Two weeks ago, the Committee on the Delivery of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Texas Legislature heard testimony on an important bill that may have flown under your radar.
House Bill 5571 by Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos would instruct the Sunset Advisory Commission, starting in 2026 and every three years after that, to conduct a comprehensive audit of all institutional functions, programs, and operations of contracts, grants, and administration at the Texas Education Agency relating to its administration and oversight of open-enrollment charter schools.
This is vital legislation and a true measure to restore efficiency and accountability to state education policy, given the documented financial mismanagement and scandals in the state’s privately run, publicly funded secondary education system. Texas AFT’s Patty Quinzi testified in favor of the legislation and answered questions from supportive lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The bill arrives at an interesting moment, on the heels of the release of TEA’s A-F ratings for the 2023-2023 school year. Public schools have already been raked over the coals for expected score declines after TEA’s shifting of the goalposts, but what about the state’s charter schools? Let’s take a look.
The following is a guest post from Maggie Stern, the director of Community Engagement at Our Schools Our Democracy (OSOD). It was originally published on OSOD’s website.
TEA fought for months to release 2022-2023 school accountability ratings. So why isn’t the state holding charter schools accountable for consistently poor scores?
The Texas school accountability system is deeply unpopular and for good reason: one day of high-stakes STAAR testing can’t possibly reflect the inherent potential of our students, the hard work of our teachers, or the bigger story of our schools. Yet state leadership uses school ratings to justify taking over school districts and pushing private school vouchers.
But if the commissioner of education really wants to use state ratings as a measure of success, let’s talk about charter schools.
Charter schools consistently underperform public school districts statewide. In 2023, charter schools had more than 15 times the percentage of F-rated districts compared to public school districts and almost double the percentage of F-rated campuses. Our recent report on 30 years of failed charter school policy found that charters had six times the percentage of D- and F-rated districts in 2022. Public school districts have also outperformed charter schools on statewide STAAR performance for All Students/All Subjects for the past 20 years.
The state paid nearly $1 billion to D- and F-rated charter schools in 2022-2023. Meanwhile, the governor and lieutenant governor continue to hold public school funding hostage while championing private school vouchers and unlimited charter school expansion. Our students and our schools pay the price as this coordinated campaign to weaken our public schools has led to steep budget cuts statewide.
The charter industry often plays by different rules for different schools. It’s time for parents and policymakers to hold charter schools accountable for consistent underperformance.