CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — More school districts across the state have joined a lawsuit against proposed changes to the way the Texas Education Agency rates school districts.
The petition was first started by the Kingsville Independent School District. Now, there are at least 16 school districts that are now part of the fight.
School districts contend that the change to the TEA's rating system would lower scores for some schools, giving the perception that they are under performing despite actually making improvements.
"This created a false narrative of what has really occurred during the school year in reference to student improvement," said Kingsville ISD Superintendent Cissy Reynolds-Perez.
Seguin Independent School District is among the districts that have joined the lawsuit.
"Its extremely disheartening its an injustice that is being done, especially a school that serves high poverty students, which is Seguin ISD," said Seguin ISD Superintendent Dr. Matthew Gutierrez.
According to Gutierrez, the changes come at the same time as a redesigned STAAR test.
"So it's a little curious to me about the release of ratings and special session in October on public education," he said.
The "refreshed" rating system is based in part on that test, as well as graduation rates, but also college, career and military readiness.
"To increase for example, CCMR (college, career, and military readiness measure) by 47 percent completely disregards and discounts the hard work our students and teachers have made. If the last measure would have stayed in place, our high school would have been a B instead its going to be a D," he said.
The districts are hoping the TEA will stop the release of this year's accountability ratings to give them time to adjust to the new sliding scale.
Nick Maddox with O'Hanlon, Demerath & Castillo Attorney's and Counselors at Law is representing the school districts in the petition. The lawsuit specifically names Mike Morath, the Commissioner of Education as the defendant, who you may recall was just here visiting Coastal Bend schools last month.
"All districts are ready, willing, and able to comply with a scoring system; they believe in a scoring system," he said. "They believe they should be rated, and want to be held accountable, they simply want to enforce a state law that already exists that provides an adequate notice so they know the rules of the game before they play it."
3NEWS reached out to area school districts about the matter, including CCISD, the largest district in the Coastal Bend. The district provided a statement that reads:
While CCISD is not currently involved in litigation regarding state accountability, it is a consideration we are discussing. Meanwhile, we are closely monitoring the situation and share the concern of public school districts statewide regarding recent changes to the accountability system.
A hearing date has been set before a Travis County judge ahead of the expected release of those ratings.
More from 3News on KIIITV.com:
- Here's when the next Starlink satellites will be visible over Corpus Christi
- District attorney Mark Gonzalez resigns to run for US Senate against Ted Cruz
- Corpus Christi municipal court says more than 53,000 people have active warrants for misdemeanor violations
- Jose 'JJ' Falcon dies of bone cancer
- Corpus Christi cyclists say they were assaulted by aggressive drivers during group ride
- Here's when you can watch the 2023 solar eclipse over Corpus Christi
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for your daily news and exclusive extended interviews.
Do you have a news tip? Tell 3!
Email tell3@kiiitv.com so we can get in touch with you about your story should we have questions or need more information. We realize some stories are sensitive in nature. Let us know if you'd like to remain anonymous.