What happened
KISD's board of trustees voted to join the lawsuit Sept. 11, calling on the TEA to rectify what they and representatives of other Texas school districts have called an "unfair change" to how accountability ratings are calculated.
How we got here
The TEA began a refresh of its methodology for calculating these ratings in late 2021, sharing new benchmarks students must reach for schools to receive a certain letter grade. One of these adjustments raised the cutoff point for a district to receive an A rating based on the college, career and military readiness of students from 60% to 88%—a 28 percentage point increase.
District officials across the state have raised concerns about the impact of the changes to accountability ratings, as they are a metric used by school boards to address educational priorities year to year. It is also a performance measure used to gauge the quality of schools by their communities and prospective families.
What they're saying
Klein ISD Superintendent Jenny McGown said the decision to join the lawsuit reflects the district’s commitment to safeguarding the integrity of the state’s educational system.
“Every year, our educators, students and community invest immense time and effort working diligently towards well-understood goals,” McGown said. “To shift the goalposts after the fact is not in the best interest of our Texas schools or the communities they serve. We believe in a system that is consistent, clear and serves as a genuine reflection of the work put in by districts across the state. We hope that by standing together with other districts, we can work towards a reasonable solution that best serves our students being evaluated."
Brooke Sjoberg contributed to this report.
