The Texas Education Agency Wednesday informed Austin ISD that Johnston High School will be closed for the 2008-2009 school year, but AISD has been offered the chance to repurpose the facility.

While Johnston H.S. recently made gains on the statewide exit-level Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test, it has earned a rating of academically unacceptable for four years in a row.

State law says that after five years of failing to meet state standards or show progress the school must be closed, but administrators, staff and teachers were hoping to convince the TEA to keep the school open.

Despite the recent gains, TEA officials told AISD that Johnston would again earn an academically unacceptable rating when accountability ratings were issued on August 1.

"The closure of Johnston High School will be a challenge for the community that it serves, but my greatest concern is for each student's education," said Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott, in a news release. "State law requires that the students assigned to Johnston be provided a more effective learning environment."

Johnston High staff, including the principal, told KVUE the news is gravely disappointing. The principal met with her teachers and counselors after the decision was announced.

She said commissioners are shutting down Johnston because its graduation rates never came up to par after two years of being in a slump.

"We knew that the completion rate was going to be problematic, because the completion rate is 2-years in the rears so we had very little time to effect that data and so we were just hoping that after it was cleaned up that we would have come close and we didn't," said Celina Estrada, Johnston H.S., principal.

According to AISD, the district will present a plan for a repurposed campus to the school board at their meeting on June 9. There will also be a meeting at Johnston Thursday, June 5 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the plans.

"The repurposing plan that we will present to Austin School Trustees on Monday evening will allow us to move toward the new vision of the first-rate education that we want students to receive at the Johnston campus," Dr. Pat Forgione said in a news release.

Under the repurposing requirements, Johnston must have a completely different instructional program and have a new name. At least 50 percent of the current students and at least 75 percent of the staff must also be reassigned to other campuses.

The TEA also told AISD that Pearce Middle School would be rated academically unacceptable again this year based on the 2008 TAKS results but will be able to remain open.