AUSTIN, Texas — Some Austin ISD parents and community members are pushing back against Austin Mayor Kirk Watson’s call for families to petition the Texas Education Agency to close their schools, a move he says could help prevent the state from taking over the entire district.
In a message to Austinites Wednesday, Watson urged parents at Burnet Middle School and Webb Middle School to use a provision in Texas law that allows families to seek closure of their campus. Under the Texas Education Code, if parents of a majority of students sign a petition asking to close their campus, the commissioner, with some exceptions, must follow the will of parents.
Watson said the goal is to keep more local control over what happens next for the schools and the district.
“I’m suggesting that what we can do now is, with the good help of different people in the community and the parents and the superintendent, we can have some control over those schools’ destiny, if you will, and over the entire district’s destiny,” Watson said.
Watson has said he would like to see a brand-new campus house Burnet and Webb students under a new academic program, and he is asking parents to agree to close their schools as a way to avoid a state takeover. But some worry the school communities will feel pressured to sacrifice their communities for the sake of the rest of the district.
“I am disheartened that some may seem comfortable sacrificing certain children, and we need to live our values for all children,” said Marie Lebron, an Austin ISD parent and volunteer who has spent time working with Webb and Burnet students.
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Lebron also questioned the mayor’s message, saying she is wary of what she described as a coordinated effort aimed at the two school communities.
“I will say that I’m suspicious of new voices where we haven’t necessarily seen the involvement or the support coming now in what really reads as a PR campaign to apply pressure to vulnerable communities,” Lebron said.
Even if parents at the two schools successfully petition to close their campuses, there is no guarantee it would stop the TEA from taking action against the district’s elected leadership.
“There is still an option for the commissioner to look into taking over the district and installing a board of managers. I think the most plausible option would be if the commissioner opened a special investigation,” said Jacob Kirksey, an associate professor of education policy in the College of Education at Texas Tech University.
Lebron said the communities at Burnet and Webb should be fully informed before making any decision.
“We have failed these communities; I wanna be really clear about that, not the other way around. And I stand with Burnet and Webb. I stand for them being fully informed and them making their decision and having their voices heard rather than others outside of the community making decisions for them,” she said.
Under the state education code timeline described, if families at Burnet and Webb choose to move forward with a petition, they would need to bring it to the superintendent by Oct. 15. The superintendent would then validate and file it with the TEA by December.