Austin ISD officials said they are considering "difficult options" for Dobie Middle School and College Prep Academy in North Austin after a state judge ruled that the The Texas Education Agency can now release its public school accountability ratings for the 2022-23 school year April 3.

The ruling is a reversal of a 2023 injunction issued by a Travis County district court.

The details

If a school in a Texas district fails to meet accountability standards for five years in a row, TEA officials can replace the current school board with a TEA-appointed board of managers that make decisions about district operations including hiring and firing staff, curriculum, programming and more, according to AISD officials. In order to avoid that, the district is considering the following options for Dobie Middle:

• Partner with a charter school, approved by the TEA, for the 2025-26 academic year, similar to Mendez Middle School
• Permanently close Dobie Middle at the end of the 2024-25 school year and reassign current students to another AISD middle school for the 2025-26 school year
• Temporarily close Dobie Middle at the end of the 2024-25 school year to develop a plan to reimagine the school. Current students would be reassigned to another AISD middle school, and a new school would open at the Dobie Middle campus in the future.

"We want to ensure that the way that we educate students, and the support that we provide them in [AISD], stays with the administration, and stays with the board of trustees, and we're committed to doing that," AISD Superintendent Matias Segura said at a news conference April 4.

Some context

The accountability ratings, designed in 2017 and updated in 2023, were created to give parents insight about the quality of their children’s campus and district through annual A-F ratings. However, schools have not received complete ratings since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and two lawsuits, as previously reported by Community Impact.

For Dobie Middle, district officials outlined the school's history of ratings:

• Dobie Middle received an "F" rating for the 2018-19 school year, the first year the state introduced the A-F ratings.
• Dobie Middle was not rated in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to COVID-19 pandemic hardships.
• Dobie Middle School's rating was not released in 2022-23 or 2023-24 due to ongoing lawsuits tied to allegations of unfairness around how schools were graded. If ratings had been released, AISD officials believe Dobie Middle would have received an F. TEA officials have not yet announced a timeline of when 2022-23 ratings will be released now that the agency is able to due to the ruling.
• Dobie Middle School will likely receive a poor grade for the 2024-25 school year, which are calculated at the end of the year, according to district officials.

Something to note

AISD officials are also considering a potential school consolidation plan due to budget challenges, as previously reported by Community Impact. However, due to "the urgency around the situation" at Dobie Middle, the school's future is being considered separately, districts officials said in a news release.

What's next

The TEA requires that the district submit a plan for the school by April 30. The AISD board of trustees will discuss and possibly vote on the future of Dobie Middle at the April 24 board meeting.

Community members can share input before the board decision in the following ways:

• Complete the Dobie Turnaround Plan Survey by April 15
• Attend a meeting about the school's future April 14 at 5:30 p.m. at Dobie Middle School, 1200 E. Rundberg Lane, Austin.
• Email the AISD board of trustees at [email protected].
• Provide public comment at a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. April 24.

Community Impact will continue to provide coverage as this story develops.