Texas school accountability ratings blocked by lawsuit

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Texas school accountability ratings were supposed to be released to the public on Thursday, but due to a lawsuit filed by Texas school districts, a Travis County judge has temporarily blocked the Texas Education Agency from releasing the ratings.

This is the second year that Texas school districts have filed a lawsuit against the A-F rating system.

The Texas Education Agency implemented a new grading system that uses computer artificial intelligence to grade written exams. School districts believe the computer grading system leads to lower test scores and results in lower ratings.

Not all school districts are on board with the lawsuit. Raymondville Independent School District Deputy Superintendent Benjamin Clinton said he hopes the lawsuit gets resolved quickly so the ratings can be released.

“We’re disappointed, we think that teachers deserve that accolade from the state for all their hard work," Clinton said.

A spokesperson with the Texas State Teachers Association released a statement saying they fully support the lawsuit.

"We have been calling for the replacement of STAAR for a long time because it is not a fair or accurate assessment of student success or of school district accountability," TSTA spokesperson Clay Robison wrote. "We also suspect that the computer grading system unfairly leads to lower test scores on the written portion of the test, as the school districts allege in the lawsuit."

He went on to add that the rating system punishes poorer districts with D and F ratings when the districts lack the resources essential for student success.

Daniella Lopez, Vice President of Brownsville ISD, said the constant changes to the standardized testing system make it difficult for teachers and students to adapt.

“We have these rating systems that are very difficult on our children. It isn’t easy to provide these types of standardized tests that are changing every time. So how do we have to compare when we can’t compare to last year’s and we can’t compare to the year before?” Lopez said.

Clinton said he wants the ratings to be released so that parents in the school district have the confidence that they are sending their kids to a top-performing school. He said despite the computer grading system, data indicates that the school district received an A rating.