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Parents at two failing Austin middle schools should have a say in whether the campuses close, a last-ditch effort to prevent a state takeover of the entire school district, Superintendent Matias Segura said Thursday.
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The Texas Education Agency is poised to add the Austin Independent School District to its growing lists of takeovers after five years of poor test scores at Burnet and Webb middle schools. In doing so, the Texas education commissioner would appoint a new board of trustees and hire a new superintendent.
Segura’s comments came during a candid one-on-one discussion with Austin Current Editor Melissa Taboada at The Texas Tribune Festival, where Segura addressed the threat of a state takeover, the district’s financial crisis, his tenure and other challenges facing Austin ISD.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson proposed earlier this month that parents at the schools sign a Parent Petition for Action, a rarely invoked caveat in the state’s intervention policy that allows parents to have a say in what happens when a school triggers the intervention law, to request Education Commissioner Mike Morath close their schools rather than take over the entire district.
“I cannot lead that, it needs to be driven by the community because I am focused on student outcomes, that’s where my lane is,” Segura said. “When it comes to my thoughts on it, I believe strongly that families should have a voice in what happens to their students and the success of their students.”
Burnet and Webb middle schools earned their fifth consecutive failing accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency last month. While those ratings are preliminary and under appeal, if either becomes final, Morath could close the schools or replace the district’s school board and superintendent with state appointees. Final ratings are expected in December. Segura said intervention is a real threat.
“The commissioner has immense discretion to do what he thinks is most appropriate,” Segura said. “It is a real issue, it’s something that we’re working through.”
Experts warn the state’s education policy allows Morath to intervene in more than one way, meaning even if parents form a petition, he could side with parents to close a school and still impose additional interventions or sanctions.
Parents at both Burnet and Webb campuses responded to Watson’s proposal with mixed feelings, stating the ask felt like an unfair burden on a long-marginalized community, particularly without an assurance of what would happen to the students. Segura said he took full responsibility for the schools’ lack of academic success and that for a long time, the expectations and rigor were different for different parts of the city, particularly those with high numbers of economically disadvantaged students.
“We should not change our approach to high expectations be reduced because it feels as though the students will not achieve,” Segrua said.
The district’s appeal of the schools’ ratings is its latest attempt to avoid intervention. Earlier this year, Austin ISD turned Burnet and Webb, as well as Dobie Middle School, over to external operator Texas Council for International Studies. The district hoped the handoff — sanctioned by state law — would stave off intervention. However, TEA denied pausing accountability ratings at the schools while the external group worked to improve academics, citing the organization’s lackluster record of improving failing schools. The district dissolved the partnership shortly after it began in July, returning the schools to AISD oversight.
The district also closed Paredes Middle School, citing academic data that suggested the school would likely receive a fourth failing rating and was on a path to a fifth by the end of 2026-27. Texas does not allow districts to close a school in the year that they could receive a fifth failing rating, so Segura moved for a preemptive closure in spite of large community pushback.
Paredes’ fourth failing rating was confirmed in August, when the TEA also approved the school’s closure. The state admonished the district for the path taken to do so and ruled that the school’s history of failing ratings be transferred to B-rated Bailey Middle School, which received the majority of the closing school’s students. TEA also said the same rule would apply to five other closing schools with a history of four unacceptable accountability ratings, bringing the count of schools that could potentially trigger a state intervention of Austin ISD in 2026-27 up from three to nine.