Most Valley schools receive state accreditation

I find it interesting that this article is using the accreditation labels from H.B. 3/ S.B. 3, which are different than those currently in statute. This just five days after the HB 3 was made public.

-Patricia

Jennifer L. Berghom | The Monitor
March 10, 2009

AUSTIN — Almost all 42 public school districts throughout the Rio Grande Valley and Webb, Zapata and Jim Hogg counties are performing to state standards with no problems.

The Texas Education Agency released its state accreditation statuses for the 2008-2009 school year Tuesday, which rates how well school districts are performing academically as well as financially. This is the second year the agency has compiled the list and the first year it included charter schools.

Ratings are: accredited, accredited-warned, accredited-probation and not accredited-revoked.

Rio Hondo school district is accredited-warned because it received substandard ratings two years in a row from the state's Financial Integrity Rating System, which measures how well school districts handle the public's money.

Edcouch-Elsa school district's status is pending because of the state's ongoing investigation of the school system's finances.

The Texas Education Agency assigned a conservator to review Edcouch-Elsa's financial situation after it was discovered the district had been hiring more employees than necessary and was more than $10 million in debt.

Both districts were accredited last year, according to the agency.

Districts that fail to meet standards will no longer be recognized as public school districts, meaning charter schools could be closed and traditional public school districts could be consolidated under neighboring school systems, according to the agency.