Healthy school districts are diverse, community-centered, and are given the support they need to serve all students.
Many systems and policies – including segregated communities, unfair district accountability measures, and harmful student testing methods – make districts unhealthy.
Learn more about IDRA’s work to support healthy school districts below.
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Healthy school districts are a critical part of strong communities – they involve diverse groups of families, students and other local partners in school governance, policy, and practice. But, punitive accountability systems, testing that punishes students and schools, and systems that take control away from communities without supporting their success create barriers to school district health.
School districts should be accountable to their own diverse communities. School success and student performance should not hinge on a letter grade. IDRA works to grow family leadership in education, supports research-based assessment systems that are not harmful to students and schools, and researches the impacts of inappropriate state intervention in local school districts.
Learn more about IDRA’s policy recommendations for Texas.
Resources
Changing Policy
Joint Statement: Opening Arguments Delivered in Federal Appeals Case Challenging Constitutionality of Texas’ Book Rating Law, November 29, 2023
HB 900 Promotes Book Bans and Undermines Students’ Constitutional Right to Access Ideas – IDRA Testimony Against House Bill 900, submitted by Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., to the Senate Education Committee, May 10, 2023
Ethnic Studies Courses Improve Student Outcomes – IDRA Testimony for HB 45, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Public Education Committee, May 9, 2023
Ethnic Studies Courses Should be Able to Fulfill Required Social Studies Credits – TLEEC Testimony on HB 45: Relating to ethnic studies instruction in public schools, submitted to the House Public Education Committee, Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Censored Restrictions on Instructional Materials Lead to Classroom Censorship, Discrimination and Compromise Students’ Education – IDRA Testimony against HB 1804, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 20, 2023
Revisions to Texas Civics Education Are Redundant – IDRA Testimony against HB 2273, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 18, 2023
Schools and Families Need to Be Involved and Supported in Plans to Implement Accelerated Learning – TLEEC Testimony on SB 1261: Relating to accelerated learning plans for students not meeting STAAR standards, submitted to the Senate Education Committee, Wednesday, April 12, 2023
School Takeovers and Punishing Truancy Do Not Make Our Schools More Safe – IDRA Testimony Against Senate Bill 11, submitted by Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., to the Senate Education Committee, April 5, 2023
Incentives for Instructional Materials that Enforce Classroom Censorship Compromise Student Education – IDRA Testimony against SB 2565, submitted by Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., to the Texas Senate Education Committee, March 29, 2023
School Libraries Must Be Reflective and Inclusive of All Students – IDRA Testimony against SB 13, submitted by Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., to the Texas Senate Education Committee, March 29, 2023
Students Suffer Under Classroom Censorship – TLEEC Testimony against SB 2089, submitted to the Texas Senate Education Committee, March 29, 2023
Public Schools are for All Students and All Families – IDRA Testimony HB 1507, submitted by Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, March 28, 2023
Acceptable Use Policies Must Include Protections for LGBTQ+ Material and Student Data Privacy – IDRA Testimony Against House Bill 338 submitted by Ruth Youn to the Georgia Senate Education and Youth Committee, March 21, 2023
Students Deserve to Attend Fully-Funded Public Schools That Affirm and Sustain All Aspects of their Identity – IDRA Testimony Against Senate Bill 233, Submitted to the Georgia House Education Committee on March 20, 2023
Schools and Families Need Supports to Implement Accelerated Learning Plans – TLEEC Testimony on HB 1416: Relating to accelerated learning plans for students not meeting STAAR standards, Submitted to the House Public Education Committee, Tuesday, March 14, 2023
LGBTQ+ Students Deserve Supportive Schools that Affirm their Identity – IDRA Testimony Against Senate Bill 88, submitted by Mikayla Arciaga, M.A. Ed, to the Georgia Senate Education and Youth Committee, February 14, 2023
Senate Bill 88 Discriminates Against LGBTQ+ Students, who Deserve Supportive Schools that Affirm their Identity, IDRA Testimony Against Senate Bill 88, submitted by Ruth Youn to the Georgia Senate Education and Youth Committee, March 1, 2023
Banning Books Makes Schools Less Welcoming for Students to Learn – IDRA Testimony Against House Bill 900, submitted by Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, March 21, 2023
Incentives for Instructional Materials that Enforce Classroom Censorship Compromise Students’ Education – IDRA Testimony against HB 1605, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D. to the Texas House Public Education Committee, March 21, 2023
Virginia’s Students Deserve a Diverse, Inclusive and Culturally-Sustaining Social Studies and History Curriculum – IDRA Testimony against Revised 2022 History and Social Science Standards of Learning submitted by Terrence Wilson, J.D., to the Virginia Board of Education, November 17, 2022
Letter to Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner: Draft Rule, Prohibited Concepts in Public Instruction – Tenn. Code Ann. §49-6-1019, August 11, 2021
SB 3 Claims That Talking About Racism and Race is Racist. — IDRA Testimony against SB 3 in 87(2) session, presented by Ana Ramón to the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee, August 10, 2021 – See video
Banning Critical Conversations in the Classroom Hurts Texas Students – IDRA Testimony against SB 3 in 87(2) session, presented by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Senate State Affairs Committee, August 10, 2021 – See video
Censorship is Hurtful – SB 3 and the Underlying HB 3979 Hurt all Students – IDRA Testimony Against SB 3, presented by Morgan Craven, J.D., to the Senate State Affairs Committee, July 15, 2021 – See video
Allow Texas Students to Take in More Information, Not Less – IDRA Testimony against SB 3, presented by Araceli García – See video
Don’t Deny Students Important Information to Work for a Better Future – IDRA Testimony against Texas Senate Bill 3, presented by Ana Ramón to the Senate State Affairs Committee, July 15, 2021 – See video
Reject the Erasure of Race in Texas Schools in SB 3 – IDRA Testimony against Texas Senate Bill 3, presented by Dr. Altheria Caldera to the Senate State Affairs Committee, July 15, 2021
HB 3489 Supports Digital Health and Wellness, Which Are Essential to Supporting Students – IDRA comments in support of HB 3489, Submitted by Christina Quintanilla-Muñoz to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 20, 2021
HB 4042 Harms Transgender Students by Prohibiting Their Participation in Team Sports Aligned with their Gender Identity – IDRA Testimony against House Bill 4042, Presented by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 20, 2021
Joint letter by Texas Postsecondary Advocates Coalition, IDRA and others for HB 2126 to increase access to necessary health and wellness resources for students to pursue and complete a post-secondary education, April 13, 2021
Adopt HB 3638 to Establish an African American Studies Advisory Board – IDRA Testimony for HB 3638, Presented by Dr. Altheria Caldera to the House Public Education Committee, April 13, 2021
HB 3270 Could Compromise Community Input and Engagement in School District Accountability, IDRA Testimony on House Bill 3270, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Senate Education Committee, March 30, 2021
SB 29 Harms Transgender Students by Prohibiting Their Participation in Team Sports Aligned with their Gender Identity, IDRA Testimony against Senate Bill 29, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Senate State Affairs Committee, March 26, 2021
School District Accountability Cannot Compromise Community Input and Engagement, IDRA testimony against Senate Bill 1365, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Senate Education Committee, March 25, 2021
School Safety Funds Should Support Positive School Climates – IDRA Testimony on House Bill 1525: Relating to the public school finance system, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the House Public Education Committee, March 23, 2021
Effective School Assessments and Accountability that Does Not Hurt Students, December 10, 2020
Purposeful Assessment and School Accountability – IDRA Texas Policy Priorities for 2021 and Evaluación intencionada y responsabilidad escolar – Prioridades de política de IDRA Texas para 2021, December 10, 2020
Joint Testimony: Teaching Quality, Texas House Higher Education Committee Interim Charge #3 (Questions 1-3), September 1, 2020
Statement: Reported STAAR Design Flaws in Reading Show Why High-stakes Punishments Should be Removed from the STAAR, March 4, 2019
Article: In-grade Retention National Trends and Civil Rights Concerns, April 2018
Article: Will States Use ESSA to Undermine Communities of Color as Some Have for Voting Rights?, September 2016
Acting on Research and Data
Issue Brief: Another Zero-Tolerance Failure State Takeovers of School Districts Don’t Work, March 6, 2020
IDRA EAC-South: Resources for Achieving Integrated Schools
Engaging Communities
Habits of a Healthy School District Where All Students Thrive, by Celina Moreno, J.D., & Christie L. Goodman, APR, May 2020
Communicating Effectively
IDRA partnered with other civil rights and educational equity organizations to demand that school districts immediately stop their anti-LGBTQ+ activities and policies.
- Keller ISD, August 10, 2023
- Keller ISD, November 21, 2022
- Frisco ISD, November 21, 2022
IDRA joined with other civil rights organizations to demand that transgender students across Georgia be protected by their education leaders. On Wednesday, May 4, 2022, the Georgia High School Sports Association’s Executive Committee voted 61-0-1 to prohibit transgender students in our k12 public schools from participating in gendered sports teams that do not align with their gender assigned at birth. This decision impacts transgender, nonbinary, and LGBTQ+ students in your school district among many others. We are demanding that leaders across Georgia who have policies that are supportive of LGBTQ+ students join other athletic representatives in the GHSA and vote to reverse this policy this month. A version of this letter went out last week to the following school districts: Atlanta PS, Clayton County PS, Cobb County SD, DeKalb County SD, Fulton County S, Gwinnett County PS, and Savannah-Chatham County PSS.
Podcast: School District Takeovers History and Today, March 6, 2020
Data Deficit: No A-F Grades for Districts or STAAR Exams for Students, April 16, 2020
