Five school districts in Texas are suing Commissioner of Education Mike Morath over the Texas Education Agency’s A-F accountability system. This is the second consecutive that school districts are suing over the accountability system.
First reported by the Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa, Fort Davis, Alpine, Presidio, Fort Stockton and Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISDs filed a lawsuit against the TEA arguing the new accountability system unfairly lowered their ratings and that it negatively impacted vulnerable students.
Last year, over 100 districts sued Morath over the accountability system. The lawsuit blocked the release of the 2022-23 ratings.
The A-F accountability system was established in 2017 by the Texas legislature with the goal of increasing transparency into the school’s academic performance. The system uses STAAR test results, performance, graduation rates, and college and career readiness to score the school districts. However, districts oppose a series of new standards that weren’t in place before.
For example, an old policy regarding College Career and Military Readiness (CCMR), would give school districts an A rating if they scored 60 or above in CCMR, but last November, the TEA added a new rule stating that a score of 88 or above would be required for schools to earn an A rating.
“For many school districts and campuses, this retroactive, after-the-fact change to CCMR scoring means the commissioner has made it mathematically impossible for many school districts and campuses to achieve an A rating,” the lawsuit reads.
Districts have also argued that changes in the STAAR test are also affecting their districts and students. Under a new policy, many special education students who were previously eligible for an alternative STAAR test now were forced to take the original test. The districts argued that this forced students to take a test that was “not appropriate for their educational needs.”
Fort Stockton ISD Superintendent Gabriel Zamora told the Sentinel that his school district has a higher percentage of special education students than most districts. He said his students were negatively impacted by the policy.
“We got hit on it with about 46 tests this year that were students that previously were on an accommodated version of STAAR that was geared more for special ed students, but under the new criteria, they failed to qualify and had to be placed on regular STAAR,” Zamora said.
In addition, the TEA began using artificial intelligence to grade STAAR essays. The district argued this measure resulted in a larger percentage of 0/10 scores.
“Based on data obtained in July 2024, somewhere between 30 – 75% of these 0 scores from AI grading have proven to be inaccurate when reviewed and rescored by human graders,” court documents state.
The TEA responded by saying in a statement that it was disappointing that “a small group of school boards and superintendents opposed to fair accountability and transparency.”
Zamora and other superintendents said they don’t oppose transparency, but they oppose changes that are not in compliance with state law and that hurt vulnerable students.
Zamora said that he feels like educators who chose to be in school districts with economically disadvantaged students are the “the ones that are getting kicked down,” by the accountability system.
“Go to a place that’s really hurting. Go to a place where the mentality isn’t one of completely supporting your kid’s education and make a difference,” Zamora said. “That’s why I came here, and I believe that that’s what we’re doing, and that’s what we have done, but the commissioner and the game that they’re playing to push these vouchers is really hurting people like me who are trying.”
