Burnet school district sets action plan for failing campuses
Members of the BCISD Board of Trustees hear a presentation on the drafted improvement plans for the district’s four failing campuses during an Oct. 19 meeting. Staff photo by Caden Senn
Note: This article builds on key information from a previous DailyTrib article published on Aug. 19, 2026, addressing BCISD’s failing state-accountability scores, comparisons of those scores to the rest of the state, and administrators’ responses. That article can be found here.
The Burnet Consolidated Independent School District is developing plans to improve student success at four of its six campuses after receiving failing accountability grades from the state in August.
On Aug. 19, Burnet Middle School and RJ Richey, Shady Grove, and Bertram elementary schools were tagged with failing grades by the Texas Education Agency, prompting the district to develop improvement plans for each campus.
Each plan includes “intensive curriculum and instruction improvements,” and will be voted on for adoption at the upcoming Nov. 16 BCISD Board of Trustees meeting.
Burnet Middle School’s Targeted Improvement Plan can be viewed here. RJ Richey and Shady Grove elementary schools’ Turnaround Plan can be viewed here. Bertram Elementary School’s Turnaround Plan can be viewed here.
The district held a review of the drafted plans during its Monday, Oct. 19, board meeting, where public comments were welcomed. No comments, however, were made.
How BCISD got here
These plans come after years of academic struggle across the district, with the TEA’s accountability ratings indicating persistent learning and instructional gaps. BCISD Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Rachel Jones previously spoke on these gaps.
“Burnet CISD’s achievement on most state assessments has been below state averages for multiple years,” she told DailyTrib in August. “Although standardized tests do not provide a full picture of student learning, our results do point out learning gaps when compared to the rest of the state. Over time, those gaps accumulate across grade levels and become harder to close, causing a struggle to attain grade-level expectations.”
This year, Burnet Middle School received an overall accountability score of 59 out of 100, earning an “F” rating, down from a score of 70, or “C,” the previous two years.
The three elementary schools each received “D” ratings, continuing three prior years of D ratings that mandated curriculum changes last year. After receiving another D rating this year, the elementary schools will need to intensify their curriculum changes.
Under TEA guidelines, campuses that receive an F rating once or three consecutive D ratings must implement a Targeted Improvement Plan to address low accountability scores through options such as curriculum changes, staff reassignments, or even campus closures.
Another year of failing grades requires campuses to implement a Turnaround Plan, which is essentially a more intensive Targeted Improvement Plan with more monitoring. The three elementary campuses fall under this category.
Further failing accountability grades could then force a district to hand over management of its campus to a monitor or board of managers, or outright close the school.
Learn more about the district’s accountability plans at the BCISD accountability webpage here.