Testimony by Carrie Griffith
Delivered August 3, 2026
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the July 3 Texas Register proposed rule amendments on 19 TAC Chapter 100, Charter Schools. We are submitting comments that address each of the proposed changes, some of which we support and others we either oppose or for which we have recommended edits. Today I want, however, to specifically address Sec. 100.1095(c)(1)(B)(ii)(I)(-b-). This section as proposed would prioritize new charter schools with no track record to receive transfer of real property from closed charter schools.
Our Schools Our Democracy strongly opposes this addition. It privileges new charter schools — with zero academic or financial track record — over school districts for eligibility for TEA to transfer property from closed charter schools. A large number of newly authorized charter schools have track records of failure, with multiple F and D academic ratings and closures.
The proposed rule adds a “new charter school that has not yet been assigned an academic accountability rating” to the list of recipients to whom TEA can transfer real property after a failed charter school closes.
- The new-charter recipient not only would lack a track record of academic success, it also would lack any financial accountability rating and thus could bypass the existing prohibition in (i)(I) against transferring property to a school that has a rating of “lower than satisfactory.”
- The rule change also prioritizes a new charter school — which has no academic or financial track records — above a school district that has the highest or second-highest academic accountability rating with no campus at the lowest or second-lowest rating. The Commissioner is charged by law with acting in the “best interest of the students.” Prioritizing an unproven new charter school over a high-quality school district is not in the best interest of students or taxpayers.
- The record of failed new charter schools clearly shows the wastefulness and irresponsibility of transfers or real property to new charter schools. Of 28 new charter schools authorized by the Commissioner since 2016:
- Only three maintained a C or better rating over the last three years of state ratings as of 2025.
- 65% of the charter schools rated in 2025 received a D or F.
- 43% of the charter schools closed, with ten closing after years of multiple F and D ratings (and two others never opening).
- One quarter have earned F ratings on financial accountability.
Further, eight charter schools officially closed Friday, three days ago, on July 31, 2026.
- Five of these eight were authorized in the past decade.
- These five schools enrolled a total of 1,419 students last year, according to the Texas Education Agency.
- These five schools received $15.64 million in state aid, according to TEA summary of finances.
Giving away state property to new charter schools with little or no financial or academic accountability would simply play musical chairs with tax-financed real property — from one failed charter school to a new charter school that statistically is at high risk of failure.
OPPOSE: We request elimination of this change adding Subdivision (-b-)’s unproven new charter schools to receive state-financed real property due to likelihood of waste.
Alternatively, we ask that unproven new charter schools not be prioritized ahead of high-quality school districts.