Burnet and Webb middle schools received a fifth consecutive failing accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency, the Austin school district announced Thursday, triggering a state law that directs Education Commissioner Mike Morath to either close the schools or appoint a board of managers to replace the elected school board.
Meanwhile, Dobie Middle School broke its streak of four consecutive failing ratings by earning a D, pausing the school’s accountability clock and avoiding the immediate threat of triggering the state intervention law for the campus.
Overall, the Austin school district received a B grade, an improvement from last year’s rating, district leaders announced Thursday. The ratings are preliminary until districts have a chance to appeal, the education agency reviews those appeals and finalizes campus grades in December.
Thursday’s announcement, which comes a day before TEA publicly releases accountability ratings statewide, moves Austin ISD one step closer to potential state intervention after months of district efforts to avoid it. The district has until Sept. 8 to appeal the data that led to the ratings. District leaders will review data across schools to determine which ratings, if any, they would appeal, Superintendent Matias Segura said in an interview. Segura said he has not been in communication with TEA about whether the agency has plans to take over the district.
The A-F accountability system measures student achievement, academic growth and college readiness and how well the school prepared students for life after high school. Under Texas law, five consecutive failing ratings mandates the education commissioner close the campus or take over the district by replacing the elected school board with a board of managers.
“I understand there is an anxiousness and concern in the community,” Segura said. “We are going to be here tomorrow, the teachers are going to show up, we are going to do the work to ensure their student gets what they need, regardless of what that looks like for that specific family, for that specific school. AISD will continue to be here; we have been here for 145 years.”
See here for the background, and be sure to read the rest of the story, which has a lot more information. I would not put any stock into the appeals process – it’s the TEA that hears the appeal of the ratings, after all – but as the story notes later, there is another possible outcome.
TEA has taken different approaches in previous interventions.
In Houston ISD, state education leaders took over the school district, replacing the elected school board with a board of managers and superintendent. The district saw higher standardized test scores but also enrollment losses of more than 13,000 students.
Earlier this year, the agency intervened in Wichita Falls ISD by approving the transfer of students from a chronically failing middle school to another campus, which was to be operated by Third Future Schools, appointing a conservator and closing the school that triggered the state intervention. The founder of Third Future Schools is the state-appointed superintendent of Houston ISD.
Segura said as the district progresses through the fall semester, he will work with the school board to determine what is best for the schools, including exploring a path similar to that taken by Wichita Falls. “Nothing is off the table, but, again, we are not there yet,” Segura said.
See here for more on the WFISD story. I don’t know why the TEA went a different way with this one district – as far as I know, they’re the only ones so far who could have been taken over but weren’t. I would not bet on Austin ISD getting the same outcome, but we’ll know for sure later this year. I wish Austin ISD the best of luck. The Trib, which names several other imminent takeover possibilities, and the Waco Bridge, which discusses Waco ISD’s “get out of takeover for now” card, have more.