{"id":211056,"date":"2026-03-19T06:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/211056\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T06:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:57:06","slug":"aisd-internal-messages-released-as-charter-contracts-loom-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/211056\/","title":{"rendered":"AISD Internal Messages Released as Charter Contracts Loom \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin ISD faced sharp criticism by parents during the board meeting last Thursday, March 12, referencing a document containing internal district communications<\/a> regarding the school closure and consolidation process that was reportedly released through a Public Information Act request made in mid-September.<\/p>\n

The messages don\u2019t make the district look good, to say the least \u2013 many of the casually worded messages revealed some of the district\u2019s decision-making process to close 11 schools<\/a> and move dual-language programs, as was approved in November by trustees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The messages also contained complaints about school community conversations regarding the closures, one remarking \u201cthe ugly was too much.\u201d Another message calls an individual parent \u201cpoisonous\u201d by name.<\/p>\n

Delicia McLean, an AISD parent, said during public comment that the messages \u201craised serious concerns not only about staff behavior,\u201d but about whether or not AISD is in compliance with state law, referring to the fact that some employees tried to delete messages after realizing they were subject to open records.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone inside the system pretends the process is transparent and principled, while the public can see clearly that it is not,\u201d McLean continued. \u201cThe question is, will the board acknowledge it and do something about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, AISD is attempting to back away from the precipice of state takeover. Dobie, Webb, and Burnet middle schools have all received four consecutive F accountability scores, and a fifth would authorize the Texas Education Agency to replace the superintendent and elected trustees with state-appointed individuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The administration has been closely watching the three middle schools this school year as they undergo \u201crestarts<\/a>\u201d with new faculty, leadership, and instructional models in an effort to raise the student performance<\/a> metrics to inform their accountability grade at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

But for Texas public schools nearing state intervention, the Texas Legislature offers one avenue to delay takeover: charter partnerships by way of Senate Bill 1882<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Austin ISD chooses to partner with an open-enrollment charter school to take over management of the middle schools (as Mendez MS did in 2018), the district will be exempt from accountability consequences for two years, giving the district extra time to raise the schools\u2019 current F rating to a passing C.<\/p>\n

During last Thursday\u2019s board meeting, trustees previewed a proposed 1882 charter contract<\/a> with Texas Council for International Studies in partnership with Region One Education Service Center<\/a> based in South Texas<\/a> for the three schools, starting the 2026-2027 school year.<\/p>\n

The schools will also receive an estimated annual increase of $1,000 per student, according to AISD<\/a>. AISD must submit the 1882 benefits application before the TEA\u2019s March 31 deadline.<\/p>\n

A charter partnership wasn\u2019t AISD\u2019s original plan \u2013 the district hoped that its own restarts would be enough to adequately increase student performance. \u201cThis is not a path we want to take, and our goal is to improve these schools so that we don\u2019t have to,\u201d the district had written<\/a> to parents.<\/p>\n

And while the three schools have already made impressive gains in math and reading<\/a>, state takeover of the school district evidently isn\u2019t a risk the administration is willing to take.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth [TCIS and Region One] have demonstrated the ability to turn around schools,\u201d Superintendent Matias Segura said, noting that the demographic that Region One serves aligns well with that of the three campuses.<\/p>\n

Trustee Kevin Foster gave credit to the students and staff at the three middle schools ahead of the vote on the contract. \u201cThere\u2019s been so much growth, and we\u2019ve found ourselves in a unique set of circumstances,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re turning towards an external partner \u2026 which has become, I think, a good move.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article appears in March 20 \u2022 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin ISD faced sharp criticism by parents during the board meeting last Thursday, March 12, referencing a document…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[432,132,134,133,6801,1563,56413,2810],"class_list":["post-211056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-aisd","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-matias-segura","tag-public-education","tag-senate-bill-1882","tag-texas-education-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}