The 15th Texas Court of Appeals (COA) has thrown out injunctions that had blocked the Texas Education Agency from releasing school accountability ratings for the 2023-24 school year. The TEA is expected to release the ratings Aug. 15.

“It is time for local courts to stop obstructing those policies,” Chief Justice Scott Brister wrote in the July 3 order in Case No. 15-24-00101-CV that was appealed from 201st District Court in Travis County.

Several school districts sued TEA Commissioner Mike Morath last year, alleging the A-F grades were based on flawed standardized testing by the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests. One of the issues was that computers were used to score the tests.

“For three years, A to F school ratings were not released because of the pandemic, but for the last two years they have not been released because of the courts,” the 15th COA said. “Millions of dollars and thousands of hours of work by teachers, administrators, and experts have been invested in creating the A to F ratings system; courts can decide only whether it is legal, not whether it is wise or fair, much less commandeer the job of running it.”

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By Bob Wieland| [email protected]