Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is urging families at two chronically struggling middle schools to petition state officials for campus closures in an effort to prevent a full state takeover of the Austin Independent School District. In a community message released Wednesday morning, Watson argued that targeted action at underperforming campuses is far preferable to stripping local control from the entire school system.
The proposal comes as Austin ISD faces the prospect of severe state intervention triggered by accountability ratings at Burnet and Webb middle schools. Under a Texas education law enacted in 2015, if a campus receives five consecutive failing ratings, the state education commissioner is required to intervene by either shutting down the facility or taking over the entire school district and replacing its democratically elected board of trustees with state-appointed managers.
Both Burnet and Webb middle schools triggered that statutory requirement after receiving their fifth consecutive failing marks in the 2026 state accountability evaluations. Neither campus has met state academic standards since 2018. In the most recent evaluation, Webb scored a 58 out of 100 while Burnet recorded a 59, falling just shy of the 60-point threshold that would have granted the schools a temporary one-year pause to improve their academic standing.
Watson laid out his strategy in his regular "Watson Wire" newsletter, stating that replacing elected leadership across the entire district would be an extreme overreaction to isolated campus struggles. He emphasized that the wider district has made measurable academic gains, improving its overall accountability rating from a C grade of 79 last year to a solid B grade of 81 in the current ratings cycle.
Given those broader academic improvements, Watson characterized a complete district takeover as an extraordinary intervention that is not justified by current districtwide data. He argued that local leaders and state authorities should instead focus on tailored remedies that directly address the specific schools causing the statutory trigger while allowing the rest of the district to maintain its upward trajectory.
To avoid the loss of elected governance, Watson pointed to a provision within Texas state law that empowers parents to petition the state directly. Under this mechanism, if a majority of parents whose children attend a struggling campus sign a petition requesting campus closure over a districtwide board replacement, they can formally appeal their preference to Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.
State law allows the commissioner to abide by the parents' recommendation, giving families a legal route to help dictate whether state action remains localized or escalates to a district takeover. The Texas Education Agency did not immediately clarify whether receiving a parent petition legally binds the commissioner to honor the parents' specific choice or merely offers advisory guidance.
Under Watson's proposed framework, parents at both Burnet and Webb would unite to request the closure of their respective schools, while simultaneously urging Austin ISD leadership to establish a newly reconstituted educational facility in North Austin to serve the impacted students.
Watson suggested that such a new school could be housed at the existing Burnet campus site, which is already undergoing a $158 million modernization. That construction work is funded through the extensive $2.4 billion bond program approved by local voters in 2022, creating modern facilities that could accommodate a redesigned academic program.
The mayor expressed strong confidence in Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura, praising his track record and noting that the administration has the capacity to construct a new educational model without scattering neighborhood children across disparate campuses. Watson said he trusts Segura and the elected trustees to implement an ambitious plan that keeps existing school communities intact within a modernized facility.
The strategy of using parent petitions to stave off board replacement has precedent in Texas public education. In 2019, Snyder ISD faced a similar state takeover threat after Snyder Junior High accumulated five consecutive failing accountability ratings from the state.
In that case, a majority of parents at Snyder Junior High successfully submitted a petition requesting that Morath close the failing campus rather than oust the district's elected trustees. In a January 2020 response letter, Morath noted that the petition required him to shutter the school and assign a state conservator to oversee district decisions instead of initiating a full board takeover.
Neither Austin ISD officials nor representatives from the Texas Education Agency immediately provided comment on the mayor's petition proposal or the district's next formal steps.
As state education officials weigh their options under the accountability framework, Watson's plan places the immediate future of Austin ISD's governance directly into the hands of local parents, presenting a community-driven path designed to insulate the broader school system from state management.
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