There’s a new twist in the ongoing Texas Education Agency school ratings saga.
Last year, dozens of school systems joined together in a lawsuit aiming at preventing the release of accountability reports for the 2022-2023 school year, which would have included ratings under the new grading method announced by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The number of school districts involved in the lawsuit has since grown.
In August, a Travis County judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing the release of accountability reports for the 2023-2024 school year, marking the second year since the introduction of the new rating system that the TEA has been prohibited from releasing the scores.
However, the release of the scores — or failure to do so — affects not only public schools but private and charter schools as well. IDEA Public Schools, the largest charter school network in Texas, has filed a petition to intervene in the lawsuit against the TEA.
IDEA wants the scores released, arguing in its petition that charter schools “are uniquely and more significantly impacted by A-F ratings than traditional public schools. Unlike independent school districts … charter schools face greater scrutiny and rely more heavily on these ratings for critical aspects such as expansion opportunities and regulatory compliance.
“The A-F system’s influence on charter schools extends beyond public perception; it is intrinsically tied to their ability to survive and grow within the educational landscape. Consequently, any legal determinations regarding the A-F system disproportionately affect charter schools.”
According to the most recent accountability ratings for Dallas ISD, one of the plaintiffs in the case against the TEA, only 41% of Dallas students scored at grade level on their STAAR exams, and nearly 20% of its graduating Class of 2022 failed to earn a diploma in four years despite the hard work of its dedicated educators.
Texas Public Radio reports on the latest in the fight over the TEA’s new rating system. Here’s the start of the story:
The largest charter school network in Texas is intervening in a lawsuit that has temporarily blocked the Texas Education Agency from releasing academic accountability ratings for the 2023-2024 school year.
“We are standing up for the right of Texas families to access information they need to make decisions about their children’s education and for the public’s right to hold schools accountable for their performance,” IDEA Public Schools CEO and Superintendent Jeff Cottrill said in a statement released Thursday evening.
IDEA is petitioning the court to allow TEA to release the ratings, which gives schools and districts A-F letter grades based on the agency’s calculation of their academic performance.
A Travis County judge temporarily blocked TEA from releasing the A-F ratings Aug. 12, after five Texas school districts filed a lawsuit questioning the validity of the standardized tests the ratings are primarily based on.
Attorneys for the school districts who filed the suit claim TEA’s decision to use computers to grade written responses on the STAAR tests invalidates the results.