Leander ISD joins lawsuit over Texas Education Agency's school ranking system
LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) -- The Leander Independent School District joined a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency over its school ranking system.
In a social media post, Leander ISD said it reconvened after a closed session Thursday night and "passed a resolution to join a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency regarding the A-F Accountability System."
The district said it would provide more information later on its board briefs page online.
The lawsuit says the new rules for how the state will grade schools and districts were not provided before the school year they will be applied to. It asks a judge to prevent the Texas Education Agency from releasing scores that use the newest metrics.
Leander joins several other districts suing TEA over the accountability system.
Del Valle announced last month it joined a “coalition of school districts” across Texas suing TEA over changes to its accountability ratings system.
Pflugerville ISD and Hays Consolidated ISD also recently joined the suit against TEA.
“I’d recommend that we go ahead and join the lawsuits,” Pflugerville Superintendent Dr. Douglas Killian said during an Aug. 17 meeting. “It’s time for folks to hear that the fairness of the accountability system is in question right now.”
Hays CISD voted 6-0 Monday evening to join the lawsuit.
“Our kids have worked extremely hard. Our employees have worked extremely hard. We’re showing growth across almost every area. And yet the rating that we get is going to reflect that we went backwards instead of forwards," Hays CISD Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright said.
Background: Accountability rating changes
In March, hundreds of school districts across the state sent a letter to the Texas Education Agency asking to delay the “A-F” Accountability Rating system changes.
Austin ISD was one of those districts, and it also posted about its concerns on its website.
AISD told KXAN back in May it was anticipating its secondary campus and district “A-F” letter grades will decline by one to two letters under the new TEA rules.
TEA Commissioner Mike Morath told KXAN at that time the changes to the system should help improve the ability to recognize schools’ growth and “narrowing our focus on the most at risk kids, to close achievement gaps most effectively. We are updating our overall district rating methodology. We are creating a unique evaluation system.”
“As schools are improving, parents need to know then,” Morath said. “If they are not and they are regressing then parents need to know that as well.”