Austin school board approves turnaround plans for three middle schools

The Austin school board on Thursday approved hotly debated turnaround plans for three North Austin middle schools to bring the campuses' academic scores up to state standards.

The proposals had previously sparked student walkouts, staff concerns and emotional pleas from families at Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools, all of whom worry that the changes will bring major disruptions. District officials, however, warn that if any of those campuses fail to meet state standards another year, the district would be at risk of a takeover by the Texas Education Agency.

"We can absolutely do this," Superintendent Matias Segura said of the turnaround plans. "We can 1,000% do this."

The school board-approved plans now head to the TEA for review by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, who has until July 18 to either accept or return them to the district with revisions.

The Austin district plans to spend $1.7 million at each campus, largely on staff stipends or instructional materials. Based on the Accelerating Campus Excellence model, the turnaround plans include daily math and reading coursework and limit staff members to teachers who have demonstrated records of high student academic growth.

About 29% of Dobie staff members, 59% of Burnet staff members and 50% of Webb staff members are returning, according to the district. In January, Dobie employed 67 staff members, Burnet 93, and Webb 69, according to records obtained by the American-Statesman.

Although the district will pour resources into turning around these three schools next year, officials predict that the release of 2024 state accountability scores — which have been tied up in a legal battle — could trigger the need for turnaround plans at 16 additional campuses.

Board President Lynn Boswell called the turnaround issue an "existential" one that will require help from the whole community.

"I really have deep faith in the power of our community to do hard things together and this is immensely important," Boswell said.

Texas campuses are rated on an A-F letter grade scale, and all three middle schools received their first "F" in 2019. Austin officials estimate that without action, the schools are on track to get a fifth consecutive "F" rating at the end of the 2025-26 school year. Failure to meet state standards again would trigger Morath, the state education commissioner, to either close the school or take over the entire district, like what happened in the Houston district in 2023.

Because of pandemic-related disruptions, the state didn't issue accountability ratings in 2020 and 2021 — and 2022 for some schools — so 2019 and 2023 may be considered consecutive years for rating purposes.

Officials plan to monitor student improvement with benchmark tests throughout the year. However, if scores aren't improving enough to bring the campuses’ ratings up to a "C," officials have settled on a contingency plan.

By Dec. 12, the board could tell the TEA that the district will hand over management of any of the three schools to a charter operator starting in the 2026-27 school year. This strategy, known as an 1882 partnership, allows districts more time to improve academic scores.

Austin currently has an 1882 program at Mendez Middle School, which Third Future Schools has operated since 2022. After multiple years of failing to meet state standards, Mendez received a "B" rating in 2023, the most recently released scores.

District officials could still decide to use a charter operator into the spring semester, but would lose out on grant opportunities.