A Travis County district court once again blocked the Texas Education Agency from releasing its A-F accountability ratings for Texas school districts and campuses Sept. 18.
"I'm currently enjoined by the courts from issuing ratings for the second year in a row," TEA Commissioner Mike Morath told state lawmakers during a Senate Education Committee hearing Sept. 18. "So if you actually want your A-F system to work, you're probably gonna have to do something about that."
Over 100 school districts sued the TEA in 2023 over concerns that the new system would unlawfully lower their ratings for the 2022-23 school year.
What’s happening
After hearing earlier in the week from the TEA and several school districts who sued the agency, Travis County Judge Daniella Deseta Lyttle issued a temporary injunction Sept. 18. The order continues to block the TEA from assigning A-F performance ratings for the 2023-24 school year, which were set to be released Aug. 15.
A different judge issued a temporary restraining order initially blocking the release of the ratings Aug. 12 in response to a lawsuit filed by Pecos-Barstow-Toyah, Crandall, Forney, Fort Stockton and Kingsville ISDs. An additional 27 districts have since joined the lawsuit, including Hays CISD and Plano ISD, according to lawyers for the school districts.
The lawsuit seeks to stop the TEA from “unlawfully calculating and assigning A-F performance ratings.” These ratings grade districts based on student preparedness for college, career and military service; graduation rates; and scores on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.
A closer look
In an amended petition filed Sept. 16, more than 30 school districts argued that Morath failed to fix “mistakes” made to the A-F accountability system last year.
The STAAR test—which the state redesigned to feature more open-ended questions and be administered fully online—has become a “flawed assessment instrument” that the TEA failed to verify by a third party, according to the lawsuit. The state also began grading written test responses using an automated computer system, which the plaintiffs said caused the test to become “not valid and reliable.”
Additionally, the TEA did not provide districts fair notice of changes to the accountability system and made it “mathematically impossible” for many districts to receive an A rating, according to court documents. One adjustment would’ve raised the requirement to receive an A for college, career or military readiness from 60% to 88%.
Current situation
Lyttle sided with the plaintiffs in blocking the ratings for the 2023-24 school year after hearing oral arguments and witness testimony from the TEA and districts involved in the case Sept. 16-17.
A TEA spokesperson told Community Impact the agency plans to appeal; however, the injunction will remain in effect unless an appeals court issues a new ruling, according to court documents.
A full trial on the case has been set for Feb. 10 at 9 a.m. in Travis County.
The background
Last year, more than 100 school districts sued the TEA over its “refreshed” A-F rating system, which would’ve changed how ratings were calculated. In October 2023, a Travis County district court issued a temporary injunction preventing the TEA from issuing new ratings for the 2022-23 school year.
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.
