Austin ISD parents, staff, educators protest district's 'turnaround' plan

Future of education in AISD protest

A group of Austin ISD parents, staff, and educators are calling on the district to provide quality public education for all students.

AUSTIN, Texas - A group of Austin ISD parents, staff, and educators are calling on the district to provide quality public education for all students. 

This comes after AISD proposed a turnaround plan, aiming to restructure three of its low-performing middle schools.

AISD offers money to seasoned teachers

Austin ISD is offering money to seasoned teachers to come to failing schools in the district and help "turn them around." This is an effort to avoid a take over by the Texas Education Agency

"We demand more time to make plans for any schools facing restructuring plans, in particular, Dobie, Webb, and Burnet Middle schools. We oppose the disruptive turnaround plans pushed by Austin ISD and TEA," says AISD parent Vincent Tovar.

The protest held by ATX United for Public Schools on Thursday was in response to the future of education in Austin ISD.

The district says it drafted a "turnaround" plan called the "district-managed restart plan" to improve student achievement in a short time period. This comes after Burnet, Dobie, and Webb middle schools received low accountability ratings.

"We don't want to fight with TEA. Just, we need a solution. We want to make a solution," says AISD parent Vanessa.

Austin ISD school ratings

Dig deeper:

The Texas Education Agency faced lawsuits tied to allegations of unfairness around how schools were graded. The legal matters prevented the 2023–24 ratings from being released pending the outcome.

Upon the release of the 2023 state accountability ratings, Burnet and Webb Middle School had two consecutive "F" campus ratings and Dobie scored in the bottom 5% of middle schools across the state in the "domain 3" rating.

The district says, according to state law, if a school district allows a single school to fail to meet state accountability standards for five years in a row, TEA has the authority to intervene.

Austin ISD responds to school ratings

The Texas Education Agency has released its ratings for school districts across the state. Districts like Austin ISD say the ratings don't accurately reflect student success due to a shift in standards.

This would push the district to partner with a charter school to run the school, requiring the district to close the school or appoint a board of managers to run the entire district.

"We oppose charter or TEA takeovers of our schools or a TEA takeover of AISD," says Tovar.

AISD says a school restart will require evaluating the current staff, curriculum, professional development, and student support services. Employees that are not chosen to stay would receive support in finding other positions in the district.

"We oppose mass dismissals of teachers and administrators who have the support of their staff and communities. We demand job security for educators," says Tovar.

Austin ISD responds

"While this process has been quick, we have taken the time to hear from affected families and staff to ensure their voices are reflected in the turnaround plans within the TEA guidelines. The plans are available for review on our School Improvement website and our Board of Trustees will host a Public Hearing June 26 before its vote on the plans to further hear community input. We understand these are difficult changes and are committed to supporting our students, families and staff through this."

What's next:

The changes would take place next school year.

The board is set to hold a public hearing and vote on the plans at its June 26 meeting.

It must be submitted to the TEA by June 30 for approval.