Austin Independent School District announced on May 28 that the Texas Education Agency has denied its initial application for a Senate Bill 1882 partnership with the Texas Council for International Studies to support Burnet, Dobie, and Webb middle schools.
Superintendent Matias Segura said, “While this response is disappointing, I want to assure you that this is not the end of the process. TEA has explicitly invited Austin ISD to submit additional information to support and reinforce our application, and we fully intend to do so.”
Segura said the district partnered with TCIS with the goal of ensuring students at Dobie, Webb, and Burnet receive academic support. “We chose this path because we remain entirely confident in TCIS’s proven ability to lift student outcomes,” Segura said. He added that Austin ISD looks forward to sharing more details with TEA about TCIS’s experience and capacity.
“This procedural step does not slow down our momentum,” Segura said, adding that Austin ISD continues working with its board to allocate resources strategically for systemic improvement across all campuses. According to Segura, over the last two years student outcomes have continued improving throughout Austin ISD.
The district supports a multicultural environment with over 100 languages spoken by students and operates 116 diverse school communities including elementary, middle, high school, early college programs, academies, magnet schools, alternative settings and community schools; it educates more than 72,000 students and employs over 5,000 classroom teachers while maintaining a graduation rate of 93.3 percent—all according to the official website.
Segura concluded by saying updates will be provided as supplemental information is submitted: “We will keep you updated as we submit our supplemental information to TEA and continue advocating for the resources and partnerships our school communities deserve.”
