The Texas Education Agency (TEA) adopts an amendment to §97.1055, concerning accreditation status. The amendment is adopted without changes to the proposed text as published in the November 13, 2020 issue of the Texas Register (45 TexReg 8091) and will not be republished. The adopted amendment modifies the rule to indicate that TEA will not issue accreditation statuses in the 2020-2021 academic year due to the lack of accountability ratings for the prior academic year and that, for purposes of issuing lowered accreditation statuses based on consecutive years of performance, the 2019 and the 2021 academic accountability ratings are consecutive.

REASONED JUSTIFICATION: Section 97.1055(a)(1) requires the commissioner to annually assign each school district an accreditation status. Subsections (a)(1)(A) and (b)-(e) set forth the requirements a school district must meet each school year to receive the status of Accredited and states how the accreditation statuses of Accredited-Warned, Accredited-Probation, and Not Accredited-Revoked are determined. In years in which the applicable academic rating cannot be issued to school districts due to extraordinary public health and safety circumstances, the commissioner does not have both applicable ratings necessary to issue an Accreditation status, as required. Due to extraordinary public health and safety circumstances related to COVID-19 and the closure of schools during the state's testing window, academic accountability ratings were not issued for the 2019-2020 school year. The 2020 rating label issued to all districts and campuses is Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster.

The adopted amendment to §97.1055 amends subsection (a)(9) to clarify that the academic accountability ratings issued for the 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 school years are consecutive when determining multiple years of academically unacceptable or insufficient performance. In addition, subsection (a)(11) is amended to clarify that accreditation statuses issued for the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 school years are consecutive.

The adopted amendment adds new subsection (a)(12) to clarify how a rating of Not Rated-Data Integrity or similar rating is issued to a school district will affect accreditation. When such a rating is issued, the commissioner may withhold or withdraw a previously issued accreditation rating. In the following school year, the commissioner will issue an accreditation rating based on the applicable school years.

The adopted amendment also adds new subsection (a)(13) to clarify that when there is a rating in only the financial accountability rating system or the academic accountability rating system, the commissioner may elect whether to consider the available rating when assigning a future accreditation status. This will allow the commissioner flexibility to determine the proper accreditation status when the district has a chain of failures in both accountability systems and breaks the chain when only one rating is available.

SUMMARY OF COMMENTS AND AGENCY RESPONSES: The public comment period on the proposal began November 13, 2020, and ended December 14, 2020. Following is a summary of the public comments received and corresponding responses.

Comment: Sixteen individuals commented that TEA should not issue academic ratings for schools and teachers after how the 2019-2020 school year ended and how inconsistent the 2020-2021 school year has started.

Response: This comment is outside the scope of the current rule proposal. Section 97.1055 specifies the criteria the commissioner uses to issue accreditation statuses each year to school districts. The purpose of the amendment is to enable the agency not to assign accreditation statuses for the 2020-2021 school year. Accreditation statuses differ from accountability ratings, which are not issued under the authority of this rule.

Comment: An individual commented that, given the challenges of the 2020-2021 school year, it is not logical to use 2019 and 2021 as consecutive years given the vast difference in circumstances.

Response: The agency disagrees. The amendment to §97.1055 is consistent with previous versions of the rule specific to years during which no academic assessment data was available on which to base accreditation statuses.

Comment: Fifteen individuals commented that the agency should consider cancelling State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®)/end-of-course (EOC) testing for the 2020-2021 school year for safety reasons and reprogram the $125 million used for that testing to support students, educators, and schools. Nine of the individuals also commented that the STAAR®/EOC testing should be diagnostic, not punitive.

Response: This comment is outside the scope of the current rule proposal. Section 97.1055 specifies the criteria the commissioner uses to issue accreditation statuses each year to school districts. The purpose of the amendment is to enable the agency not to assign accreditation statuses for the 2020-2021 school year. Accreditation statuses differ from assessments and accountability ratings, which are not administered or issued, respectively, under the authority of this rule.

Comment: A commenter requested that the agency waive teacher observations, stating that teachers are working hard and doing the best that they can and that they work long hours and are very underpaid. The commenter stated that teachers should not have to worry about being evaluated for something they have no control over.

Response: This comment is outside the scope of the current rule proposal. Section 97.1055 specifies the criteria the commissioner uses to issue accreditation statuses each year to school districts. The purpose of the amendment is to enable the agency not to assign accreditation statuses for the 2020-2021 school year. Teacher observations are not administered under the authority of this rule.

Comment: The Texas School Alliance (TSA) commented that the agency should not consider the academic accountability ratings issued for the 2018-2019 school year and for the 2020-2021 school year to be consecutive because TEA has announced that the agency will not issue A-F accountability ratings for the 2020-2021 school year and will seek waivers of aspects of federal accountability requirements by submitting addendum and amendment requests to the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to address aspects of the federal accountability system.

TSA recommended the agency withdraw the proposed amendment and, if the USDE does not approve of the addendum and amendment requests, then extend the 'Not-rated' label accountability ratings for the 2020-2021 school year.

Response: The agency disagrees. The amendment to §97.1055 is consistent with previous versions of the rule specific to years during which no academic assessment data was available on which to base accreditation statuses. At the time of proposal, it had not yet been determined that the agency would not issue A-F academic accountability ratings for the 2020-2021 school year. The agency may consider this in future rulemaking.

Comment: The Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition (TLEEC) commented that the academic rating for the 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 should not be treated as being consecutive for accreditation purposes because schools have faced entirely different, unanticipated, and unprecedented challenges since March 2020 and over the course of the 2020-2021 school year. TLEEC stated that school administrators have had to navigate frequent changes in TEA guidance for reopening schools, regional surges in COVID-19 cases, drastic declines in student enrollment, and entirely new instructional environments (i.e., in-person, remote, and hybrid). TLEEC further stated that given these immense and immediate challenges, counting this academic school year as consecutive for accountability purposes overlooks the immeasurably different circumstances between the pre-pandemic 2018-2019 school year and the current one and promotes an unfair assessment of schools' accreditation standing.

TLEEC also commented that accountability ratings for years separated by a Not Rated-Data Integrity or similar rating should not be counted as consecutive for accreditation status.

TLEEC also commented that if there is only one rating available (academic or financial) and the commissioner decides to use the one available rating, the newly assigned accreditation status should be no lower than Accredited-Warned until both ratings can be determined. TLEEC stated that a district should not receive a new status of either Accredited-Probation or Not Accredited-Revoked based on incomplete rating information due to being Not Rated-Data Integrity between rating years.

Response: The agency disagrees. The amendment to §97.1055 is consistent with previous versions of the rule specific to years during which no academic assessment data was available on which to base accreditation statuses. Counting years separated by a Not Rated-Data Integrity rating for accreditation statuses enables the agency to prevent school systems from benefiting from data lacking integrity.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY. The amendment is adopted under Texas Education Code (TEC), §39.051, which requires the commissioner to determine accreditation statuses; and TEC, §39.052, which establishes the requirements for the commissioner to consider when determining accreditation statuses.

CROSS REFERENCE TO STATUTE. The amendment implements Texas Education Code, §39.051 and §39.052.