Judson Independent School District trustees voted unanimously, 6 to 0, to approve a new policy allowing and governing potential third-party partnerships at its most struggling campuses, a step that could eventually hand day-to-day control of Henry Metzger Middle School and Hartman Elementary to an outside charter operator. The board did not approve any specific partnership or contract at the Monday meeting — it simply cleared the path to consider one.
Why Judson Is Suddenly Looking Outside
Interim Superintendent Ann Dixon said she began exploring a charter operator partnership to try to prevent a state takeover, even as she made clear it is not her preferred option. As reported by the San Antonio Express-News, Dixon said Judson officials must act before final STAAR results are released in late May, and that the district cannot afford to simply wait and see what happens in Austin. Metzger has received four consecutive failing accountability ratings, while Hartman received a high D and inherited Park Village’s four-year failing-rating count. A fifth consecutive failing rating can lead the Texas Education Agency to close a campus or take over an entire district.
Metzger received its fourth straight unacceptable rating in the 2026 accountability cycle, scoring a 59, according to Texas Public Radio. The outlet reported that a one-point improvement next year would earn the campus a D, which would pause the unacceptable count rather than erase it. Dixon said January testing data could show Metzger is on track for a D or a C — and under the district's framing, earning a D would pause state intervention for one year while a C would remove the campus from state consequences altogether. Dixon said she would not recommend pursuing a spring charter partnership if that January data suggests Metzger is already on pace for a D or C.
Staffing Moves and Student Performance
Judson ISD is also using an existing improvement plan to try to turn Metzger around on its own. The campus has a math academic trainer and a new principal. The San Antonio Express-News previously reported that Dixon hired additional certified math teachers and moved administrators holding math teaching certificates into classrooms to address shortages, and that more than 40% of Judson students in third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades did not meet grade-level standards on STAAR in 2026.
At Metzger specifically, the Texas Tribune Schools Explorer shows 37% of students met grade level in reading, 11% in math, 28% in science, 11% in social studies and 23% across all subjects. The same data lists the campus as 53.4% Hispanic and 72.9% economically disadvantaged. Hartman Elementary, which absorbed most students from Park Village Elementary after Judson closed that campus at the end of the 2025-2026 school year as part of a consolidation plan to cut spending amid declining enrollment, received a high D. Texas Public Radio reported that TEA agreed to transfer Park Village’s four-year unacceptable-rating count to Hartman, meaning Hartman would need at least a D in 2027 to pause that count at four.
What a Charter Partnership Would Actually Mean
Trustees expressed concern that a suitable partner may be difficult to find, or that the state could reject whatever application Judson submits. If the district proceeds, it must finalize a partnership application and contract by the end of March. Any such deal would fall under Senate Bill 1882, which the Texas Senate passed in 2017 to allow public school districts to partner with third-party organizations to operate public school campuses. Those partnerships pause — but do not erase — a school's accountability history, pausing the campus's accountability clock while also providing extra state funding. For two years, the third-party organization would control staffing decisions, curriculum and instruction at the campus.
Not just any group can step in. The Texas Education Agency must approve any qualified partner, and it requires those organizations to demonstrate the capacity to improve academics and manage multiple campuses over several years; qualifying turnaround partners must have operated for more than three years. Potential partners can include institutions of higher education as well as nonprofit organizations. Board member Laura Stanford said the district is trying to avert a worse disaster rather than rush into an unexpected SB 1882 partnership, according to the Express-News.
How Other San Antonio-Area Districts Have Fared
Judson is not the first San Antonio-area district to turn to a charter operator under this law. San Antonio ISD and Edgewood ISD have both partnered with Third Future Schools, a network founded in 2016 by Mike Miles, a former Dallas ISD superintendent whom the Texas Education Agency later appointed to lead Houston ISD in 2023. Third Future now runs three SAISD campuses — Hirsch Elementary, Ogden Elementary and Tafolla Middle School — with SAISD entering a three-year contract for Hirsch after that campus landed its own fourth consecutive failing rating, according to the San Antonio Report. Edgewood's board voted 6-1 to bring in Third Future to operate Brentwood Middle School starting the following school year, per News 4 San Antonio, even as Edgewood trustees separately voted to terminate earlier partnerships with the Texas Council for International Studies and Texas A&M University-San Antonio's Institute for School and Community Partnerships, which had run three other campuses.
The track record for these arrangements is mixed. A University of Houston study found that teachers at third-party-operated campuses average just 6.2 years of experience, roughly half the statewide average, and that STAAR performance at those campuses lags demographically similar peers even though growth rates are comparable, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The state has said about 70% of third-party partnerships have shown some academic growth or maintained acceptable performance. Third Future itself has acknowledged moving some campuses from an F or D rating to a B within a couple of years, but ratings tend to dip again once the network leaves, per the San Antonio Report. One of its successes, Ector College Prep, saw its accountability score climb from 58 to 86 after Third Future took over, the Star-Telegram noted — while the Texas Education Agency rejected Austin ISD's attempt to bring in the Texas Council for International Studies, with officials telling the Texas Tribune the nonprofit lacked a proven record of academic turnaround.
Pressure Building Statewide
Campus accountability ratings are shaped largely by students' standardized test scores, and the stakes are rising across Texas. Austin ISD recently received its fifth failing rating, a milestone that can trigger closure or a full district takeover under the current system, which is codified in existing law. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has vowed to seek new legislation addressing state takeovers — though any such change would require collaboration between the Democratic-controlled Texas House and the Republican-controlled Senate, according to the Texas Tribune. Statewide, the Tribune reported that 24% of campuses earned an A in the 2025-26 cycle, 34% a B, 23% a C, 10% a D and 4% an F — context that underscores how far outliers like Metzger and Hartman sit from the pack, even as districts like Ector County, Greenville, Ralls and Spring managed to narrowly avoid state intervention this year through gains at their own struggling campuses.
What Metzger Families Are Being Asked to Do
Back at Metzger, campus staff are leaning on parents while the policy questions play out at the district level. Trustee Lesley Lee, who described Metzger as her second home, pleaded with Metzger parents to check their children's grades and help with homework as the school works toward improvement. Board member Suzanne Kenoyer did not attend Monday's meeting where the partnership policy passed, according to the seed reporting. For now, Judson's move is procedural — a policy, not a partner — but the clock set by the state's accountability rules means the district has only a few months to decide whether outside help is worth the tradeoffs other San Antonio-area schools have already weighed.
