Tioga ISD’s appeal to the Texas Education Agency resulted in the promise of an abatement from TEA Commissioner Mike Morath.
The district’s continual academic success and the community’s steadfast support swayed the state TISD’s way, Superintendent Josh Ballinger said Tuesday.
“None of this is official, but the news is going to break that we will receive the abatement,” he said. “It’s all a matter of the commissioner putting in writing to us and essentially gives us the relief of not [having a] revoked status on our accreditation.”
Tuesday’s meeting was in direct response to the Feb. 12 announcement that TEA was revoking Tioga ISD’s accreditation as a result of its number of failed Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas ratings, which was a blow the district’s leadership saw coming.
“[Morath] came in and was very positive from the beginning with our academics, which we’ve said all along is what’s going to save us here,” Ballinger said. “That very much is true.”
Ballinger was joined in Austin by TISD board President Dallas Slay, Vice President Trina Colteryahn and trustee Billy Smith, who helped plead the district’s case.
“The presentation that we had was definitely worth time invested just because it covered all the topics that were expected to be covered, like where we’re at financially,” Ballinger said. “Essentially, the theme of the presentation was we’re really only three years into this recovery process and we need another two years, like we’ve said all along that was going to take, and he was in agreement with that. Never really disputed that fact.”
Before they arrived in Austin, letters and emails from community members gave Morath an insight into their view of their district.
“He read, I would assume, all of them, because he brought all of those with him to the meeting,” Ballinger said. “… At the end, he pointed out a few of them and wanted us to thank those people. Those were some of his favorites that he had read and essentially made a believer out of him. They worked; they helped.”
Tioga ISD does not yet know the length of the abatement.
Ballinger requested an 18-month to 24-month period to finish climbing out of the financial trench the district has been in since the 2019-20 school year.
“I think it needs to be more than a year just because we could have hiccups along the way,” Ballinger said.
He added that the district has been working through a fiveyear plan, and it needs “to fulfill the next 24 months and two fiscal cycles to really gain a good understanding of where we’re out with getting out of the negative.”
Morath told the TISD representatives that he would have a ruling to them with the details and requirements of the abatement within 30 days following Tuesday’s meeting.
The abatement means that TISD can continue the work of a Texas public school district, including issuing diplomas to graduates.
“We just appreciate all of the support from the community,” Ballinger said. “Here’s another opportunity that they could have soured on us and instead chose to back the school, back the community, and every bit of that helps.”
