Superintendent Matias Segura is fond of saying that Austin’s local school district can do hard things. But can it dramatically improve the performance of three of its struggling schools in just four months?
AISD’s board of trustees seems to think so. The board wrapped up the 2024-25 school year last week with a vote to approve the controversial school-turnaround plans for Dobie, Webb, and Burnet middle schools. Each school has repeatedly scored F’s on the state’s accountability rankings. Starting in August, they will have four months to prove they can bring their scores up to at least a D (but preferably a C or higher) in the next school year. Otherwise, the campuses will be handed over to the management of charter schools.
The turnaround-plan vote caps three months of whiplash responses to what has become a districtwide school accountability crisis. Segura revealed in April that Dobie was at risk of scoring five consecutive F’s in the accountability ratings, something that would require the state of Texas, through the Texas Education Agency, to close the school or take control of the entire school district by replacing the elected board of trustees with TEA-appointed managers. District leaders floated a plan to close Dobie for two years. Then came news that Webb and Burnet were also failing to meet standards. The district pivoted to the plan approved last week.
Variously referred to as a turnaround plan or a school restart, it provides $1.7 million per school in extra resources at Dobie, Webb, and Burnet, to bring up students’ scores on the end-of-year STAAR test. AISD Chief of Governmental Relations & Board Services Jacob Reach told the trustees at the June 26 meeting that AISD will monitor student performance at the turnaround schools through the fall with the MAP Growth and interim STAAR tests. If improvement doesn’t come fast enough, the trustees will vote in December to bring in charter school management, which would stop TEA from closing Dobie or replacing the board with its own hand-picked managers.
The turnaround plan the district is using is called the Accelerating Campus Excellence intervention model. TEA claims ACE can help low-performing schools score A’s or B’s within just two years. The model requires AISD to completely replace the principals and assistant principals at Dobie, Webb, and Burnet and about half of the schools’ teachers. It also revamps curricula, using standardized and highly regarded teaching materials that prioritize the instruction of reading and math.
“It’s really important that the entire community, all of Austin, every taxpayer, every student, every staff person, understands how critically important it is that these restarts be successful.” – Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura
Parents complained bitterly about the replacement of their schools’ teachers and principals in a series of district meetings over the last two months. The ACE model required the teachers at the turnaround schools to reapply for their jobs and set stringent standards for their rehiring. According to the district, only 16% of teachers at Dobie were invited to return. At Webb, 47% were invited to return. At Burnet, the number was 61%. AISD officials say the district has already hired most of the teachers and administrators needed for next year.
Segura has said if any of the schools are turned over to charter school management that Third Future Schools may be the chosen charter. Third Future has run Mendez Middle School since 2022, after the school flunked accountability ratings for a decade. Mendez raised its score to a B in recently released ratings but public school advocates privately question the grade, suggesting that Third Future gamed the A-F system by discouraging lower-performing students from attending the school.
Advocates and parents say they are concerned that students at Dobie, Webb, and Burnet will feel intense pressure this fall. That pressure is spreading across the district after the May announcement that 16 more schools are on the cusp of the same accountability crisis now being faced by the turnaround schools. The fact that one out of six Austin schools could potentially be engaged in turnarounds makes the Dobie, Webb, and Burnet interventions that much more pivotal.
“It’s really important that the entire community, all of Austin, every taxpayer, every student, every staff person, understands how critically important it is that these restarts be successful,” Segura said at the June 26 board meeting. “It may feel far away for a lot of our families, but if we’re not successful the entire district is going to feel that impact.”
This article appears in July 4 • 2025.
