Texas Education Agency

Five Texas school districts have filed a new lawsuit over the state’s methods for measuring academic accountability, putting a hold on Thursday’s planned release of A-F ratings.

Austin ISD students, like kids throughout Texas, are seeing gains in reading proficiency since the COVID-19 pandemic, but math is another story. Educators and policy experts say more resources are needed to help students catch up.

The completion of nearly 1,200 evaluations is an important milestone in the district's effort to improve services for students with disabilities.

Manor Middle School was facing the possibility of a charter school partnership after getting “F” grades for several years in a row from the Texas Education Agency. Then, district and campus staff came up with a plan to raise the school’s grade.

Plaintiffs claimed that the 2023 law, which required book vendors to rate the explicitness of sexual references in materials sold to schools, was unconstitutionally broad.

Austin ISD had nearly 1,800 overdue evaluations in January 2023, but that figure dropped to 306 by December — a reduction of nearly 83%.

The Texas State Board of Education is developing a process for vetting materials. Some advocacy groups are concerned the process will be politicized.

More than 100 school districts signed on to a lawsuit alleging the new standards set districts up to fail. The new standards applied to students who graduated in 2022, before the districts knew about the change.

Late Thursday night, Arlington ISD became the latest school district to join a lawsuit against Education Commissioner Mike Morath because of concerns their ratings will drop drastically under the state's updated system.

The delay comes as the agency faces a legal challenge to the way it's evaluating school districts.