Webb and Burnet closure petitions face a state review. Where City Hall fits in the AISD takeover fight

Parent petitions to close Webb and Burnet middle schools, an idea Mayor Kirk Watson put forward in September to keep the state from taking over all of Austin ISD, are now in dispute. The Webb PTA has asked the Texas Education Agency to investigate how signatures were gathered, KUT reported. TEA confirmed it received the complaint and is reviewing it.

For Austin families, the stakes are large either way. One option is closing two neighborhood middle schools. The other is a state-appointed board replacing the elected school board for the whole district.

How we got here

• Both schools received a fifth straight failing state rating in August. The ratings are preliminary, and the district has appealed them. Burnet fell one point short of a D and Webb two points short, KUT reported. Final ratings are expected in December, according to the Austin Current.
• If either F stands, Education Commissioner Mike Morath can close the campus or replace the district's board.
• Watson proposed that parents at the two schools use a little-used state process, the Parent Petition for Action, to ask the commissioner to close the schools instead, the Austin Current reported in a story republished by the Texas Tribune. Parents had mixed reactions, that report said.
• Organizers said they collected signatures from a majority of parents at both schools by the Oct. 15 deadline, and the district confirmed it received the petitions, the Austin Chronicle reported.

The dispute

According to KUT and the Chronicle:

• Some parents said they did not understand what they signed, felt pressured, or thought the petition would prevent closure. Some forms came prefilled with families' contact information.
• Messages came from a number identifying itself as "Parents' Choice AISD." The district had said it would not help gather signatures, and it has not said whether it authorized the messages.
• The Webb PTA's Oct. 17 complaint asks TEA to look into whether outside groups pressured parents and whether private family information was shared. These are allegations; TEA has not said what it will find or when.
• The Austin Council of PTAs and the Education Austin union both helped collect signatures, the Chronicle reported.

What our records add

The council has no vote on this. School takeovers and closures are decided by the state and the district, not the City Council. A search of our council and committee transcripts found no discussion of the Webb and Burnet petitions at the dais this fall.

Where the city does work with AISD. The council's next school-related vote is on the Nov. 5 draft agenda: item 21, an interlocal agreement for Literacy First, a reading and tutoring program for kindergarten through second grade. According to the staff memo:

• The city would pay $100,000 a year, up to $500,000 over five years, from the Parks and Recreation budget. The city has given the program $100,000 a year since the 2005-06 fiscal year.
• Last school year the money served about 151 students at Allison, Ortega, Sanchez and Zavala elementary schools. At least 81% of students served consistently finished at grade level or were on track to, staff wrote.
• The new agreement would open the program to any AISD Title I elementary school. In exchange, AISD waives some facility rental fees and provides buses for city after-school programs.

The council has approved its recent AISD agreements without dissent, including an emergency public health services agreement and a watershed education transportation amendment in August, both 11-0.

What's next

AISD will start checking signatures after enrollment data is finalized Oct. 30 and must send the petitions to TEA by Dec. 1. Final ratings are expected in December. The council takes up Literacy First on Nov. 5.