October 15, 2024 — William Brewer III writes in today’s Dallas Morning News opinion section that Texas school accountability ratings should be released, and shares that the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP) intervened in a court case in support of doing so.
The text of the piece follows:
The “Texas miracle” is an often-told tale of unbridled economic expansion and explosive population growth.
But as new residents flock to our state — an estimated 470,000 last year — many public schools in Texas are failing to adequately educate the children already here. It is no “miracle” when most of Texas students attending public school did not meet grade level on the state STAAR exam last year, including 64% of Black children, 58% of Hispanic children and 62% of economically disadvantaged students who did not, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Unfortunately, rather than a united determination to fix the situation, battle lines are emerging in the community — and in the courtroom. A monumental fight is taking place in state court that will determine whether parents can easily access information evaluating the student performance at schools that their children attend. Incredibly, the answer from a Travis County judge may be “No,” as she recently blocked the release of such data after five school districts sued Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.
School and district ratings should be released, for the sake of transparency and accountability. Doing so represents the first step in addressing the state’s educational crisis. Such information informs educational choices parents make for their children. Information is power, and the effort to suppress it is a detriment to educational progress and the future generations of our state.
That’s why the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program, which supports students from a dozen Dallas ISD schools, is among the parties that intervened in the case in support of releasing school ratings. Programs like the FLP, parents and community stakeholders need to access such information and use it to empower them to make critical educational decisions.
School districts are taking divergent paths in the legal action over the release of Texas public school accountability ratings, with some districts, such as Dallas ISD, voluntarily releasing their projected ratings.
Texas has more than 1,200 school districts, and yet just 33 districts that have now joined the lawsuit are blocking the release of ratings for all districts.
Of those school districts, 27 performed worse than the state average when it comes to students meeting grade level in 2023, according to TEA data on STAAR performance by school district. While scrutiny often focuses on large urban school districts such as Houston and Dallas, the plaintiff districts in the lawsuit demonstrate that many rural districts and exurb communities are struggling and failing to adequately educate children.
For example, in 2023, Kingsville ISD enrolled 2,694 children and only 27% met grade level on the STAAR exam across all grade levels and subjects tested.
We must invest in public schools and commit to making them better. They are part of the fabric of our state and will always remain so. In 1876, the Texas Constitution wisely declared that it was the duty of the state Legislature to support and maintain “an efficient system of public free schools” given the essential role of a “general diffusion of knowledge.” We must resist the urge to turn the accountability case into a referendum on vouchers.
The immediate impulse may be to penalize these failing districts. Instead, let’s talk about solutions: schools need adequate funding to address challenges to student achievement.
Many studies report that Texas is not funding its public schools adequately. An August 2024 report by Rice University’s Kinder Institute found that 73% of Texas public schools are underfunded and that districts with the larger funding gaps tend to have the lowest student achievement ratings from the TEA. The report concluded that “severely underfunded” school districts were “strongly associated” with ratings of “C” or worse. The correlation comes as no surprise.
Let’s consider the findings of the accountability ratings a galvanizing force. Within every district, we should promote transparency, address academic and financial shortcomings, and share best practices, all benefits of the ratings process. Only then can we live up to our larger-than-life story of the Texas miracle.
William A. Brewer III is managing partner of the Brewer Storefront and founder of the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program. Katherine Leal Unmuth contributed to this article.
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