{"id":437407,"date":"2026-09-16T05:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T05:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/437407\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T05:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T05:26:13","slug":"austin-isd-responds-to-parent-petition-to-close-2-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/437407\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin ISD responds to parent petition to close 2 schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AISD \"AISD AISD faces potential state takeover<\/a> <\/p>\n

After two Austin ISD schools received consecutive failing grades, the district now faces a potential state takeover. But there\u2019s a chance it could be avoided if parents petition to close the schools down.<\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas – After two Austin ISD schools received consecutive failing grades, the district now faces a potential state takeover. But there\u2019s a chance it could be avoided if parents petition to close the schools down.<\/p>\n

Austin ISD parents asked to sign petition to avoid TEA takeover <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Burnet and Webb Middle Schools each received five consecutive “F” grades from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).\u00a0The state is now required to intervene. One way that could happen is a state takeover, in which the AISD Board of Trustees is replaced by a Board of Managers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But there is another option.<\/p>\n

\"PREVIOUS \"PREVIOUS <\/p>\n

Last week, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson proposed asking Burnet and Webb parents to petition the state to close their campuses. He referred to a rule that if over 50% of the parents sign the petition, it could avoid a state takeover.<\/p>\n

“I want Austin to be the best place in America to be a kid. And one of the things that plays a role in that is, I believe, a school district that is performing well and not taken over by the state of Texas,” said Watson.<\/p>\n

Austin ISD responds <\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

On Monday, Superintendent Matias Segura responded to the possibility of a parent petition. In a letter<\/a> sent to AISD families, he said, “Austin ISD will not participate in gathering signatures or advocacy of the petition as we continue our student-focused work and allow impacted families to use their voice without our guidance.”<\/p>\n

Segura goes on to say that if the petition gains a majority of signatures from families at Burnet and Webb, the TEA will allow AISD to submit a comprehensive closure plan, outlining how affected students would be supported next school year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Segura states that leadership teams have already begun working through options to determine what would best serve families if that were to happen.<\/p>\n

Some Austin ISD parents are against closing schools <\/p>\n

The other side:<\/p>\n

Not all parents are on board with closing the schools in order to avoid a state takeover.<\/p>\n

“It’s home. Performance wise with my kids, it has been great,” said an anonymous mother as she sat outside of Burnet Middle School.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the school\u2019s future remains undecided, she says that the mayor shouldn\u2019t be pushing for the schools to close but rather keep it as a decision made by parents and families.<\/p>\n

\"PREVIOUS \"PREVIOUS <\/p>\n

“If you haven’t seen what the kids are capable of doing or what they have done, I don’t think they should have an opinion on who closes or who stays open,” she said. “I think the opinions should be based on parents, parents\u2019 involvement, and students.”<\/p>\n

She also told FOX 7 she\u2019s not opposed to a possible state takeover, as long as students and families are prioritized in the process.<\/p>\n

“If they would give the resources to the parents, the option to make their own decisions, in some way, I guess you could say, it could be beneficial.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

AISD says that despite the failing ratings, they are continuing their efforts at Burnet and Webb Middle Schools, providing additional professional development for teachers and staff and academic interventions.<\/p>\n

“We are confident that performance will improve at these schools as it has at so many Austin ISD schools over the past two years,” said Segura.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information from Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura, interviews with Austin ISD parents and reporting by FOX 7 Austin’s Marco Bitonel<\/p>\n

Austin<\/a>Education<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AISD faces potential state takeover After two Austin ISD schools received consecutive failing grades, the district now faces…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,163,223,394,216,393],"class_list":["post-437407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-education","tag-news","tag-travis-county","tag-tx","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437407","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=437407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}