The Austin Independent School District’s board of trustees voted early Friday morning to approve turnaround plans for 12 campuses that received three consecutive failing or unacceptable grades from the state.
The plans now await approval from the The Texas Education Agency, which mandated the plans in September and gave the district a Nov. 21 deadline.
Superintendent Matias Segura said Friday he is "confident" the TEA will approve the plans and that they will lead to better student outcomes.
"I fully expect to have way fewer 'F' schools," Segura said.
Austin ISD had three options to choose from for each campus for the 2026-27 school year.
One option involves schools undergoing a “district-managed restart,” which includes hiring new teachers and principals and modifying the school day to give students more time on subjects that need improvement.
The second option involves partnering with a charter school. The last option is to close a campus temporarily or permanently.
The district opted out of partnering with charter schools, and officials instead decided to close seven schools that required turnaround plans and restart five with new management. According to school district documents, this will cost $1 million per school.
The seven closing schools are Bedichek and Martin middles schools as well as five elementary campuses — Barrington, Dawson, Oak Springs, Widén and Winn Montessori. Those students will transfer to other schools in the district. The campuses that receive a majority of the transfer students will be required to participate in a turnaround plan even if that campus has not received failing grades previously.
The five remaining schools — Paredes Middle School and Linder, Sánchez, Pecan Springs and Wooldridge elementary schools — will participate in a "district-managed restart" under a TEA model the agency said has helped turn F-rated schools into B-rated schools within a year. This process includes recruiting highly qualified staff, lowering the student to teacher ratio, hiring support staff such as counselors and graduation coaches, and allocating funds for family engagement among other things.
AISD also approved plans to improve 12 additional schools that received unacceptable ratings from the state two years in a row. Those plans are less intensive and less costly.
The TEA requires turnaround plans for schools that receive consecutive failing accountability ratings, which are A-F letter grades largely based on standardized test scores.
If any school receives five failing grades in a row, the state can remove the elected school board and replace members for at least two years with an appointed board of managers. Houston ISD, the largest public school district in the state, was taken over in 2023 and the program was recently extended to last until at least 2027. Last month, the state took over Fort Worth ISD schools, though the district is appealing the decision.
The turnaround plans approved Thursday are in addition to AISD's plans for Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools that were submitted in June to avoid a state takeover.
