Austin ISD leaders are weighing whether to close Dobie Middle School, temporarily shutter it for a redesign, or hand its operations to a state-approved charter operator — a decision that must be submitted to the Texas Education Agency by June 30. The deadline follows an appeals court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit blocking TEA from releasing 2022-23 accountability ratings, allowing the state to resume its A-F grading system for the first time since the pandemic.
The accountability countdown
Dobie Middle School received an F rating in 2018-19, the first year of Texas’s A-F system. It received no rating during the COVID-affected years of 2019-20 through 2021-22. Under TEA rules, those “Not Rated” designations do not count as consecutive failing ratings nor do they reset the clock. Austin ISD projects Dobie would have received F ratings in 2023 and 2024, according to the district’s own analysis reported by Community Impact Newspaper. That would give Dobie four consecutive failing ratings.
The August 2025 release of TEA’s next accountability ratings will determine whether Dobie reaches a fifth consecutive failing mark. State law is clear on what happens then. Under Texas Education Code Section 39A.111, if a campus has an unacceptable performance rating for five consecutive school years, the commissioner must order either appointment of a board of managers to govern the school district or closure of the campus.
Options on the table
As of May 2, 2025, district leaders presented the school board with two paths for Dobie, according to an Austin ISD board bulletin. The first is a district-managed restart that includes a contingency for an SB 1882 charter partnership if needed. The second is a full SB 1882 partnership from the start, in which a TEA-approved charter operator would manage the school beginning in 2025-26 with authority to hire all staff. The board may vote on May 22 or June 12. TEA originally set an April 30 turnaround plan deadline but extended it to June 30, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
The district also faces a separate, broader financial challenge. Austin ISD is grappling with a $110 million budget deficit and developing a districtwide school consolidation plan, with specific closures expected by mid-fall 2025 and board votes in December, KUT reported.
What happens if the plan fails
If the commissioner does not approve a campus turnaround plan, Texas Education Code Section 39A.107 gives the commissioner authority to order one of several actions: appoint a board of managers, place the campus under alternative management, contract with an entity under an SB 1882 partnership, or close the campus.
A board of managers appointed by the commissioner can exercise all powers and duties assigned to a board of trustees, including amending the district budget, reassigning staff, or relocating academic programs to resolve the conditions that triggered intervention, per Section 39A.201. That body may be removed only if the campus that was the basis for the appointment receives an acceptable performance rating for two consecutive school years, according to Section 39A.209.
Precedent in Houston and Austin
The most recent Texas example of a state takeover under the same accountability framework is Houston ISD, where TEA replaced the superintendent and elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers after campuses accumulated five consecutive failing ratings. That intervention began in 2023 and remains ongoing, KUT reported.
Austin ISD has its own recent experience with the SB 1882 partnership model. The district previously partnered with a charter school to run Mendez Middle School under an SB 1882 arrangement. District leaders have cited that arrangement as a model for what could be done at Dobie to avoid state intervention, according to KUT.