The Texas Education Agency sent a letter to Austin ISD on Wednesday, Sept. 3, that states it will appoint a state conservator to oversee the school district if AISD cannot provide satisfactory improvement plans for 33 schools, the majority of them elementary schools, by a Nov. 14 deadline. Nine schools must develop a Targeted Improvement Plan and the rest must develop a more urgent Turnaround Plan, or TAP.
Twelve of those schools have received their third unacceptable score from the TEA via a much-criticized scoring system based on standardized testing results like STAAR. Those campuses must develop a TAP to go into effect as early as January 2026. Eleven other schools received their second unacceptable score, and their TAPs will go into effect next school year.
“If we don’t get this right, TEA has made it clear that they will intervene,” Superintendent Matias Segura said in a video posted to Facebook for AISD families on Friday.
Families of students attending those 33 campuses should consult AISD’s new website that outlines what the district can say thus far about what will happen to each school.
“In an effort to produce Turnaround Plans that will be accepted … there are limitations on what we can do.” – AISD Superintendent Matias Segura
The 12 schools under the more blaring alarm, which could face potential restarts or reassignments for students in 2026-2027 as defined on the new website, are Barrington ES, Dawson ES, Linder ES, Oak Springs ES, Pecan Springs ES, Sánchez ES, Wooldridge ES, Widén ES, Winn Montessori, Bedichek MS, Martin MS, and Paredes ES.
The 11 schools that will undergo “school improvement” TAPs due to their second unacceptable score are T.A. Brown ES, Govalle ES, Hart ES, Houston ES, Barbara Jordan ES, Norman-Sims ES, Overton ES, Padrón ES, Pickle ES, Wooten ES, and Sadler Means YWLA. Eastside ECHS must develop a TAP due to federal accountability.
Superintendent Segura emphasizes that for the campuses given a shorter timeline, the potential restarts and reassignments are no longer the same thing as the School Consolidation Plan the AISD community has extensively discussed this year. Moreover, with a November deadline, the TEA is not giving the district much time to be in conversation with AISD families about what these intensive changes would look like for their child’s campus or what the options are.
“The consolidation and the accountability timelines are converging,” Segura said. “In an effort to produce Turnaround Plans that will be accepted … there are limitations on what we can do.”
On Oct. 9, the board will hold an information session on a preliminary consolidation plan and the Turnaround Plan drafts. On Nov. 6, there will be another session and special vote held on the final recommended plans.
This article appears in September 12 • 2025.