Burnet and Webb Petitions Head to the Oct. 30 Count, With Austin ISD's Answer Due at the State by Dec. 1
Parents at two Austin middle schools appear to have signed enough petitions to ask the state to close both campuses — but the district cannot validate a single signature until Friday's enrollment snapshot sets the numbers.
The future of two Austin middle schools now runs on a calendar. Parents at Burnet and Webb middle schools appear to have gathered enough signatures to ask the state to close both campuses, Mayor Kirk Watson said on October 16 — but Austin ISD says it cannot confirm that until after October 30, and it will not report validated results to the Texas Education Agency before December 1, according to reporting by The Texas Dispatch.
The stakes reach beyond the two campuses. Each school earned a fifth straight F in the state ratings released August 14 — Burnet scoring 59 and Webb 58, according to KUT as reported by the Dispatch. Under state law, a fifth consecutive failing year requires the education commissioner to order either the campus closed or a state-appointed board of managers to govern the district in place of the elected school board. The petition is a third path: if more than 50 percent of parents at a campus sign, the commissioner would accept the request to close it, the district would then submit an improvement plan, and the commissioner would still have the final say, FOX 7 Austin reported.
Austin ISD confirmed it received petitions from families at both schools by the October 15 deadline. In its statement, the district said the superintendent must validate the signatures against each campus's enrollment on the October 30 snapshot date — the statewide fall enrollment count — will begin that work once the snapshot is finalized, and will submit the results to the agency by December 1. The district said it plans to keep engaging the Burnet and Webb communities throughout the year.
The Texas Education Agency, for its part, says nothing is decided. Its statement noted that the 2026 A-F ratings are not final, that Austin ISD has appealed the ratings for both schools, and that the statutes mandating state intervention 'have not yet been reached.' The commissioner's appeal decisions and the final ratings arrive before December 11 — and a successful appeal could change a school's streak. Not every parent is on board, either: FOX 7 reported that the Webb PTA has raised concerns that some parents signed without fully understanding the petition, a dispute the validation count will not settle.
