The ratings were released April 24 after a two-year delay. The state agency could not release the ratings sooner because of a lawsuit involving more than 50 districts, including local districts Prosper ISD, Frisco ISD, McKinney ISD, Richardson ISD and Dallas ISD.
TEA is prevented from sharing more recent school ratings from the 2023-24 school year due to a separate, ongoing lawsuit. School performance ratings from the 2024-25 school year are scheduled to be issued in August 2025.
“Celina ISD has never been defined by a single number or letter grade—we are defined by student growth, by opportunity and by the lasting impact we have on every learner who walks through our doors,” Superintendent Thomas Maglisceau said in a district statement. “Our focus remains unchanged: the core principles of community, excellence, innovation, leadership and stewardship.”
The details
Celina ISD’s “B” rating received an 84 out of 100. This measures how much students are learning in each grade and whether or not they are ready for the next grade. It also shows how well a school or district prepares their students for success after high school in college, the workforce, or the military, according to TEA.
All Celina ISD campuses received a “B” rating contributing to the district total.
The ratings did not include two campuses because they had not yet opened:
- Tommie Dobie Bothwell Elementary School (opened 2024)
- Bobby Ray & Afton Martin Elementary School (opened 2023)
A-F ratings were first issued for Texas public school systems in 2018. No ratings were issued for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ratings were released in 2022, but were impacted by pandemic-related learning disruptions and a state law that prevented D and F ratings from being issued, according to the TEA.
For the 2022-23 set of ratings, the methods of calculating A-F scores were updated to more accurately reflect performance, as part of a previously communicated system refresh, according to an April 24 TEA news release.
The lawsuit was based on Texas Education Code 39.0542. Per the statute, the commissioner is required to provide school districts with a “simple, accessible” document explaining the accountability performance measures, methods and procedures that will be applied to their campus performance ratings.
Districts did receive this document, but officials said it contained the previous standards and not the new system that would be used.
The initial lawsuit was seeking one of two options for the accountability scores:
- For the commissioner to issue ratings for the 2022-23 school year and the 2023-24 school year using the existing system
- For the commissioner to issue no ratings for the two school years
“For far too long, families, educators and communities have been denied access to information about the performance of their schools, thanks to frivolous lawsuits paid for by tax dollars filed by those who disagreed with the statutory goal of raising career readiness expectations to help students,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said in a TEA April 24 news release. “Every Texas family deserves a clear view of school performance, and now those families finally have access to data they should have received two years ago. Transparency drives progress, and when that transparency is blocked, students pay the price.”
