Court clears TEA to release A-F ratings for 2022-23

State law requires the commissioner of education to publish A-F performance ratings for schools and school districts by Aug. 15 each year based on data from the previous school year. Due to disruptions related to COVID-19, no A-F ratings were issued for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, and no D or F ratings were issued for 2021-22 by statute. 

The 2022-23 school year ratings were delayed due to (a) legislation requiring changes to the STAAR test; (b) a once-every-five-years "refresh" of the accountability system; and (c) new growth data requiring adjustment of cutoff scores to create a useful baseline for future years. As complete 2023 STAAR results were unavailable until four days before the Aug. 15 deadline, timely issuance was not possible.

The commissioner attempted to publish A-F performance ratings for the 2022-23 year after the deadline and after the school year had ended. Several dozen school districts filed a lawsuit, objecting to this. They argued that the commissioner cannot retroactively issue ratings for the 2022-23 school year based on standards adopted after a school year ends. The districts expressed concerns that publishing performance ratings after the school year was over deprives them of an opportunity to improve their grades. 

Specifically, the districts argued that it would be "fundamentally unfair" to issue ratings for the 2022-23 school year based on standards that were not formally adopted or explained until several months after the school year ended. 

The commissioner did not adopt and define the achievement indicators and standards at any time during the 2022-23 school year as required by law, or provide a document explaining the measures, methods, and procedures to be applied for that year, as also required. The commissioner presented evidence that he released preliminary announcements about these matters in the spring of the 2022-23 school year, but conceded they were not formally adopted until Oct. 31, 2023, several months after the school year ended. The school districts argued that since the ratings were not published by the deadline, the commissioner did not have the authority to publish them now.

The district court entered an injunction that prevented the commissioner from retroactively publishing the ratings and the commissioner appealed.

The court of appeals noted that nothing in the law states any consequence for missing the deadline to publish the ratings. The Texas Legislature could have automatically terminated the commissioner's authority to issue ratings after the deadline but did not. 

Additionally, the title of the law ("Public School System Accountability") and most of the language in the law clearly prioritize "ratings" as the statute's purpose rather than "Aug. 15." 

The statute itself allows the commissioner to decline to issue an overall rating in cases of natural disaster, data failure, or "for other reasons outside the control of the district or campus." This broad grant of discretion to the commissioner to cancel ratings suggests that he also has the authority to take the lesser step of postponing them.

The school districts argued that allowing the commissioner to publish the ratings late would amount to a ruling that the commissioner can violate the law "at will." However, the court of appeals disagreed, stating that schools and the commissioner have all faced unprecedented challenges in the last five years and that cancelling ratings entirely is not "logically necessary" to accomplish the statute's purposes if postponing them would suffice.

For these reasons, the court of appeals ruled that the commissioner of education can release the 2022-23 A-F performance measures.

In a letter to administrators, Commissioner Mike Morath said 2022-23 ratings would be sent to districts on April 17 and released to the public on April 24.