Austin ISD Hands Over Three Middle Schools to Outside Nonprofit, Racing to Avoid State Takeover
Austin ISD is surrendering control of three struggling North Austin middle schools to an outside nonprofit organization in a last-ditch effort to prevent the kind of state intervention that could strip the district of local governance.
The AISD board of trustees voted at a March 26 meeting to approve a three-school-year contract with the Texas Council for International Studies, an education nonprofit specializing in the International Baccalaureate program, to operate Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools beginning this fall.
The urgency behind the decision is hard to overstate. All three campuses received their fourth consecutive F rating from the Texas Education Agency in 2025, and under Texas law, if a public school receives five or more consecutive failing ratings, the TEA commissioner is required to either close the campus or take over the district. For AISD — one of the largest school districts in Texas — the latter outcome would mean elected board members being replaced by a state-appointed board of managers, effectively ending local control.
The vote came just days before the March 31 deadline to apply to the Texas Education Agency under the Texas Partnerships program, which allows districts to turn over campus operations to an approved external partner. The arrangement invokes Senate Bill 1882, a 2017 state law that gives districts a legal pathway to bring in outside organizations when campuses are in crisis. Campuses entering such a partnership receive a two-year reprieve from state ratings while the external partner works to improve outcomes.
The road to this point has been rocky. This school year, AISD attempted to restart Burnet, Dobie and Webb using the Accelerating Campus Excellence model — an approach used by Dallas and Houston ISDs — which involved replacing campus leadership and staff and offering up to $20,000 in stipends to attract high-performing educators.
The effort generated controversy: all current staff were required to reapply, and many students protested the removal of their teachers by staging walkouts during the school day. Enrollment declined across all three campuses as a result.
Despite some measurable academic gains — particularly in seventh and eighth grade math and reading — district leaders concluded the improvements weren’t enough to pull the schools far enough from the danger zone. The gains fell short of convincing board members that the schools could improve by the two accountability letter grades needed to avoid state intervention by the end of this school year.
Under the new arrangement, TCIS takes on sweeping authority. The contract grants TCIS the power to hire and assign all staff members, including principals, administrators and teachers, though teachers could not be paid lower than AISD’s current salary schedule. The partnership will also provide a financial boost, with an estimated annual increase of $1,000 per student — adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the schools’ yearly budgets.
The district is pointing to precedent as reason for optimism. Earlier this year, AISD announced that its partnership with Third Future at Mendez Middle School in South Austin would end after the charter school partner successfully achieved a B rating — a benchmark district leaders hope to replicate at Dobie, Webb and Burnet. Board members also visited TCIS partner schools in San Antonio ISD, where Briscoe Elementary boosted its accountability rating by two letter grades between 2024 and 2025.
Under the terms of the contract, TCIS is required to help Burnet, Dobie and Webb achieve D or C ratings in the 2026-27 school year, with schools expected to reach a C or higher for both 2027-28 and 2028-29.
Superintendent Matias Segura expressed confidence in the arrangement, while acknowledging the stakes. District leaders described the partnership as one of the last available options to maintain local control — a sobering admission for a district that has watched three of its middle schools struggle through half a decade of academic failure. Whether an IB-focused nonprofit can succeed where previous interventions have not remains to be seen, but for Austin ISD, the clock has essentially run out on doing it alone.
Sources: KUT Radio, Community Impact, KVUE, CBS Austin, Fox 7 Austin, Austin ISD
Austin ISD’s Board of Trustees approved a plan to add 25 extra days of school for nine campuses.
Hundreds of demonstrators are expected to gather at Auditorium Shores today for the latest No Kings rally, a protest movement pushing back against what organizers describe as growing threats to democratic norms and concentrated political power. The march is scheduled to begin late morning, with participants moving through downtown before circling back toward the waterfront, and city officials are advising drivers to expect rolling closures and heavier-than-usual foot traffic along the route.
The rally is scheduled for 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Organizers also say people who want to march will gather at Austin City Hall at noon, with the march set to step off at 12:30 p.m. and head across the South First Street bridge to the rally site.
Rallies are also expected today in Pflugerville, Round Rock, Cedar Park and Lago Vista. Many more rallies are scheduled across the state. (Austin American-Statesman)
The city overpaid 675 employees by $1.4 million this month due to a payroll system error, officials said, and is now working to recover the funds. (Austin American-Statesman)
The city this week terminated multiple employees within its Technology Services Department, including senior leadership. (Austin American-Statesman)
The side of a building at the corner of Cesar Chavez Street and Waller Street now looks a lot different. (KUT 90.5)
A discussion about regional water supplies turned tense Friday after a dispute broke out between local and state officials outside a Hays County–hosted summit. (KXAN-TV)
County Judge Ruben Becerra convened the Clear Water Summit to bring together water providers, groundwater districts, regional authorities and state leaders for a broad look at current and future water needs in Hays County, one of the fastest‑growing areas in Central Texas.
This week’s Crime Watch from FOX 7 Austin:
An active shooter call at a Bastrop Home Depot parking lot on Wednesday afternoon rattled residents and city leaders after police said a man fired an AR-15-style rifle “indiscriminately” in the store lot.
The city’s mayor described the incident as “a scare”.
An arrest in Louisiana has a connection to a homicide in Mueller two years ago.
An arrest was made with ICE officers on Riverside and Pleasant Valley Friday morning. Reporte Austin reported that they took a woman.
A plan approved Thursday recommends converting some downtown streets from one-way to two-way and removing driving lanes on others. (Austin-American Statesman)
There were two fatal accidents on Austin roadways early Friday. Austin Police provided more information on both.
House Republican leaders on Friday rejected a Senate-passed bill funding much of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — arguing it excludes money for ICE and Border Patrol — and instead moved ahead with their own proposal.
Speaker Mike Johnson said the House “can’t accept this ridiculousness” and will instead seek to pass a 60-day continuing resolution to keep DHS agencies funded at current levels through May 22 while negotiations continue.
The Bell 2.0 Fire in Dickens County is nearly 350 acres big but has been almost contained.
A new wildfire to report from the overnight hours. This one in San Augustine County is burning 25 acres.
WEATHER
FRIDAY’S HIGH / LOW TEMPERATURES
AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
CAMP MABRY
5-DAY FORECAST / AUSTIN, TEXAS
Texas Railroad Commissioner candidate Bo French goes off on a racist rant at CPAC:
— Blue Georgia (@BlueGeorgia) March 27, 2026
"It's not just the Muslims… we have roughly 100 million people in this country who shouldn't be here. We're going to send all these people home. We're going to stop the Islamification of Texas… pic.twitter.com/z0JKBuv6xl
Bo French, a former Tarrant County GOP chair, also said Republicans should more openly embrace Islamophobia. (Texas Tribune)
Voting rights groups are suing the Texas Secretary of State’s Office and some county election officials to prevent the removal of voters from the state’s voter roll based on use of a federal database to verify citizenship. They also claim the state failed to crosscheck its own records for proof of citizenship it already possessed before seeking to remove voters.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday instructed state senators to study a broad range of policy issues ahead of next year’s legislative session, including prediction markets, data centers, THC and more, expanding on an initial list of priorities that included “preventing Sharia law” and investigating Medicaid fraud.
My statement announcing 2026 Interim Charges to the Texas Senate.
— Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) March 27, 2026
To read the interim charges, click here: https://t.co/KtW2BUX7Rx#txlege pic.twitter.com/9fMdjiXvMX
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows directed lawmakers to study the secession of New Mexico counties to Texas, the development of data centers in the state, property tax relief and more in a list of his priorities for next year’s legislative session released Thursday.
Today, I issued interim charges for House committees of the 89th Texas Legislature to guide our work ahead of the next legislative session in 2027. These priorities build on our recent progress, strengthen accountability in government, reduce inefficiencies, and ensure key… pic.twitter.com/woyc1E0xjv
— Dustin Burrows (@Burrows4TX) March 26, 2026
A jury orders Meta and YouTube to pay millions in damages over social media addiction — but it could be just the tip of the iceberg. We’ll look at what this means for Texas’ efforts to regulate kids and social media.
Once-reliable water wells are running dry in a fast-growing Central Texas county.
An investigation is shedding new light on how traffic stops are being used to pull people into deportation proceedings in Texas.
Also, the week in politics and much more.
(Episode from March 27, 2026)
Should there be a “Top AI Slop” award for campaigns in Texas? It sure seems like it. We’ll get into that plus Tony Ortiz at Current Revolt checks in from CPAC in DFW. And yes, we’ll address what Rep. James Talarico said about meat. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music is by Checkmayne in Houston.
(Episode from March 27, 2026)
Several packages of cocaine were discovered inside a vehicle during a traffic stop earlier this week outside Amarillo, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. (FOX 7 Austin)
DPS officials also announced the arrest of a Tren de Aragua gang member.
🚨 TdA gang member ARRESTED 🚨
— Texas DPS (@TxDPS) March 27, 2026
DPS announces that Carlos Andry Daviel Matute Marchena – a 26-year-old Venezuelan national and Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang member wanted for sex trafficking – has been arrested.
Working with @ICEgov and @CBP, DPS’ Criminal Investigations Division… pic.twitter.com/hZlAoliH0y
A man died and a police officer was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head Friday morning in South Houston, where there was an exchange of gunfire after what was described as a “low-speed chase.”
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ended lawsuits against power generators from tens of thousands of Texas residents and small businesses who lost electricity during a devastating 2021 winter storm that resulted in billions of dollars in damages and hundreds of deaths. (Texas Tribune)
SPORTS
COLLEGE BASEBALL: Ashton Larson delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting No. 2 Texas to a 4-3 victory over No. 8 Oklahoma at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Friday night.
walk-off winner 🤘#HookEm | @Ashton_Larson11 pic.twitter.com/arVvKTy9By
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) March 28, 2026
Larson’s game-winning hit punctuated the Longhorns’ comeback, as Texas (22-4, 6-2 SEC) scored four unanswered runs in as many frames to rally for the series-securing victory. (Texas Longhorns)
TODAY
📍 Dickies Arena #HookEm pic.twitter.com/IBziPXHEn9
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) March 27, 2026
NBA: While the red-hot San Antonio Spurs enjoyed a night off last night, the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets both secured victories on the road.
Dallas and Houston are off today while the Spurs return to action this afternoon.
MLB: The Houston Astros have started the 2026 season 0-2.
Josh Lowe, Mike Trout and Zach Neto homered to help the visiting Los Angeles Angels to a 6-2 win against the Houston Astros in the second game of their four-game series on Friday night. (Reuters)
The Texas Rangers were off Saturday. Both Texas and Houston resume their respective series today.
NHL: The Dallas Stars are in the midst of a three-game losing streak. They’ll try to break that today in Pittsburgh.
Houston is in the middle of the most expensive airport overhaul in its history: a reset of Terminal B, a rebuilt and expanded international core, and the supporting infrastructure needed to keep IAH functioning as a modern hub.
Why Houston Is Rebuilding Its Airport From Scratch
