The case echoes a 2023 lawsuit from over 100 school districts, which alleged the TEA’s revamped accountability system was “unlawful” and would unfairly harm school districts.
The agency was set to release ratings for the 2023-24 school year on Aug. 15.
What’s happening
In a lawsuit filed Aug. 12, five public school districts said the TEA has not been transparent about changes to its accountability system and failed to fix “mistakes” made last year. TEA Commissioner Mike Morath did not provide enough information about the changes or communicate them in a timely manner, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs also expressed concerns that “it is not mathematically possible” for many schools to receive an A rating under the new system, which is more rigorous. For example, the TEA raised the "A" threshold for a metric evaluating student preparedness for college, a career or the military from 60% to 88%.
Texas’ A-F system, designed in 2017, gives parents insight about the quality of their children’s school. If a campus or district receives a failing grade for several years in a row, the state can intervene.
The ratings are based on student performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, academic growth, high school graduation rates and more.
The STAAR makes up the majority of a school’s rating. This year, Texas began using a new automated computer system to grade the STAAR, which the five districts said was “not valid and reliable.”
“The negative impact of AI grading appears to disproportionately impact Texas’ highest-needs students,” the lawsuit reads. “[The changes] threaten to unfairly—and unlawfully—lower the A-F ratings of many school districts and campuses.”
Zooming in
Travis County District Judge Karin Crump sided with the school districts in an Aug. 12 order, temporarily blocking the TEA from issuing new accountability ratings while litigation continues. A full hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26.
The TEA said it was reviewing the filing to determine next steps.
“The Legislature adopted a strong A-F framework to help improve the quality of student learning across the state, give parents a clear understanding of how well their schools are performing and establish clear expectations for school leaders so they can better serve students,” a TEA spokesperson said in a statement. “It is disappointing that a small group of school boards and superintendents opposed to fair accountability and transparency have once again filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing A-F ratings from being issued and keeping families in the dark about how their schools are doing.”
How we got here
Districts have not received complete A-F ratings since 2019. In 2022, schools that received a C or lower were deemed “not rated” as they recovered from significant learning loss from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accountability ratings were not issued at all in 2020 or 2021.
