Senator Eckhardt Stands with Austin Education Leaders Following Publication of Draft Consolidation Plan: “Our neighborhood schools survive only if every school succeeds.”

October 3, 2025
Neighbors and friends,
We love our public schools in Austin. Unfortunately, state leaders aren’t sharing the love.
More standardized testing, more accountability rating systems, more
underfunded mandates and more fear and suspicion have been piled on our
students, teachers and administrators. Meanwhile, state dollars have been siphoned off
to charter and private schools with little to no accountability. State legislation over the years
has intentionally created an exodus to less regulated charter schools, even though they are
consistently less effective at preparing every Texas student for success after school. The result
is districts across the state stretching every penny to cover essentials—from supplies to mental
health to teacher retention—while being forced to ask for more from their
communities to fill gaps made wider by state policies.
This session, before a single hearing was held about a single dollar for public
schools, state leaders passed a billion-dollar scheme to divert our tax dollars
directly to private schools. They did it while withholding the funding schools need to
survive (let alone thrive) as leverage in negotiations over issues that had nothing to do with
educating our kids. The amount of state dollars being sent to charters and privates will
continue to grow as we further neglect our constitutional obligation to provide free and public
education to every Texas child.
The consequences for failing under this system of intentional neglect are swift
and punitive. In Houston, it took just one school out of 273 campuses with a bad rating for
the state to replace the locally elected school board with TEA appointees. The takeover is
expected to last until at least 2027. Since 2023, HISD has experienced plummeting enrollment,
significant staff turnover, and strict adherence to teaching to the STAAR test—even at
previously successful campuses. School libraries have been closed in exchange for discipline
centers. Local goals and values have not been considered, replaced instead with the
priorities of unelected and unaccountable state appointees.

Now, after being starved of funding necessary to satisfy state mandates and meet state
accountability standards, four campuses in AISD have received unacceptable ratings and the
district is facing TEA takeover. To survive, our local leaders must act fast and with
bold leadership—or risk similar circumstances suffered by HISD.
I stand with our AISD leaders, from the board to administrators and staff, who
are fighting to protect our schools and our values. They face difficult choices in the
best interest of the whole system. Their consolidation plan will impact 96% of schools and is
necessary to reverse past inequities and create consistent pathways to success for all students.
Our neighborhood schools survive only if every school succeeds. This is how we’ll
stay on our feet in this fight for our future. I will keep fighting right alongside you to ensure
every child in Texas gets the education they are entitled to by law.
Thank you for your attention to this matter,
Sarah Eckhardt