The Texas Education Agency released public school accountability ratings for the 2025-26 school year on Aug. 14.
The big picture
Across the state, 85% of campuses received a C rating or higher, which is considered “acceptable academic performance” by the TEA. Of Texas’ 1,202 school districts, 24% received a higher rating than the 2024-25 school year, while 65% kept the same rating and 11% received a lower rating, TEA data shows.
At least one school district is at risk of being taken over by the TEA after certain campuses scored their fifth consecutive F ratings this year. Under state law, the agency must either shutter those campuses or take control of the affected districts.
"It's important for us to provide this information," Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told reporters during an Aug. 14 visit to Oak Run Middle School in New Braunfels ISD. "Parents need to know it, principals need to know it, teachers need to know it—superintendents, school board members, all of our taxpayers need to know it."
The education commissioner was also scheduled to visit campuses in Galena Park and Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISDs on Aug. 14.
"We want to ensure that all children, regardless of their background and regardless of where they live, have access to a great school," Morath said. "But this is hard to do, so we use [A-F ratings] as a way to evaluate our own performance as adults, and then build action plans so that the way that we run our schools next year can be even better than last year."
Texans can find the updated accountability ratings for K-12 districts and individual campuses at www.txschools.gov.
How it works
Texas schools are rated on an A-F scale based on three criteria: student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps. Elementary and middle school ratings are largely based on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, which students begin taking in third grade, while high school ratings are based on the STAAR and how well students are prepared for success after graduation.
The student achievement benchmark measures whether students met expectations on the STAAR and how prepared they are for graduation. The school progress criterion tracks how students perform over time and how a campus’ performance compares to other schools with similar student populations, while the closing the gaps domain looks at “how well a school or district is ensuring that all student groups are successful,” per the TEA.
State law requires that annual A-F ratings be issued by Aug. 15 of each year.
Last year, ratings for three years were released over the course of several months. Ratings for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years were delayed after dozens of districts sued the TEA due to concerns that the agency made it “mathematically impossible” for some schools to earn a high score. Those lawsuits did not impact the 2025 or 2026 ratings.
More details
TEA data shows that in the 2025-26 school year:
- 17% of districts and 25% of campuses received an A
- 47% of districts and 36% of campuses received a B
- 29% of districts and 24% of campuses received a C
- 7% of districts and 10% of campuses received a D
- 2% of districts and 4% of campuses received an F
- 1% of districts and 6% of campuses were deemed “not rated”
Campuses are not rated if they are juvenile justice alternative education programs, disciplinary alternative education programs or residential facilities, per the TEA. “Insufficient performance data” can also lead to schools being unrated.
For information about how local school districts performed, visit www.communityimpact.com/education or subscribe to Community Impact’s local newsletters.
The local impact
Districts and campuses that scored a D or F this year may receive extra resources and support from the state, according to the TEA.
A campus that receives its first D or F rating, which is considered “unacceptable,” must develop a “targeted improvement plan” and submit it to the TEA by Nov. 20, according to information sent to school districts Aug. 13. Campuses with two consecutive unacceptable ratings are required to develop turnaround plans and submit them to the agency by the same date.
If a Texas public school receives five failing ratings in a row, state law requires the TEA commissioner to close that campus or replace the district’s elected board of trustees with a state-appointed board of managers. Eight Texas school districts, including Houston ISD, are currently operating under state-appointed boards of managers, per TEA records.
This year, some districts preemptively closed chronically struggling campuses to stave off a state intervention, previous Community Impact reporting shows. A new TEA rule will make it harder for districts to avoid state action by closing campuses, although that rule takes effect Aug. 16 and does not impact schools that have already closed.
Morath pointed to South San Antonio ISD, which has been under state control since February 2025, as an example of student growth following a state takeover. The district improved from a D in 2025 to a C in 2026, according to the TEA.
"I think that the evidence in Texas is that state intervention has consistently raised the quality of learning in our schools where this has happened, so thankfully this is a very rare situation," he told reporters. "The thing to celebrate is that very few interventions ever are necessary because that means that the system is working."
Zooming in
Austin ISD reached the threshold for state intervention this year after two of its campuses received failing grades for the fifth year in a row.
The district recently closed eight schools that each had three consecutive F ratings, although three campuses that had four consecutive Fs—Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools—remained open at the end of the 2025-26 school year. Burnet and Webb middle schools received their fifth Fs on Aug. 14, triggering state action. Dobie Middle School scored a D, per TEA data.
However, any potential state-mandated closures or takeovers will not happen immediately. Districts that have concerns about their ratings have through Sept. 11 to appeal individual scores to the TEA, agency documents show. Morath must then respond to appeals and finalize all ratings by Dec. 11.
Austin ISD is the only district that may be subject to state intervention based on the 2026 ratings, a TEA spokesperson said.
When asked if he planned to take control of Austin ISD, Morath told reporters it was too early to make that decision.
"It is way too preliminary—we saw today preliminary results related to the performance of campuses in that district and in districts all over the state," Morath said Aug. 14. "The ratings still have to be finalized. We want to wait to see what that looks like, and we also want to evaluate how well that school district, as a system, is is trying to improve results for all kids."
This story is developing and will be updated.
