AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is urging parents at two struggling Austin ISD middle schools to consider a difficult option: petitioning to close their campuses in an effort to prevent the State of Texas from taking over the district.
Burnet and Webb Middle Schools have received five consecutive failing accountability ratings, triggering a required intervention by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. Under state law, the commissioner could close the campuses or replace Austin ISD’s elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers.
Watson said he opposes a districtwide state takeover and wants parents at the two campuses to use a provision in state law he believes would focus the intervention on the schools that triggered it…