Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is urging local families to petition the state to close two persistently struggling middle schools, presenting campus closures as a necessary strategy to prevent the Texas Education Agency from executing a complete takeover of the Austin Independent School District.
The mayor detailed his proposed approach in an edition of his "Watson Wire" community newsletter, arguing that direct intervention by parents could shield the broader school system from state management. Under his proposal, parents at Burnet and Webb middle schools would officially ask Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to shutter both facilities, paving the way for the district to establish a newly structured educational facility in North Austin.
The threat of state intervention arises from a 2015 Texas statute designed to enforce accountability in public education. Under this legislation, if an individual campus receives failing accountability ratings for five consecutive years, the education commissioner is legally mandated to intervene. The commissioner faces a strict binary choice: either order the immediate closure of the underperforming campuses or replace the district’s elected board of trustees with a state-appointed board of managers.
Both Burnet and Webb middle schools triggered these statutory penalties after receiving their fifth consecutive failing grades in the 2026 state accountability ratings. State evaluation records reveal that neither campus has met state academic standards since 2018. In the most recent evaluation cycle, Webb Middle School received a score of 58 out of 100, while Burnet Middle School earned a 59.
The narrow margin of failure proved decisive for the two campuses. Had either school reached a score of 60, it would have qualified for a statutory pause year, temporarily staying state action and granting administrators additional time to implement turnaround strategies. Falling just short of that benchmark left the district vulnerable to immediate state-level intervention.
Mayor Watson contends that stripping the elected school board of its governing authority would be an excessive response that ignores the positive academic trajectory seen across the wider district. Austin ISD overall demonstrated measurable improvement in the latest state ratings, rising from a score of 79, which corresponds to a C grade, to an 81, earning the district a solid B rating.
In his newsletter, Watson characterized a complete state takeover as an extraordinary intervention that is unmerited given the district’s districtwide progress. He urged stakeholders to consider whether targeted measures focused directly on the two struggling campuses could satisfy the requirements of state law while protecting and sustaining the gains achieved across other Austin ISD schools.
To execute this alternative path, Watson pointed parents toward a specific clause in Texas education law that grants families a direct voice in the accountability process. When a campus triggers mandatory state sanctions, a majority of parents with enrolled students have the legal right to submit a petition to Commissioner Morath requesting campus closure rather than the removal of the elected school board.
The Texas Education Agency has not yet provided clarification on whether a verified parent petition legally obligates the commissioner to choose closure over a board takeover, as state statute indicates Morath may abide by the parents' recommendation.
Historical precedent, however, demonstrates that the petition process has previously succeeded in averting a districtwide board replacement. In 2019, Snyder ISD faced identical sanctions when Snyder Junior High received five straight failing ratings. A majority of parents at the junior high submitted a formal petition asking Morath to shut down the campus instead of ousting the elected trustees. In a January 2020 determination letter, Morath confirmed that the petition compelled him to close the campus and appoint a state conservator to oversee district decisions rather than replacing the local school board.
Looking ahead for Austin ISD, Watson proposed consolidating the affected student populations into a modern learning environment situated on the current Burnet campus. The Burnet property is already slated for extensive physical upgrades, benefiting from a $158 million modernization project funded through the district’s $2.4 billion bond program approved by voters in 2022.
Watson expressed strong confidence in Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura, stating that the district’s executive leadership is capable of designing an ambitious transition plan. Watson stressed that students from Burnet and Webb should not simply be dispersed among other existing middle schools, advocating instead for the creation of a brand-new program that keeps the existing school communities intact within renovated facilities.
Neither the Texas Education Agency nor Austin ISD leadership immediately issued formal responses to requests for comment regarding the mayor's petition strategy. As state deadlines loom, community members and district leaders must now weigh whether to mobilize parent signatures or risk facing a state-appointed board of managers.
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