FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Aug. 15, 2025
Contact: Nicole Hill, press@texasaft.org
Additional school districts pushed closer to state takeover
AUSTIN, Texas — Today, the Texas Education Agency released 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 STAAR test results for districts and campuses across the state. This marks the third release of A-F ratings in just one calendar year, following the delayed release of 2022-23 results in April after extended litigation with a group of Texas school districts. The use of artificial intelligence to score STAAR tests has already forced Dallas ISD to request a human rescore for thousands of exams, and all three sets of A-F ratings were awarded based on new, controversial standards instituted by TEA Commissioner Mike Morath. Texas AFT has consistently criticized the new standards as an arbitrary change not intended to help students grow and succeed but rather to further state leaders’ mission to dismantle Texas public education.
“Texas educators want our students to succeed. We want to be able to measure their success, and we want to watch them grow. What we don’t want is endless high-stakes testing and an arbitrary system that aims to punish students, not foster their growth,” said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. “Just as students’ growth can’t be captured by one day of high-stakes testing, a school’s A-F rating cannot encapsulate everything a school offers its students. Teachers and parents will continue to demand an end to this deeply unpopular test.”
After the last set of scores were released, the new standards dropped 16 campuses in Austin ISD from a B to an F virtually overnight. Schools and districts that receive a failing grade in consecutive years are subject to consequences ranging from turnaround plans, outsourcing campuses to charter organizations, and ultimately state takeover. Fort Worth ISD is currently at risk of state takeover, with Commissioner Morath telling a legislative committee last week that “sometimes the least invasive thing that does the most good for the kids is a board of managers.” Meanwhile, his state-appointed superintendent in Houston ISD boosted the district’s STAAR results by holding students back and funneling them into less rigorous coursework.
###
The Texas American Federation of Teachers represents 66,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.8 million-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.