Austin ISD administration is not currently recommending relocating Dobie Middle School students, Superintendent Matias Segura said at a May 2 special board meeting. This comes amid feedback from community members and the board of trustees, he said.
Instead, the district is considering internally restarting the school or partnering with a charter school to satisfy state requirements for the campus. The state is requiring AISD to submit a plan on how they intend to improve low student performance at Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools following two years of failed accountability ratings.
What’s happening
Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools received a second consecutive year of F ratings from the state in 2023, according to ratings released by the Texas Education Agency on April 24. This has required AISD to submit a turnaround plan for each campus to the TEA by June 30.
At a May 2 meeting, Segura said he saw two paths available to the district, including:
- District restart of the campus: AISD could restart the campuses by restructuring the schools’ leadership and staffing among other changes to align with the state’s Accelerating Campus Excellence, or ACE, model for underperforming campuses. The district could then choose to partner with a charter school at a later date.
- Charter school restart of the campus: AISD could partner with a TEA-approved charter school to operate the campuses beginning in the 2025-26 school year, similar to Mendez Middle School.
Next school year, AISD could restart Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools using the ACE model or a similar model, Segura said. The ACE model is used to restart struggling campuses through selecting new leadership and staff as well as using high-quality instructional materials, according to TEA information.
The district would replace the campus’s principal and other leadership; however, affected staff would be provided another equal position in the district, said Jacob Reach, AISD chief of governmental relations and board services.
To attract staff, the district could provide stipends ranging from $8,000 for librarians and counselors to $25,000 for principals. Staff receiving this additional pay would have an agreement with the district to meet certain expectations, which AISD would monitor progress on throughout the year, Segura said.
The campuses would maintain a teacher-to-staff ratio of 1-20 and employ instructional coaches, wellness counselors and content interventionists to aid teaching staff, according to the presentation. Implementing this plan could cost around $1.7 million per campus, Reach said.
After restarting the campus internally, AISD could begin looking for a charter school to partner with in August and decide in December whether to partner with them for the 2026-27 school year. The district’s decision could depend on the campuses’ futures testing scores and accountability ratings, Segura said.
Under this option, partnering with a charter school would pause the state's accountability ratings for the campuses for the 2025-26 school year and 2026-27 school year, Segura said.
AISD could choose to forgo implementing its own restart and immediately start the process of partnering with a charter school to oversee the campuses beginning in the 2025-26 school year. Eligible charter schools, such as Third Future Schools or Democracy Prep, must already be approved by the TEA and have historically met state accountability standards and successfully helped turnaround campuses, Segura said.
In this scenario, AISD could finalize a contract with a charter school by May or June and begin onboarding the charter school in the summer. Under a charter school partnership, AISD could not inform the campus’s instruction but could make some negotiations, Segura said.
In case you missed it
In early April, AISD shared with families that it was considering closing Dobie as the school was projected to receive four years of failed A-F ratings by 2025. If a campus receives a failed accountability rating five years in a row, the state could close the school or appoint a board of managers to oversee the district.
On April 17, the district notified affected families and staff that it may consider sending Dobie students to Lamar Middle School next school year. District officials pulled an agenda item from a April 24 board meeting to spend $4.6 million on modular facilities at Lamar to accommodate additional students from Dobie.
Dozens of parents, students and staff have spoken during public comment at recent board meetings against the closure of Dobie and relocation of students to Lamar Middle School.
"Approval for construction for modular facilities would be a hasty, unfair and poorly thought out decision that disregards the opinions of Lamar families, sets up Dobie families for hardship and negatively impacts everyone involved," AISD parent James McConnell said at a April 24 meeting. "There has to be a better way."
What’s next
The district plans to further discuss turnaround plans for the campuses at its May 8 meeting and vote on the plans by June 12 ahead of the June 30 deadline, Segura said.
