Pflugerville ISD just posted its highest state accountability ratings in five years, with zero campuses earning an F grade — a milestone the district is celebrating even as it prepares to close four elementary schools next year to close a budget gap. The district earned an overall B on the Texas Education Agency's A-F scale, with a score of 81, and improved 11 campus scores by at least one letter grade.
The gains came into focus Thursday when the Texas Education Agency released its 2026 accountability ratings for more than 9,000 campuses statewide, according to CBS Austin. Pflugerville ISD officials credited campus leadership and teachers for the turnaround, and Superintendent Quintin Shepherd said the progress reflected a district-wide effort rather than any single fix. One standout was Timmerman Elementary School, which jumped from an F rating to a B in a single school year and is now preparing to roll out the state's Accelerating Campus Excellence restart model for the coming school year using a School Action Fund grant, according to Pflugerville Independent School District.
A Budget Deficit Behind the Closures
The academic gains arrive alongside financial strain. In May, the Pflugerville ISD Board of Trustees voted to close Dessau, Parmer Lane, Pflugerville, and Windermere elementary schools at the end of the 2026-27 school year as part of the district's multi-year “District Optimization” strategy, per the district. Trustees then adopted a 2026-27 general fund budget in June carrying a $15.6 million deficit, balancing $296.8 million in projected revenues against $311.4 million in expenditures, according to Community Impact. Hoodline previously reported on the draft optimization plan when it first surfaced.
Shepherd said the closures reflect the kind of difficult choices that can accompany academic gains, per the same CBS Austin report. Pflugerville ISD is closing several campuses partly because of declining enrollment and high operational costs, and the district has also evaluated moving its high schools from block scheduling to a traditional eight-period day, a shift projected to save an estimated $4.9 million annually through staffing efficiencies, according to the district.
Why Enrollment Losses Don't Shrink Costs
Lori Taylor, a Texas A&M University professor who studies school finance issues, told CBS Austin that districts with declining enrollment still retain the costs of maintaining the same number of classrooms and schools even as revenue drops. That's because state funding is based on average daily attendance, so students leaving a district reduce its total revenue without necessarily reducing its costs, Taylor explained. As a result, districts are left to reduce personnel and buildings to match reduced revenues, she said.
Taylor added that school consolidations are a cost-saving measure many districts are choosing to take, though she cautioned that research on the effectiveness of school closures overall remains limited. Shepherd, who advised other districts to build community understanding of their financial situation, also emphasized recognizing teachers and principals as a district's greatest assets and staying transparent with communities while investing in classroom resources, per CBS Austin.
A Teacher Pay Push Behind the Numbers
Pflugerville ISD has leaned heavily on the state's Teacher Incentive Allotment to recruit and retain educators. To start the 2026-27 school year, 580 Pflugerville ISD teachers — 32% of the district's teaching force — hold TIA designations, qualifying them for TRS-eligible annual bonuses up to $18,767, according to the district. That figure represents a jump of more than 700% in TIA-designated teachers over five years, per CBS Austin. Shepherd said the district aims to be one of the highest-paid in the area to recruit and retain top talent, and Pflugerville ISD maintains a salary schedule at the top end compared with other Central Texas districts.
TIA, established under House Bill 3 in 2019, is a state designation awarded to teachers based on their effectiveness in producing measurable student growth. The program was expanded for the 2025-26 data year to add a fourth “Acknowledged” tier for top 50% teachers, joining the existing Recognized, Exemplary, and Master levels, which award state allotments ranging from $3,000 to $32,000 per designated teacher, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Austin ISD's Starkly Different Path
The contrast with neighboring Austin ISD is stark. Austin ISD received the same overall B rating and identical score of 81 as Pflugerville ISD, and the two districts have similar student demographics and measured student performance, per CBS Austin. But Austin ISD has roughly 44,000 more students than Pflugerville ISD, and it still has 20 campuses that received an F rating this year, including two middle schools now facing their fifth consecutive F.
That fifth consecutive failing rating carries legal weight. Under Texas Education Code Section 39A.111, five consecutive unacceptable TEA ratings direct the Texas Education Commissioner to either close the affected campus or replace the district's elected school board with an appointed board of managers, according to the Texas Education Agency. Austin ISD has opened a pathway toward potential state intervention through those repeated F ratings, though as of publication no such intervention has been initiated, and the district has 30 days to appeal its ratings to the TEA. Hoodline has previously covered Austin ISD's attempt to dodge a state takeover and the earlier threat facing Dobie Middle School.
Taylor told CBS Austin that the effectiveness of state intervention in Austin ISD remains to be seen, though she noted that persistent school failure harms a generation of children. Austin ISD, like Pflugerville ISD, is also closing several campuses partly due to declining enrollment and high operational costs. Since 2024, Austin ISD has increased the number of campuses receiving an A or B by 42% and decreased the number receiving a D or F by 35%, according to district reporting cited by CBS Austin. Statewide, 24% of campuses improved their ratings this year and 85% achieved acceptable grades of C or above, per the Texas Education Agency, though the agency will not make this year's ratings final until December.
Shepherd was appointed superintendent of Pflugerville ISD in April 2024 after six years leading Victoria ISD, and he received a contract extension earlier this year running through January 2031, according to the district. The statewide ratings release itself came after a nearly two-year delay tied to a lawsuit from 33 school districts challenging updated STAAR grading metrics, a fight that ended when the 15th Court of Appeals cleared the TEA to publish multi-year ratings last year, per Community Impact.
