11 Collin County school districts receive Recognized or higher TEA ratings

by Bill Baumbach of The Collin County Observer

Friday, the Texas Education Agency released the 2009 academic ratings for all schools and school districts in Texas.

How did Collin County's districts fair?

Of the 14 school districts in Collin County, only one, Lovejoy ISD, was given the highest rating -- "exemplary."

Ten received an "recognized" rating, which is the next highest. The Dallas Morning News reports that Allen ISD, which was scored as "recognized," narrowly missed earning the coveted "exemplary" rating.

Three school districts, including the two largest (Plano and McKinney) were rated as only "acceptable." Also scored as "acceptable" was the Anna ISD. All three school districts have managed to stay in the lower rated "acceptable" class for the last three years, despite the fact that McKinney and Anna citizens pay some of the highest school property taxes in the county.

Solid gains were realized by the Blue Ridge, Community, Farmersville, and Wylie school districts. These three improved their grades -- earning "recognized" ratings in 2009, while having been rated as only "acceptable" in 2007 and 2008.

While no districts in the county were given an "unacceptable" score, two schools were. Plano's Armstrong Middle School and McKinney High School both earned "unacceptable" grades.

According to an article in the Dallas Morning News' McKinney Blog, McKinney High lost its "acceptable" rating due to the poor graduation rates for Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students.

McKinney ISD officials have said that the low rating given to MHS would be appealed. They blamed the low scores on clerical mistakes by school officials. An MISD press release quoted Superintendent Tom Crowe as saying, "The teachers and administrators of MHS have worked very hard to maintain high academic standards and have seen the fruits of their labors through the improved academic performance campus-wide ... It is a real shame that one indicator has caused this rating."

In explaining that MISD would appeal to the TEA, Crowe said, "As a district and campus we bear the responsibility for improving the process of coding students properly when they transfer out of the district, move out of state, pursue a GED, or begin home-schooling. But it is imperative that when judging the quality of education at a school the other factors are considered. In this case, they are close to achieving 'recognized' status, but will be labeled 'unacceptable' until we have the opportunity to appeal the designation."

Crowe's protests sound suspiciously similar to the complaints MISD made in 2007 when the AP and Johns Hopkins University listed McKinney North High School as one of the nation's "dropout factories." Once again, MISD blamed transfer student statistics for the dubious distinction. In 2007, MISD called the university's methodology a "joke." At least this time, they blamed themselves.

Anna ISD is a rural district without the high property valuations of most other school districts in the county. Anna ISD taxpayers pay one of the highest tax rates in the county, but they still cannot seem to advance past an "acceptable" rating. The same cannot be said for the Plano school district. Plano's taxpayers pay one of the lowest tax rates in Collin County. Perhaps if the citizens of Plano want to return to the days when people actually moved to Plano for the excellent schools, they will consider investing in those schools.

Lovejoy ISD is the polar opposite of Anna. Although their taxpayers pay a similar rate as Ann's do, the Lovejoy ISD contains some of the per capita highest valued residential property in the region. The citizens' investment in Lovejoy has paid off. Although it is the smallest district, it is the only one to consistently be rated "exemplary," the state's highest rating.

The most tax efficient district in the county has to be Farmersville ISD. Like Anna, Farmersville is mostly rural farm land. Yet their children are educated in a district rated as "recognized," while their parents pay the lowest school taxes in the county.

The highest school taxes are paid by the citizens of Prosper ISD. A few years ago, PISD invested heavily in building for future growth. While some of that growth has been realized, the economic downturn does not bode well for any immediate tax relief for Prosper ISD.

Data from the Texas Education Agency and the Collin County Central Appraisal District