September 5, 2024, Dallas, Texas… The Brewer Foundation on September 5, 2024, filed a petition in intervention (“petition”) on behalf of its Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (“FLP”), seeking the release of the Texas Education Agency (“TEA”) 2024 A-F accountability ratings for school districts and campuses.
On August 12, 2024, a Travis County judge blocked the scheduled release of the school ratings with a temporary restraining order after five school districts (located across West and South Texas) sued Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath in Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District, et al., v. Mike Morath.
The Foundation is represented by the Brewer Storefront – the community service affiliate of the national litigation firm of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors. The petition seeks to dissolve the temporary restraining and prevent a permanent injunction – paving the way for greater accountability in these school districts across Texas.
The FLP is an award-winning public-private partnership that provides academic resources and leadership training to economically disadvantaged students in the Dallas Independent School District. The program maintains relationships with educators across the state, has been recognized by the Texas State Board of Education and Texas Governor’s Office, and advocates for improved educational offerings in Texas and beyond.
“The plaintiff districts are attempting to prevent the release of grades that help educators and parents better understand how their local public schools are performing and how well they are educating children,” says William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer Storefront and founder of the FLP. “We support the call for greater transparency. As we know from our work with FLP students, identifying the opportunities to improve the educational system is the key to addressing educational performance – to the benefit of children and our collective futures.”
According to the petition, only about 53% of students in Texas meet grade level in English language arts and reading, and around 23% of students across all districts in Texas are not even approaching grade level. These numbers are even more drastic when Black and Hispanic student scores are isolated. Across the State, more than 59% of Black students and 54% of Hispanic students fail to read at grade level.
According to the TEA, the ratings are based on three domains: student achievement, school progress, and closing the gaps.
The Storefront has brought numerous successful Section 2 Voting Rights Act cases on behalf of Hispanic and Black voters in Texas, in efforts to ensure that the interests of minority voters – and children – are better represented on elected school boards. The Storefront’s Texas Voting Rights Initiative (TVRI) was founded due to concerns that a lack of diversity and equitable geographic representation on school boards can lead to underfunded schools, school and student achievement gaps, and disenfranchised voters.
Founded in 2001, the FLP is an academic and leadership development program that benefits Dallas Independent School District (DISD) students, ages 12-18, and provides them with year-round academic coursework and leadership training to prepare students for success in college and beyond. The FLP has become a national model to address the “dropout epidemic.”
The petition adds that the Brewer Foundation has a “vested interest” in the availability of the A-F performance ratings so the students in the FLP program and their parents can make “informed school decisions.”
The petition observes that the five plaintiff school districts face considerable challenges with student achievement:
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District in West Texas in 2022-23 enrolled 2,776 students, of whom about 72% were economically disadvantaged and 91% were Hispanic. In 2023, 66% of students did not meet grade level.
Crandall Independent School District outside of Dallas in 2022-23 enrolled 6,003 students of whom about 62% were economically disadvantaged, about 40% were Hispanic, 31% were white and 25% were Black. In 2023, about 60% of students did not meet grade level.
Forney Independent School District outside of Dallas in 2022-23 enrolled 16,211 students, of whom about 43% were economically disadvantaged, 36% of students were Black and 29% were Hispanic. In 2023, about 51% of students did not meet grade level.
Fort Stockton Independent School District in West Texas in 2022-23 enrolled 2,187 students, of whom about 71% were economically disadvantaged and 89% were Hispanic. In 2023, about 65% of students did not meet grade level.
Kingsville Independent School District in South Texas in 2022-23 enrolled 2,694 students, of whom about 83% were economically disadvantaged and 85% were Hispanic. In 2023, about 73% of students did not meet grade level.
The petition seeks dissolution of the temporary restraining order – and denial of plaintiffs’ request for a permanent injunction prohibiting the issuance of accountability ratings for the 2023-24 school year.