Underperforming Austin middle school receives federal grant. Will it save AISD from state control?
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Poor student performance at Dobie Middle School could open Austin ISD up to a 'takeover' by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), unless the school 'does not significantly improve student success … by the end of next school year,' according to a memo sent to teachers on Thursday.
'This means that they could replace our current locally elected board of trustees with a TEA-appointed board of managers and potentially hire a superintendent of their choice,' wrote AISD Assistant Superintendent Angel Wilson in the email. 'This is not a risk the district is willing to take.'
KXAN reached out to the TEA for a statement about the school. This article will be updated if a statement is received.
AISD, in its 'Dobie Turnaround Plan FAQ', said that state law would prompt the TEA to take control if a school fails to meet standards for five years in a row. The last rating the school received was for its 2018-2019 year — an F grade.
A Texas 15th Court of Appeals judge ruled Thursday that the TEA could release its grades for the 2023-2024 year, which would include a more recent rating of Dobie Middle.
'If ratings had been released, our calculations show Dobie would have received an 'F,'' AISD wrote. 'School ratings will not be calculated until the end of the 2024-25 school year. While there have been meaningful improvements at Dobie, the results of mid-year student assessments indicate that Dobie will not receive a rating of 'C' or better.'
The district said its board of trustees will discuss its plan for Dobie during its April 24 meeting. That plan will be submitted to the TEA on April 30.
Wilson outlined three 'incredibly difficult options,' which she said were under consideration by AISD:
Restart Dobie Middle for the 2025–2026 school year, working with a TEA-approved charter school that holds 'authority to hire all campus staff';
Close the school permanently at the end of the school year; or
Close the school temporarily at the end of the school year, and make 'a plan to reimagine the school'.
If the district closes the Northeast Austin school, it would reassign students to other schools in the district. The middle schools nearest to Dobie are Webb Middle School (3.3 miles from Dobie) and Burnet Middle School (4.1 miles).
In the FAQ, AISD said it lost out on a state grant last year, which it believed 'would allow Dobie to make the necessary gains to avoid the threat of TEA takeover.'
'Unfortunately, the grant was very competitive and we were not awarded the funds necessary to pay for the additional investments we planned to make at Dobie,' AISD said. 'At that time, we also believed that we would have two years to get Dobie where it needs to be to avoid a TEA takeover of the district. More recent conversations with TEA have made it clear that we do not have as much time as we believe is necessary to make the significant gains TEA requires.'
Leaders with AISD, Austin City Council and Travis County met at the school Friday morning to hold a press conference announcing a U.S. Department of Education 'Promise Neighborhoods' grant for the St. John and Rundberg communities.
Public school advocacy groups Save Texas Schools and Austin Voices for Education and Youth said that the grant will provide over $1 million over two years for planning, in a joint press release Thursday.
'Promise Neighborhood is based on the idea that all of the things that influence the success of kids in a neighborhood are connected,' said Austin Voices Executive Director Allen Weeks in the release. 'Sometimes we put all of the pressure on the schools, but it really takes all of the partners in a community, including health, workforce, housing, early childhood and more.'
The grant typically provides up to $30 million for implementing the plan; however, it is unclear if the Trump Administration's stated plan to dissolve the Department of Education would impede those funds.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
What schools in LISD received A's, F's from TEA's accountability report? Here's what to know
After years of waiting, the Texas Education Agency released the long-awaited 2024-25 accountability scores for schools and districts across the state. That means the public can examine how each of the schools within the Lubbock Independent School District performs and compare them to one another. Others are reading: Are Lubbock area school districts earning A's or F's? TEA releases 2023 school ratings With nine schools getting straight A's, others failing, and the rest getting B's or C's, here's a look at how each school within LISD did. What is the TEA accountability rating? The new TEA A-F ratings factors in many aspects that boils down to three big "domains" that help hold the school accountable while providing transparency to parents. 70% of the score comes from the highest score of the following: Student Achievement: What students know and can do. (I.e., STAAR scores, graduation rates and college/career readiness.) School Process: How far students have come or how campuses have done compared to similar comparison groups. This score comes from the higher Academic Growth or Relative Performance scores. The other 30% comes from Closing the Gap, or how different student groups are performing. Straight A schools in Lubbock ISD Nine received an overall score of A from the TEA; however, only three received straight A's on their domain reports. Talkington School for Young Women Leaders — 98/100 Student Achievement: A (98/100). School Progress: A (97/100). Closing the Gap: A (99/100). Roberts Elementary — 93/100 Student Achievement: A (92/100). School Progress: A (93/100). Closing the Gap: A (94/100). Whiteside Elementary — 91/100 Student Achievement: A (90/100). School Progress: A (90/100). Closing the Gap: A (92/100). Six other scores received an overall A from the TEA, but a mixture of A's and B's on their domain ratings. Miller Elementary — 92/100. Lubbock High School — 91/100. Wester Elementary — 91/100. Honey Elementary — 91/100. Ramirez Elementary — 90/100. Commander William C. McCool Academy — 90/100. Failing schools in Lubbock ISD Several schools received D's for an overall score from the TEA; however, three schools received F's. Dunbar College Preparatory Academy — F (59/100) Student Achievement: F (53/100). School Progress: F (58/100). Closing the Gap: D (67/100). Irons Middle School — F (59/100) Student Achievement: F (59/100). School Progress: F (58/100). Closing the Gap: D (65/100). Slaton Middle School — F (58/100) Student Achievement: F (52/100). School Progress: F (56/100). Closing the Gap: D (64/100). The following schools received D's from the TEA. Stewart Elementary — D (69/100). Wolffarth Elementary — D (69/100). Alderson Middle School — D (63/100). Parsons Elementary — D (62/100). Mackenzie Middle School — D (61/100). Room for improvement in schools at Lubbock ISD Here's a look at the schools within FISD that received an overall B rating from TEA: Hardwick Elementary — B (89/100). Smith Elementary — B (89/100). Monterey High School — B (88/100). Waters Elementary — B (88/100). Wilson Elementary — B (87/100). Cavazos Middle School — B (85/100). Maedgen Elementary — B (84/100). Hutchinson Middle School — B (83/100). Rush Elementary — B (83/100). Dupre Academy High School — B (82/100). Bayless Elementary — B (82/100). McWhorter Elementary — B (82/100). Coronado High School — B (81/100). Hodges Elementary — B (81/100). Here's a look at the one school within LISD that received an overall C rating from the TEA. Centennial Elementary — C (79/100). Ervin Elementary — C (79/100). Williams Elementary — C (79/100). Bean Elementary — C (78/100). Wheelock Elementary — C (78/100). Evans Middle School — C (75/100). Harwell Elementary — C (75/100). Overton Elementary — C (75/100). Estacado High School — C (74/100). Brown Elementary — C (73/100). Atkins Middle School — C (72/100). Carmona-Harrison Elementary — C (72/100). For a deeper dive into each campus' scores or to see how other schools did, visit Mateo Rosiles is the Government & Public Policy reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Got a news tip for him? Email him: mrosiles@ This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: See how schools within LISD did on their TEA 2024-25 accountability rating Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Texas school ratings improve, but more campuses inch closer to state sanctions
The share of Texas public schools that are failing dropped by half in the past year, marking the lowest rate of underperforming campuses since letter grades were introduced for schools in 2019. New data released by the Texas Education Agency on Friday show public schools have made overall gains in their state ratings, which measure how well they are educating their students. F ratings across campuses in the state declined from 8% to 4%. About one in three campuses improved their score from the prior year. The TEA released grades for the 2024-2025 school year Friday, along with grades for the 2023-24 school year that had previously been held up in court. [Texas released two years of A-F ratings for schools and districts. See how yours did.] These letter grades shape communities. Parents may pull their kid out of a school after a low score. And all it takes is five years of failing grades at one campus for a district to face bruising sanctions. The state has ordered underperforming schools to shut down and replaced a district's democratically elected school board with state appointees when they have reached that threshold — like with the Houston school district state takeover in 2023. Struggling schools are inching toward state sanctions. According to an analysis from The Texas Tribune, the number of schools with at least two consecutive years of grades considered unacceptable by the TEA — based on D or F ratings — jumped from 64 in the 2022-23 school year to 348 in the 2024-25 school year. Connally Elementary School in Waco and Marilyn Miller Language Academy in Fort Worth are among the campuses feeling the most pressure. Both schools have amassed five years of unacceptable grades with the latest ratings, which means their districts qualify for a state takeover, a TEA spokesperson told the Tribune on Friday. Since campuses first got letter grades in 2019, education advocates have criticized the state's school accountability system saying it doesn't fully account for the challenges schools in low-income areas face, which often work with fewer resources to serve students with higher needs. Ratings for schools and districts largely depend on standardized test scores and are based on three categories: how students perform on state tests and meet college and career readiness benchmarks; how students improve on their academic skills over time; and how well schools are educating the state's most disadvantaged students. Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath on Friday said schools in high-poverty areas can still score well on the A-F rating system. He said state funding is set up to direct more resources toin schools in high-poverty areas —– and the right school and district leadership wields those resources to meet the needs of their students. 'Poverty is not destiny,' Morath said. 'What you buy with that money turns out to matter a great deal… Leadership matters…. Other places we have more leadership struggles.' Among the campuses that saw gains was Harmony Hills Elementary School in San Antonio, a campus where three out of four students are economically disadvantaged. Its score jumped from an A to a C in the last school year. Carri Elliott, the school principal, said on Friday that teachers and classroom coaches used test scores every two weeks to make adjustments to instruction and make sure students are on the right track. A Tribune analysis confirmed that a handful of high-poverty campuses did well last school year, with 12% receiving an A, and 31% receiving a B. But 26% of lower-income districts received a C, and they're generally more likely to get a D or an F than their wealthier counterparts. This year, nearly one in four schools in the highest poverty bracket received a D or an F, compared to less than 1% of schools in the lowest bracket. The latest ratings also suggest middle schools face greater challenges educating their students. About 55% of Texas middle schools received an A or B, compared to 53% of elementary schools, 62% of high schools, and 55% of multi-level schools. Texas' elementary and middle schools also have a higher rate of Ds and Fs, compared to high schools. Texas lawmakers made some investments in middle schools earlier this year. They expanded a program that increases instructional time to middle schools as part of a $8.5 billion school funding package. The release of two years of ratings Friday bookends a fight between school districts and the state over how grades were calculated. A state appeals court last month ruled TEA could release the ratings, overturning a freeze from a lower court. A similar ruling from the same high court allowed the state to release 2022-23 school year ratings in the spring. 'Today marks a return to clarity and accountability,' Morath wrote in a statement. 'With the release of the 2025 A–F Ratings, we are reinforcing our commitment to transparency and to providing accurate, readily available information that helps every family understand how their school is doing.' As Texas parents evaluate their schools' performance, they face a changing education landscape with more access to alternatives to public schools. A school voucher program set to launch in the 2026-27 school year will allow families to get about $10,000 in public taxpayer dollars to pay for their children's private schooling. More all-star speakers confirmed for The Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13–15! This year's lineup just got even more exciting with the addition of State Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo; former United States Attorney General Eric Holder; Abby Phillip, anchor of 'CNN NewsNight'; Aaron Reitz, 2026 Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General; and State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin. Get your tickets today! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
How many students are homeless in Austin ISD?
AUSTIN (KXAN) – With more than 70,000 students, Austin Independent School District is the largest school district in Central Texas. About 1,000 of those students are experiencing homelessness, according to AISD data. KXAN requested data about students in AISD experiencing homelessness from 2019 to 2025 back in December. At that time there were 1,368 students who were experiencing homelessness in the district. The number of students can rise and fall through the year, as this population does move from time-to-time, and it can happen unexpectedly. Since 2019, the numbers of students experiencing homelessness has increased and decreased from year-to-year, but overall the numbers have remained above 1,200 students. The McKinney-Vento Act is a federal law that ensures homeless children and youth have access to public education just like their housed peers. 1,000+ students in Round Rock ISD considered homeless, numbers keep rising Districts around the state keep track of these at-risk kids and also keep tabs on where they are staying. According to the McKinney-Vento Act, students are considered homeless if they are unsheltered, living in a motel or hotel, living in a shelter or transitional housing, or if they are doubled up with other families in an apartment or home. In 2025, AISD had about 35 students who were unsheltered, about 280 students were living in shelters or transitional housing, about 70 students were living in motels or hotels and more than 970 students were doubling up — which is where multiple families are living under one room. There are many students across the state that go unidentified, though, some have no idea that there is help available. 'All this comes down to strong relationships between educators and students, and making sure we know where, one, where all our kids are coming from; and, two, they have to feel comfortable opening up when there is some kind of difficulty in their home life.' A closer look at the data shows the majority of the schools with high numbers of students experiencing homelessness are in north, east and south Austin. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
