Taylor, Granger ISDs say more work is needed
It’s a gold star for some and back to the drawing board for other local school districts after the Texas Education Agency this week released the latest A-F accountability ratings.
The state agency posted both the 2025 grades and the delayed 2024 ratings for public school systems and campuses, with the latter held up by a legal challenge from 120 school districts.
For the 2024 rating, the Taylor Independent School District received a D covering the 2022-23 school year, but with the most recent score the system improved a letter grade to a C.
“Taylor ISD has shown measurable growth,” Superintendent Jennifer Garcia-Edwardsen said in a prepared statement.
The TEA data showed that every Taylor ISD campus improved academically.
“This progress is encouraging and reflects the hard work and dedication of our students, teachers, staff and families,” Garcia-Edwardsen said.
The Thrall Independent School District is the highest rated in the area with an A for the most recent ranking.
Abigail Gola, academic dean of Thrall ISD, thanked staff and students for their hard work and dedication.
“We already know we have exemplary staff and students, but this just highlights all of their accomplishments,” Gola said.
Thrall ISD also received Distinction Designations for all of its campuses, which means parents want to move to the area so their children can enroll, educators said.
The Granger Independent School District is the lowestranked school in the area. The district received a D in the latest assessment from the state.
Granger has also seen other setbacks at the start of the new school year, including not being able to open a new high school due to problems with a water line.
“It kills me…if you think about the work everyone put in to make sure we did great things (and this is the grade we get),” Superintendent Stephen Brosch said.
During the Aug. 13 board meeting, Brosch told trustees he had expected the D from TEA, adding the district has already been in talks for the last six months about how to make improvements.
“We’ve got to take this to the next level,” Brosch said.
While Brosch wants to close educational gaps by increasing the number of students meeting and mastering academic skills, he noted the district does “a lot of cool things other than (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) tests that show our kids are successful.”
He noted Granger ISD has always done well “getting our students over the finish line. They graduate with a diploma in hand.”
Brosch and Garcia-Edwardsen said more work is ahead for their districts and more improvements are expected.
“We’re proud of how far we’ve come and we’re just as focused on where we are going,” Garcia-Edwardsen said.
Some local educators also questioned the ratings, saying TEA made last-minute changes to its system that caused the grades of many schools to drop.
Lawsuits were filed in both 2023 and 2024 to prevent the release of the 2022-23 scores, which were finally made available in April after a judge’s ruling.
TEA officials, however, said the ratings give parents and community members a snapshot of how their schools are doing.
“Today marks a return to clarity and accountability. With the release of the 2025 A–F Ratings, we are reinforcing our commitment to transparency and to providing accurate, readily available information that helps every family understand how their school is doing,” said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath in a prepared statement.
In Texas, 1,208 districts and 9,084 campuses received grades for 2025.
Contrasted with 2024 ratings, 24% of districts and 31% of campuses improved their letter grade.
Officials said 15% saw their grades decline.
The state measures the scores based on several metrics for student achievement, including performance on the STAAR test.
Created in 2017 by state House Bill 22, it underwent major changes in 2023.
To see the 2025 A-F rankings, visit Txschools.gov.
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“We’re proud of how far we’ve come and we’re just as focused on where we are going.”
— Jennifer Garcia-Edwardsen Taylor Independent School District
