Latest news with #15thCourtofAppeals
Associated Press
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
State appeals court strikes down Austin's marijuana decriminalization ordinance
A Texas appeals court ruled Thursday that the city of Austin cannot enforce its law that prohibits police from citing and arresting people for carrying a small amount of marijuana. This is the second time this month that the appeals court has ruled in favor of the state against ordinances that decriminalize marijuana. The state's 15th Court of Appeals overturned the decision by Travis County District Judge Jan Soifer, who had dismissed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit against Austin last year, ruling that there was no legal justification to try the case. The court determined the city law 'abused its discretion' by putting up any barrier to the full enforcement of drug-related laws. Last week, this same court overturned a lower court ruling that denied a temporary injunction to prevent the city of San Marcos from enforcing its voter-approved ordinance to decriminalize marijuana because it conflicts with current state law. 'Consistent with the City of San Marcos, we conclude that the ordinance in this case is also preempted by state law,' according to the ruling about Austin's ordinance penned by Judge Scott Field. This is another blow to the progressive drug movement that swept into various cities across the state. Austin Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes called the ruling another example of the state stepping on local decisions. 'This court ruling is a huge letdown. Austin voters made their voices loud and clear in 2022, and instead of respecting that, the State has chosen to ignore their will,' Fuentes said. The background Austin voters approved a proposition in May 2022 to allow the possession of 4 ounces or less of marijuana. Police already weren't arresting people for low-level possession, in part because it was difficult to differentiate marijuana from hemp, which was legalized in 2019. Voters in four other cities — San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton — also approved policies policies that would end arrests and citations for possession of less than four ounces of marijuana. An initiative spearheaded by Ground Game Texas — the progressive group that first launched the proposition in Austin — worked with local organizations in the other cities and succeeded in pushing for similar policies to appear on the ballots. Why Texas sued Paxton filed the suit in 2024, alleging Austin was violating state law and promoting 'the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities.' He filed similar suits against San Marcos, Killeen, Denton and Elgin, which also decriminalized pot. Paxton argues the Texas Local Government Code forbids them from adopting policies that would result in not fully enforcing drug-related laws. Paxton is seeking to repeal the city's ordinances and make them enforce state law. What has happened in the courts so far Hays County District Judge Sherri Tibbe dismissed Paxton's lawsuit, upholding the argument that the state was not injured when San Marcos reduced arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession and that it allowed for resources to be used for higher-priority public safety needs. The Office of the Attorney General appealed this decision. In February, the case was assigned to the 15th Court of Appeals, where the state's attorneys argued that the San Marcos ordinance obstructed the enforcement of state drug laws. The city argued the policy was voter-driven, but the court disagreed, granting the temporary injunction while litigation continues. Travis County District Judge Jan Soifer dismissed Paxton's lawsuit against Austin last year, ruling there was no legal justification to try the case. Both Tibbe and Soifer's rulings have now been overturned by the 15th Court of Appeals. This puts the fate of the ordinances in doubt and some cities have already given up on trying to fight the state. Paxton's lawsuit against Elgin was resolved last summer via consent decree, meaning neither side is claiming guilt or liability but has come to an agreement. In the North Texas suburb of Denton, where voters approved decriminalization by more than 70%, the implementation of marijuana decriminalization has stalled after City Manager Sara Hensley argued it couldn't be enforced since it conflicted with state law. The case against Killeen, which was filed in Bell County a year ago, is still pending. Broader impact The future of THC products in Texas is uncertain. Currently, lawmakers are debating Senate Bill 3, which would ban any consumable hemp products that contain even trace amounts of THC, as well as House Bill 28, which would ban synthetic THC and products like gummies and vapes. The House's proposal focuses more on tightening regulatory loopholes, allowing hemp-infused beverages and assigning the alcohol industry to regulate those products. HB 28 would also limiting the consumption of such products to those 21 years or older and implement advertising regulations. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he would move to force a special legislative session if lawmakers fail to pass the ban during the current session which ends June 2. 'Kids are getting poisoned today,' Patrick told the Senate earlier this year. Earlier this week, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 1870 that would ban any local entity from putting a drug decriminalization ordinance on the ballot for approval. The House will take up the bill next. ___ This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas school districts got their first A-F grades in five years. See how your school did here.
Texas released long-awaited grades for school districts on Thursday. It's the first time scores for underperforming schools have been made public in five years. Under the state's school rating system, all districts and campuses got a letter grade for the 2022-23 school year. Of the nearly 1,200 districts evaluated in the state, 10.4% got an A, 73% got a B or a C, and 16.6% got a D or an F. Fort Worth ISD is at risk of shutting down a school or facing a state takeover because of failing grades. The 2022-23 school year ratings had been held up in courts after several districts sued the state to challenge changes to rating standards. But the 15th Court of Appeals earlier this month cleared the Texas Education Agency to release the ratings, ruling Commissioner Mike Morath had the authority to make those changes. TEA still cannot release the ratings for the 2023-24 school year because of a separate lawsuit. Before then, schools went without ratings for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They got partial ratings for the 2021-22 school year. Public education advocates celebrated the release of the ratings, which they say can help parents see how successful their local school districts are, businesses decide which communities to invest in and school boards identify areas for growth. Critics of the A-F system say it harms districts that serve poor communities, which are more likely to get failing grades and face state sanctions for them. Districts and each of their campuses are graded on an A-F scale based on three categories: Student achievement: How well their students perform on state standardized tests and whether they are ready for college and careers. The state imposed higher standards to get an A under the new rules. School progress: How much students are improving on state tests Closing the gaps: How well schools are boosting scores for specific groups of children like as students with special needs and English language learners Each category is weighted differently. Seventy percent of the overall grade comes from the better score between the 'student achievement' and 'school progress' categories; the remaining 30% is based on the 'closing the gaps' category. Search for your district or school to see how they did below: Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
TEA 2023 ratings to be out soon
Apr. 8—The Texas Education Agency on April 8 issued a communication to tell school systems about the planned public posting of the 2023 A — F Academic Accountability Ratings, following the recent judicial ruling by the 15th Court of Appeals. The release of accountability ratings for 2024 are pending a separate judicial ruling, the communication said. The 2023 district-level and campus ratings will be available to school systems in the TEA Login (TEAL) Accountability application on April17 and publicly available and accessible on April 24. While school leaders have been able to access underlying data subsets in TEAL since Nov. 16, 2023, to make timely and necessary decisions that support strong student outcomes, both school systems and the public, including parents and community members, will finally have access to scale scores and A-F ratings, the communication said. will also report the 2022 What If Overall scale scores and ratings publicly for the first time. The 2022 What If ratings do not replace the final 2022 A — F ratings; instead, they are provided for reference. The 2022 What If and 2023 A-F ratings reflect the standards outlined in the 2023 Accountability Manual. School systems also can refer to additional resources for further background about 2023 accountability at the 2023 Accountability Development webpage.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
TEA can now release 2023 A-F accountability ratings
AUSTIN (KXAN) – On Thursday, a judge with Texas' 15th Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) can now release its 2023 A-F school accountability ratings. 'A through F is a bill I championed when I was in the senate, I championed when I was the chair of public education and have championed as Lt. Governor,' said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. 'Before A through F, in districts and schools, parents did not know what the result of their school was in terms of how it graded out.' The A-F ratings are based on multiple factors including graduation rates, the number of college, career, military-ready students and State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) results. In 2023, the state announced the system would change, making it more difficult for schools to reach certain benchmarks to get good ratings. Under the newest methods of the A-F accountability rating, many high schools would need higher graduation rates and more students to be considered college, military and career-ready, or CCMR, to maintain their campus scores. The previous scales would have given a campus an A if 60% of its students were college, career and military-ready. However, under the new metrics or 'cut points,' a campus would need 88% of its students to be college, career and military-ready to get an A score. More than 100 school districts pushed back and joined a lawsuit against the TEA, hoping to stop the release of the 2023 performance ratings. Texas judge orders state not to release A-F school ratings after districts sue The districts argued that they did not have enough notice before introducing the new standards. 'This is one of the best tools to create competition and excellence and it is very interesting, even though there have been these lawsuits stopping the ratings from becoming public, superintendents and principals who had A and B schools and districts were very proud to leak them,' Patrick said. KXAN reached out to Rep. James Talarico who weighed in on Thursday's announcement. 'Greg Abbott has spent the last few years trying to discredit our neighborhood public schools so he can defund them with a private school voucher scam,' Talarico said. 'I'm deeply concerned our accountability system is being weaponized to undermine public education.' There is another lawsuit involving the 2024 ratings, which is still waiting a decision from the same appeals court. KXAN reached out to the TEA for comment. 'This ruling is an important victory and restores a transparent lens into 2023 district and campus performance,' said TEA spokesperson Jake Kobersky. 'Yet, there is still a second lawsuit that denies parents and the public access to 2024 accountability ratings. TEA remains hopeful that the best interests of students, families and communities will prevail in this second suit and will share additional information on the issuance of 2023 A-F ratings soon.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas Education Agency can release schools' 2023 performance ratings, appeals court rules
A state appeals court has ruled the Texas Education Agency can release its 2023 ratings of the state's school districts, overturning a previous injunction in a legal battle that has stretched 19 months. The 15th Court of Appeals argued that TEA Commissioner Mike Morath did not overstep his authority when he changed the metrics that help determine schools' performance ratings. A separate lawsuit over 2024 ratings is still waiting a decision from the same appeals court. Families have had five years without a complete set of school ratings. Texas schools and districts did not get ratings in 2020 or 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And in 2022, struggling schools set to get a D or an F got extra relief: State lawmakers that year directed TEA to forgo ratings and spare them from any sanctions so they could recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's what you need to know: The background: How Texas school districts should be graded for their performance has been a contention point for the last two years. The state announced in 2023 that schools would need to meet stricter benchmarks to get a good rating on its accountability system, which grades them on an A-F scale. High schools can now only get an A if 88% of their seniors enrolled in college, pursued a non-college career or entered the military. That benchmark used to be at 60%. The state says stricter benchmarks will mean schools will be required to better prepare students for life after high school. And while Texas school districts generally agree with the goal, they argue that the state is moving the needle too fast. The ratings that public schools receive are also in part based on how their students do on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, an annual statewide standardized test that measures students' understanding of state-mandated core curriculum. Texas legislators required the TEA to redesign the STAAR test by 2023 so it could be administered almost entirely online and wouldn't have so many multiple choice questions. Following the redesign, the TEA moved to use computers to grade students' written answers for the first time this year. Why Texas schools sued the first time: More than 120 school districts sought to block the release of 2023 performance ratings, arguing that the TEA had not given them enough notice before introducing stricter college readiness standards. The ratings were held after a Travis County judge court had sided with the districts. But the 15th Court of Appeals overturning that ruling means the agency is free to share school grades. Texas law "requires the Commissioner to solicit input from school boards, administrators, teachers, and parents in establishing and implementing this system. But it also gives him broad discretion that, along with the general immunity from suit provided to all state officials, was intended to keep academic ratings 'out of the courts,'" Chief Justice Scott Brister wrote in the ruling. It was immediately unclear whether the districts will seek an appeal with the state's highest court. Why Texas schools sued a second time: In a second legal battle over the A-F rating system, Texas school district leaders questioned the validity of STAAR results since an automated system started scoring them this year. They say low scores on STAAR's reading section are because of the new grading tool, not necessarily because of students' skills or teachers' performance. As a result, school district leaders contend, the STAAR test cannot be trusted to produce fair grades of school districts' performance. They say TEA needs to get a third party to review the test. 'The STAAR test itself, the changes were fairly radical this time around,' said Nick Maddox, an attorney representing the school districts. 'The trend for all school districts is that scores have decreased fairly significantly. We believe that the issue is this test itself.' Why the A-F accountability system matters: Each school district and school is graded on an A-F scale every year based on their students' standardized test scores and academic growth. The TEA also looks at their progress on closing racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps. Parents rely on the rating system to see how successful school districts are in preparing their children and to decide where to enroll their kids. For schools, a bad grade could mean big consequences. If a failing score leads to families leaving the district, that means less money for the school since state funding is tied to student attendance. Consecutive years with a failing grade could trigger a state takeover, like the one at Houston ISD. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at Which Texas public schools are meeting state standards? Here's how you can learn more Here's where Texas school district lawsuit to delay release of A-F school ratings stands This Corpus Christi ISD school was feted for AP achievement. How do other schools compare? A head start in life: How students can work toward degrees in Corpus Christi high schools This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Court: TEA can release schools' 2023 performance ratings
