Section III Accreditation

The assignment of district and charter school accreditation statuses is authorized by Texas Education Code (TEC), Chapter 39, Public School System Accountability, and 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC), Chapter 97, Planning and Accountability, Subchapter EE, Accreditation Status, Standards, and Sanctions. The rules define the accreditation statuses of Accredited, Accredited-Warned, Accredited-Probation, and Not Accredited-Revoked and describe how accreditation statuses are determined and assigned.

These rules may be viewed at the Texas Administrative Code link available at https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/ch097ee.pdf, and additional information regarding the assignment of accreditation statuses to districts and charter schools can be found on the Accreditation Status homepage of the Texas Education Agency (TEA or agency) website at http://tea.texas.gov/accredstatus/.

Recognizing the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and the unique challenges schools faced during the past school year, the agency did not issue A–F accountability ratings for the 2020–2021 school year. Pursuant to 19 TAC §97.1055(a)(13) when a rating of Not Rated or similar rating is issued to a school district, the commissioner of education (Commissioner) may withhold the assignment of an accreditation status. The Commissioner has decided not to assign accreditation statuses until the 2022-2023 school year under the authority of 19 TAC §97.1055. For purposes of determining multiple years of academically unacceptable or insufficient performance, the academic accountability ratings issued for the 2018-2019 school year and the 2021-2022 school year are consecutive. 19 TAC §97.1055(a)(10). In addition, the accreditation statuses issued for the 2019-2020 school year and for the 2022-2023 school year are consecutive, per 19 TAC §97.1055(a)(12).

Districts, including charter schools, that would have been assigned a status of Accredited-Warned, Accredited-Probation, or Not Accredited-Revoked for the 2021-2022 school year due to the ratings assigned to the district in the state’s financial accountability system will receive separate correspondence from the TEA detailing required next steps.

We appreciate the ongoing support of districts during the COVID-19 public health crisis. If you have questions, please contact the Division of Accreditation and Enforcement at (512) 463-5899 or via e-mail at accred@tea.texas.gov.

Sincerely,

Jeff Cottrill

Deputy Commissioner of Governance & Accountability