Texas’ largest charter school network becomes involved in AF school accountability lawsuit

Leaders of Texas’ largest public charter school network want courts to allow AF’s accountability ratings for campuses to be published.

The Texas Education Agency has been banned from publishing the scores after a group of five public school districts obtained a temporary restraining order earlier this month.

A hearing to determine next steps is scheduled to begin on September 16.

Leaders of IDEA Public Schools, which served about 77,000 students statewide last year, filed a petition Thursday to intervene in the lawsuit, alleging that lagging academic grades are harming their campuses.

The scores “serve as a transparent measure of IDEA Public Schools’ performance, informing parents and the public about IDEA’s effectiveness,” the document states. “Without these ratings, student recruitment and retention, as well as the resources available to students, could suffer, as parents often rely on accountability metrics to make informed enrollment decisions.”

IDEA Superintendent Jeff Cottrill said families deserve information about their children’s schools.

“Having transparent public ratings provides a level of understanding and creates a sense of urgency to make improvements,” said Cottrill, who previously served as a senior official at the Texas Education Agency.

Grades are largely based on student performance on STAAR tests. This is the second year in a row that some districts have filed lawsuits to block the release of accountability grades.

The IDEA network earned a B grade for the 2021-22 school year. Its officials expect a decline in the percentage of top-rated campuses, but said it’s important for families to have access to a standardized system for comparing schools. This is especially vital for charter schools, they argue.

IDEA has nine schools in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Charter schools are public schools run by independent operators. They are not required to follow many of the state laws that apply to traditional school districts.

Families must opt ​​for charter schools because the campuses do not have the same geographic boundaries as traditional districts. The lack of state ratings, the lawsuit argues, eliminates a comparison tool for parents looking for options.

“The AF system’s influence on charter schools extends beyond public perception; it is intrinsically tied to their ability to survive and grow within the educational landscape,” the filing states. “Accordingly, any legal determination regarding the AF system disproportionately affects charter schools.”

IDEA has 125 schools across the state.

The charter school network was placed under state receivership earlier this year following an investigation into financial irregularities dating back years.

Charter leaders argue that the absence of AF ratings could hurt the network financially. Without performance ratings, they say their credibility is undermined when seeking grants, donations and other sources of funding.

The current lawsuit halting accountability grades alleges that the grades released by the state would be invalid because they are based on flawed STAAR test results. The suit questions the use of computers to grade students’ essays on the assessment. A large number of students earned zeros on the essays last year.

The lawsuit was filed by the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah, Crandall, Forney, Fort Stockton and Kingsville independent school districts.

“During the 2023-24 school year, the Commissioner radically changed the way the new STAAR test is administered by replacing human graders with AI grading,” the lawsuit states. “This change was made without any assurance that this radical change would not affect the validity and reliability of the new STAAR test.”

Education Commissioner Mike Morath lamented the legal battle and defended both the validity of the Texas State Assessments of Academic Readiness and the broader AF system.

The state rates schools in three main categories: student achievement, student progress and closing gaps. For high schools, it also considers graduation rates and other metrics.

This year was supposed to be the first time since the pandemic that schools could officially grade failing grades.

In the 2022 release, those who would have earned the lowest grades (a D or F grade) were listed as “not qualified,” in recognition of the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on students.

The districts also sued the state last year over a revised formula for grading campuses, alleging that Morath had not given them sufficient notice about what measures, methods and procedures would apply to their new grades. District leaders predicted declines in their grades under the new rules.

According to estimates released by a handful of districts this year, these concerns appear to have been confirmed.

Despite the temporary restraining order, some district officials are releasing their best estimates of how schools would fare under the AF system, saying it’s important to be transparent with families.

For example, Dallas school leaders announced they expect a C grade for the district, down from the B it earned in 2021-22.

Both Dallas ISD and Garland ISD estimated that dozens more campuses would earn D or F grades this year, compared to those that were not graded the last time grades were released.

IDEA leaders have not yet released projections for each campus, but plan to do so early next week. In a news release, officials projected that 63% of schools will earn an A or B; 20% will earn a C; while 13% will receive a D. About 4% are expected to earn an F.

An overall B is expected for the network.

“We are focused on a strong, strategic approach this school year to increase the number of A and B schools by eliminating our D and F schools,” charter school officials wrote in the news release.

The DMN Education Lab deepens coverage and conversation on pressing education issues that are critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative supported by Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of Education Lab journalism.