A state appeals court ruled the TEA can release its 2023 ratings of the state’s school districts, overturning a previous injunction in a 19-month legal battle.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Education Agency released its 2023 A-F school district ratings Thursday morning after a lawsuit and later injunction to block the move.
The TEA made changes to the accountability rating system, sparking a lawsuit from 120 districts across the state to block their release. They are available atTXSchools.gov.
The benchmarks to reach the highest ratings were raised for districts. For example, high schools can only receive an “A” rating if 88% of its seniors enroll in college, pursue a non-college career or enter the military. Before, that benchmark was 60%. The raising of the benchmarks was a move districts in the lawsuit claimed would cause good school districts to receive lower grades without sufficient notice from the TEA of the changes to the grading system.
Each year the TEA gives a district a letter grade ranging from an “A” to an “F.” Those ratings consider standardized test results, annual academic growth, graduation rates and college, career and military readiness. The districts’ lawsuit alleged the changes were unfair because the new methods “were not provided to districts in the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year as required by state statute.”
A Travis County judge found that the state’s changes unlawful and the TEA appealed the decision. This month, the 15th Court of Appeals — all appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott — argued Morath did not overstep his authority as TEA commissioner when he changed the college readiness metrics that help determine schools’ performance ratings. That ruling will allow the 2023 A-F grades to be released.
Following that decision, the TEA issued a statement that reads, “This ruling is an important victory and restores a transparent lens into 2023 district and campus performance. Yet, there is still a second lawsuit that denies parents and the public access to 2024 accountability ratings. TEA remains hopeful that the best interests of students, families and communities will prevail in this second suit and will share additional information on the issuance of 2023 A-F ratings soon.”
There is also another lawsuit over the schools’ 2024 ratings awaiting a decision from the same appeals court. District ratings are also based, in part, on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness or STAAR test, an annual statewide standardized test that measures students’ understanding of state-mandated core curriculum.
Texas lawmakers required the TEA to redesign the STAAR test by 2023 so it could be virtually all online and the agency moved to artificial intelligence to grade written portions for the first time, prompting the second lawsuit where districts argued lower scores are due to the new grading tool.
The A-F accountability ratings matter because they are a measure of performance and failing grades can trigger action from the TEA. Districts with consecutive years of failing grades, like Houston Independent School District, can also face a state takeover. Since ratings have not been released for years, it is unclear what action districts with low grades will face based on the 2023 A-F ratings release.
To view 2023 A-F ratings for school systems and campuses, visitTXschools.gov.