Taylor Independent School District trustees are throwing their moral, if not legal, support behind other districts that have filed a lawsuit challenging the Texas Education Agency’s A to F rating system. While Taylor ISD is not a party to the multi-district lawsuit against the TEA’s annual ratings of public educational institutions, trustees adopted a resolution for the state to practice a “fair and transparent accountability system” during their Feb. 26 meeting.
Travis County Judge Catherine Mauzy of the 419th Civil District Court temporarily blocked the release of the agency’s new A through F rating system in October, citing it as unlawful and harmful to Texas districts.
Superintendents across the state have taken aim at the TEA rating system.
“Taylor ISD wants to be held accountable, and we will always be advocates for higher standards and increased rigor for our student performance,” Superintendent Jennifer Garcia-Edwardsen said. “However, it is essential that school districts throughout Texas receive sufficient advance notice of how these standards will be implemented, as mandated by law.”
Garcia-Edwardsen said TEA officials argued in an appeal that only 10% of Texas school districts joined the lawsuit.
To convey there is significantly more than 10% of districts opposed to changes in the accountability system, Garcia-Edwardsen said attorneys representing the 120 districts in the civil action have created a draft resolution other districts can adopt in a show of support.
School board President Marco Ortiz said he was at a Central Texas School Board Association event where some attendees discussed Commissioner of Education Mike Morath’s doubts about the number of districts signing on as plaintiffs in the suit.
“We all kind of talked about (adopting) a resolution so we can increase that percentage,” Ortiz said. “Because again, in his eyes, it’s 10% of 1,100 school districts, so is there really a case?”
Ortiz added it was probably too late to actually join the litigation.
The rating system with changes would have debuted last fall, but Mauzy’s order blocked the release.
TEA officials have appealed.
“This ruling completely disregards the laws of this state and, for the foreseeable future, prevents any A-F performance information from being issued to help millions of parents and educators improve the lives of our students,” the agency said in a statement to the media in October.
The ratings give school districts and their campuses a letter grade based on metrics including standardized testing, enrollment growth, graduation rates and whether students are adequately prepared for careers after leaving school.
During last week’s meeting when trustee Jim Buzan asked how a positive or negative rating could affect a school district, Garcia-Edwardsen said it has an impact on community, staff and school in multiple ways.
“At the end of the day, it’s our students and our families in our community that are impacted,” Garcia-Edwardsen said. “We want to ensure that all students and schools are evaluated fairly and that the accountability ratings are based on a system that provides a clear path to improvements and success.”
The vote to approve a resolution for a fair and transparent accountability system was unanimous, with trustees Joe Meller and Cheryl Carter absent.
“I just think anything that we can do to support the 10% that did file, we certainly need to do that,” trustee Anita Volek said.
