AISD Considering Closing Dobie Middle School

The Austin Independent School District is considering closing Dobie Middle School. The announcement came after a judge declared that Texas school rankings from the 2022-2023 school year could be released.

"We felt as though the timing of [the lawsuits] was gonna be a little further out, and it would give us the ability to implement [a] turnaround plan into next year, but that’s certainly not the case," Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura said in a press conference on April 4, according to reporting by KUT.

There are three options being considered:

• Partner with a charter school for the 2025-2026 school year
• Temporarily close Dobie and open a new school on the Dobie campus at a later date
• Permanently close Dobie Middle School

If the school is temporarily or permanently closed, students will be reassigned to another AISD middle school. Staff are also expected to be moved to other campuses.

AISD is concerned if Dobie doesn’t improve, the entire district could be at risk of a state takeover.

According to state law, if a school fails to meet accountability standards for five years in a row, the entire district can be taken over by the Texas Education Agency. The TEA can also replace the superintendent and the locally elected board of trustees. Schools are considered failing if they receive a ‘D’ or an ‘F’ grade.

Since 2019, schools in Texas have been ranked through an A-F grading system. Grades are determined by several factors like post-graduation readiness and closing achievement gaps, but a lot of weight is given to student performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test. Lawmakers at the time said the system would make it easier for parents to understand how their children’s schools were performing. But opponents have pointed out that it was unfair to parents and schools to boil down a district’s success rate into one metric. Opponents have also stated that it was unfair to schools serving lower income families, because they may face additional barriers that can impact test scores.

School rankings from the last few years have been held up in court. 120 schools sued the TEA to block the release of the 2022-2023 school rankings, saying the grades were not fair representations of their campuses because the TEA changed the grading system after testing had finished for that year. Those scores were released earlier this month. On their Dobie Turnaround FAQ page, AISD says they calculate Dobie will receive an ‘F’ for the 2022-2023 school year.

The school rankings for the 2023-2024 school year are still tied up due to a different lawsuit over technical issues during STAAR testing. But AISD is concerned they could be released any day now. According to their website, they believe Dobie will also have a failing grade for that school year as well.

With three potential failing grades, Dobie must have a passing grade either this school year or in the 2025-2026 school year. AISD says they do not believe that Dobie will receive a passing grade this year, and that one school year is not enough time to elevate the school.

“It can have an impact on the entire school district if just one school continues to fail to meet state standards,” says Jacob Carpenter, the education editor with the Houston Landing. Houston ISD was taken over by the TEA just ahead of the 2022-2023 school year. A new superintendent and board were picked by the TEA. It’s had a profound impact on the school district, according to Carpenter.

“There's not a lot of guidelines … saying the state can come in and only do this or only address a little bit of that,” Carpenter says. “Here in Houston we've seen it where they have come in and dramatically changed huge parts of the school district that go way beyond even just the issues that were seen at the one school that triggered the state takeover.”

That kind of takeover is what’s concerning AISD. In an email to staff, Assistant Superintendent to Secondary Schools Dr. Angel Wilson said a potential district takeover was not a risk they could take.

AISD is asking for community input on the future of Dobie Middle School. Residents can fill out the Dobie Turnaround Community Survey through April 15. Residents can also sign up to speak either in person or over the phone at the April 24 board meeting. A final decision will be submitted to the TEA at the end of the month.