeover

Austin ISD is fighting for its life on two fronts right now — and the latest punches came from the state itself. The Texas Education Agency just hung the failing histories of six closed schools around the necks of the campuses that took their students, while the district’s last-ditch appeal of two F ratings could decide whether Austin keeps its elected school board. Here’s what’s happening in Austin education.

TEA Hands Six Austin Schools Their Neighbors’ Failing Histories

In an August letter to Superintendent Matias Segura and Board President Lynn Boswell, the Texas Education Agency reassigned the failing accountability histories of six recently closed schools to the campuses that received the majority of their students. The receiving school inherits the closed school’s campus number — and its chain of unacceptable ratings, effective immediately.

The most painful example: Paredes Middle School. Austin ISD closed Paredes in late July, just weeks before the school year started, after preliminary ratings signaled a fourth consecutive F. TEA called the move permissible — but admonished the district for an announcement that “appeared abrupt and reactive” and imposed “an avoidable hardship on students and families.” Now Bailey Middle School, which absorbed the majority of Paredes’ 353 students, inherits four consecutive F ratings — despite having earned a B rating itself. One F this year would trigger state intervention at Bailey.

The same fate hit five other campuses: Barrington’s history went to Guerrero Thompson Elementary, Dawson’s to Galindo Elementary, Martin’s to Kealing Middle School, Oak Springs’ to Blackshear Elementary, and Widen’s to Rodriguez Elementary. The receiving schools also inherit the closed schools’ TEA-approved turnaround plans.

The math is brutal. Nine Austin ISD schools — not three — now start the year with four consecutive unacceptable ratings: Dobie Middle School and Pecan Springs and Linder elementaries from their own histories, plus the six inheritors. The only way out: earn an A, B, or C this year and the chain resets to zero. A D keeps it frozen. An F triggers state intervention.

Texas is also changing the rules mid-game. Stung by the late Paredes closure, TEA now requires all campus closure requests to be submitted by May 31. And Austin isn’t alone — Commissioner Mike Morath transferred failing histories to receiving campuses in Corpus Christi, Duncanville, Judson, and San Antonio ISDs this year too. UT Austin education professor Pedro Reyes put it plainly: “We ought to be looking for solutions together, not for passing on the blame or the stigma.”

One Point Away: Burnet and Webb Appeals Are the District’s Last Shot

The second front is even more urgent. Austin ISD has appealed the failing ratings of Burnet and Webb middle schools — each campus’s fifth consecutive F. The margin is excruciating: Burnet scored 59, one point below the 60 needed for a D. Webb scored 58, two points short.

If either fifth consecutive F becomes final, state law requires Commissioner Morath to close the campus or replace the district’s superintendent and elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers. The appeal deadline was September 11, and the district isn’t disclosing its grounds — but if TEA bumps either campus to a D, the failing streak breaks and the mandatory intervention trigger disappears. Ratings go final in early December.

There is some hope on the board: the district overall earned a B this year, up from a C, and Dobie Middle School — which was staring down its own fifth F — pulled out a D. Austin ISD is also the only district in Texas to trigger the potential-takeover law this year, which means every eye in the state is on it.

Meanwhile, Mayor Kirk Watson has floated a little-known escape hatch: a parent petition. If more than 50% of parents at a campus sign on, they can ask the state to close the school instead of taking over the district. Segura has said the district won’t gather signatures itself, and parents at Burnet and Webb have mostly opposed the idea of closing their own schools. Signatures would be due to Segura by October 15, with verification through December 1.

A district fighting for its autonomy, point by point. We’ll keep watching Burnet, Webb, and the six inheritors — December will tell the story.