AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin ISD will soon learn its state accountability grades for the 2025-26 school year from the Texas Education Agency, and a failing grade at just one of three middle schools could trigger intervention from the state’s education commissioner.<\/p>\n
Dobie, Webb and Burnet Middle Schools<\/a> have received “F” ratings from the TEA for four consecutive years. A fifth would trigger a state law requiring Commissioner Mike Morath to take action, which could include a state takeover.<\/p>\n The controversial takeover option is currently underway in districts around the state, including Houston ISD, Fort Worth ISD and Beaumont ISD. <\/p>\n Experts are divided on the efficacy of takeovers and their ability to improve student outcomes.<\/p>\n The options<\/p>\n Morath, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to lead the TEA in 2015, has discretion under state law to intervene as he sees fit.<\/p>\n The most high-profile option is the “takeover,” in which a district’s elected board of trustees and superintendent are replaced with an appointed board of managers and superintendent. <\/p>\n Morath, however, may also choose to close a campus that receives its fifth failing grade. <\/p>\n According to the Texas Education Agency, Morath recently chose this option instead of a takeover at Wichita Falls ISD. <\/p>\n “After a comprehensive analysis of the district, closure of Kirby Middle School was pursued, and no board of managers was appointed (although a conservator was appointed),” a spokesperson for the agency explained in an email.<\/p>\n Conservators<\/a> may be appointed to help direct district leadership.<\/p>\n ALSO| Austin ISD trustees hear concerns over proposed Paredes Middle School closure<\/a><\/p>\n The outcomes<\/p>\n Education experts and researchers say the evidence is mixed when it comes to state takeovers improving student outcomes.<\/p>\n “In short, we find no evidence that state takeover benefits student academic achievement and some evidence that it can be disruptive to student reading performance in the early years of reform,” an associate professor of education at Stanford University, Beth Schueler, wrote in a 2023 journal for the National Association of State Boards of Education<\/a>. <\/p>\n The TEA points to standardized test score improvements at Houston ISD, the state’s largest school district, as an example of the success of the district under the leadership of its appointed board. Its data shows the share of students meeting grade level in reading and math improved from 39% before the takeover to 51% in the most recent school year.<\/p>\n