The Texas Education Agency (TEA) adopts amendments to §§97.1055, 97.1057, 97.1059, 97.1072, and 97.1073, concerning accreditation status, standards, and sanctions. The amendments are adopted without changes to the proposed text as published in the October 8, 2021 issue of the Texas Register (46 TexReg 6658) and will not be republished. The adopted amendments modify the rules to clarify the applicability of a district's last issued accreditation status during years in which a district's accreditation status is withheld pending completion of an appeal or review and to indicate which academic accountability ratings and accreditation statuses are consecutive as a result of the learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The adopted amendments also implement Senate Bill (SB) 1365, 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, by reflecting changes related to the Not Rated accountability rating and updating statutory references.

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.

The adopted amendment to §97.1055 adds new subsection (a)(8) to clarify that when a district's accreditation status is withheld pending completion of an appeal or review, the district's last issued accreditation status remains in effect until otherwise finalized or changed. The subsequent paragraphs were renumbered due to the addition of new subsection (a)(8).

Due to the learning disruptions caused by the extraordinary public health and safety circumstances related to COVID-19, academic accountability ratings were not issued for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. The adopted amendment to §97.1055 amends renumbered subsection (a)(10) to clarify that the academic accountability ratings issued for the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 school years are consecutive when determining multiple years of academically unacceptable or insufficient performance for the purposes of accreditation. In addition, renumbered subsection (a)(12) was amended to clarify that accreditation statuses issued for the 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 school years are consecutive.

Due to the passage of SB 1365, 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, the adopted amendment to §97.1055 incorporates the accountability label of Not Rated as it relates to the commissioner's authority to withhold the assignment of an accreditation status or withdraw a previously issued accreditation status. Previously, only the label of Not Rated-Data Integrity was specified in this section. SB 1365 enables the commissioner to assign an accountability rating of Not Rated for reasons inclusive of but not limited to data integrity. The adopted amendment to renumbered subsections (a)(13) and (14) reflects this change and clarifies that when a rating of Not Rated or similar rating is issued to a school district, 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 amendments to §§97.1055, 97.1057, 97.1059, and 97.1073 update statutory references to align with SB 1365, 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, which recodified TEC, Chapter 39, §39.057, into TEC, Chapter 39, §39.003, and changed "Special Accreditation Investigation" to "Special Investigation." In addition, the adopted amendments to §97.1059 and §97.1072 update the title of 19 TAC §97.1071.

SUMMARY OF COMMENTS AND AGENCY RESPONSES: The public comment period on the proposal began October 8, 2021, and ended November 8, 2021. No public comments were received.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY. The amendments are adopted under Texas Education Code (TEC), §39.051, which requires the commissioner to determine accreditation statuses; TEC, §39.052, which establishes the requirements for the commissioner to consider when determining accreditation statuses; and TEC §39.054(a-5), as added by Senate Bill 1365, 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, which states that when a "not rated" rating is issued, the "not rated" rating is not included in the count of consecutive unacceptable ratings and is also not considered to be a break in the count of consecutive unacceptable ratings.

CROSS REFERENCE TO STATUTE. The amendments implement Texas Education Code, TEC, §§39.051, 39.052, and 39.054(a-5).