AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Education Agency is delaying the release of this year's School Accountability Ratings for about a month to make sure the rankings reflect "appropriate goals" for students.
The A-F system ranks how well Texas schools help students reach learning goals. The TEA was supposed to release its ratings on Sept. 28, but it's holding off.
Manor ISD Superintendent Dr. Robert Sormani said the delay is far from an ideal scenario.
"If we are going to roll this out, it would have been preferable for them to be prepared to give it to us in a timely fashion, so that we can make those plans," Sormani said.
If a school district ranks low enough for a long enough period of time, the State can take over.
Changes to the Accountability System recently sparked controversy. In August, Del Valle ISD was one of seven districts that sued the TEA, claiming that the agency changed its benchmarks after the school year started, so districts would not be not adjust. Now, district leaders say it looks like more schools are not performing well.
"The kids could do better in all aspects and they will end up being a B under the new accountability system, and so from a parent perspective, I look at that. All I see is I went from A to B," Sormani said.
Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina said that as the TEA looks to make more changes, educators should have a seat at the table.
"This is, yet again, the State coming in and trying to say that they're working towards a solution, but not really talking to the people that live what it is to be an educator every single day," Molina said.
What Sormani would like to see is a gap year for refreshing the accountability system. That way, districts can adjust their systems to match what the agency wants.
"Regardless, we're going to teach reading, math and science. We're going to help kids grow," Sormani said.
The TEA said postponing the ratings for another month will allow more time to reexamine the data it uses to calculate school progress.