On Thursday, the 15th Court of Appeals ruled the Texas Education Agency could release school performance ratings for 2023, despite efforts from more than 120 school districts to block the agency from doing so.
One of the plaintiffs trying to stop the ratings from coming out was Southwest Independent School District, a district covering a part of southwest San Antonio that stretches toward La Coste and Lytle.
“We are not going to comment at this time,” said Jennifer Collier, a spokesperson for Southwest ISD.
In the 2023 case Morath, v. Kingsville, Travis County courts blocked the release of that year’s accountability ratings after several school districts sued Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, claiming he overstepped when he changed the metrics for ratings in 2023 and did not give districts enough notice to implement the stricter standards.
In Thursday’s opinion, the appeals court found that the lower court “erred by declining to dismiss the suit” and instead temporarily blocked the release of 2023 school ratings, effectively dissolving the injunction.
The TEA refreshes the accountability system every five years, and the next system upgrade is scheduled for 2028. Ratings are measured by student achievement, including STAAR results, graduation rates and college and career readiness, as well as overall student growth.
Under the 2023 standards, high schools would only be rated A campuses if 88% or more of seniors enrolled in college, pursued a non-college career or enrolled in the military. The standard used to be 60%.
The last available accountability rating for Southwest ISD is from 2022, when the district was rated a B in all categories and metrics.
Despite being required to release A-F accountability reports by law, Texas has gone five years without doing it.
First, no ratings were issued for 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. The ratings for 2022 weren’t released because schools were still low-performing after the pandemic, and the ratings for 2023 and 2024 were blocked from being released due to temporary injunctions issued by two Travis County courts.
Different education nonprofits, businesses groups and parents filed an amicus brief against the 2023 injunctions, including Texas 2036, a nonpartisan public policy think tank.
Spokesperson for Texas 2036 John Reynolds said accountability ratings are necessary for business leaders and the general public to access.
“Employers rely on A-F ratings to attract and retain qualified workers in the communities where they operate and ensure a pipeline of qualified employees,” Reynolds said in a statement. “The system provides every Texan with a tool to monitor progress and ensure public funds are used effectively to improve public education.”
To further explain the need for accountability ratings in Texas, advocates pointed to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which ranks Texas in the bottom quarter of states in fourth grade reading, a ranking that drops to the bottom 12% in eighth grade reading.
Advocates for the release of the ratings hope to use the same brief against the 2024 injunction, brought on by the lawsuit Morath v. Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District.
Morath v. Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD is still pending litigation with the same appeals court that made a decision on Morath v. Kingsville ISD.
“While we are gratified to see the judges agree on the importance of releasing accountability scores for 2023, continuing to withhold these performance scores for 2024 is making a lasting impact on Texas families as they try to prepare the next generation for success as they graduate high school,” said Texas 2036 Education and Workforce Policy Director Mary Lynn Pruneda in a statement.
