(Seguin) — The Seguin ISD is celebrating a major step forward.
The school district has earned a C accountability rating for the first time since 2019. And also, for the first time since Texas introduced the A–F accountability system, the district is finishing the year without a single campus receiving an ‘F.’
The district’s 2026 score of 70 is up four points from last year’s 66, following four consecutive years with a ‘D’ rating.
For Seguin ISD Superintendent Dr. Jack Lee, the numbers matter. But what matters more –he says — is what is behind them.
Lee says the improvement is not simply a collection of numbers on a state accountability report.
“Probably the biggest point that I would want everyone to understand in the positive movement that we’re seeing is that behind every single one of those points is a classroom. It’s a teacher, it’s a paraprofessional, it’s parents, it’s families, it’s administrators, it’s students. All of the work that we’re seeing is because our students are achieving at higher levels than they have. And that’s the result of quality instruction happening across the district. Last year, Middle of the year, about November, I released an accountability improvement plan for the district. The whole point was to try to increase student achievement. That’s what we were going to focus on, not student growth or not how we’re compared to other districts that have same demographics as us, but specifically how well students achieve,” said Lee.
Lee says nine of the district’s 11 rated campuses improved in student achievement.
He says this progress includes Seguin High School, which moved from a D– 64, to a C — 70.
The campus increased 11 points in Academic Growth and 14 points in Closing the Gaps.
Barnes Middle School also posted one of the district’s most significant areas of growth, increasing 22 points in Closing the Gaps, from 47 to 69. That’s a jump from an F- 55 to a D –66.
It should be noted that Texas public school accountability ratings are based on measures of Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gaps. The ratings incorporate data including STAAR performance, academic growth, College, Career and Military Readiness, and graduation rates.
Seguin ISD showed improvement across each major accountability measure: Student Achievement increased from 68 to 70; Academic Growth increased from 66 to 68; Relative Performance increased from 68 to 71; and Closing the Gaps increased from 61 to 67, representing the district’s largest domain increase.
Lee says those improvements are important because they represent real students and the people working with them every day.
“We made some fairly significant changes even over this last year, which you don’t typically do when it’s your first year as a superintendent. You do a lot of sitting back and looking. One of the common themes that I’ve pushed really hard with our team here across the district is that we have to have a sense of urgency. Students deserve to have quality instruction. Students deserve to have high functioning schools, and we’re able to provide that. What I have learned over this last year is that we have very dedicated people. We have dedicated people who work in this district. We have dedicated people in our community that support Seguin ISD, and they want to see us be successful also. That dedication is really what’s pushed it. And then if there’s anything else that I would say, it’s that we really set out on trying to make sure that we had a shared vision and shared understanding of where we’re going and what we want. And we did that when we did some strategic planning. There at the very end of the fall, in the beginning of the spring semester. And so, for half of the year, we really focused on living out our mission, our vision, our values, and following that strategic plan. And I think the results have paid off. If anything, I think this next year is an opportunity for us to continue growing,” said Lee.
Lee says the district spent much of the past school year focused on improving student achievement, including the implementation of an Academic Accountability Improvement Plan and the development of a long-term strategic plan.
Additional campus highlights include:
- Mercer-Blumberg Learning Center earned an A with a score of 93, increasing three points overall.
- Patlan Elementary earned a B with a score of 84, increasing three points overall. Patlan also earned distinctions for Academic Achievement in Science, Top 25 Percent in Academic Growth, and Top 25 Percent in Closing the Gaps.
- Weinert Elementary earned a C with a score of 74 and increased by 7 points in Student Achievement and by 12 points in Relative Performance.
- Rodriguez Elementary increased its overall score from 67 to 69 while improving by 7 points in Academic Growth.
- Vogel Elementary earned a C with a score of 71, while increasing Student Achievement by three points and Relative Performance by four points.
All in all –
- Mercer-Blumberg Learning Center earned an A with a – 93
- The B Rating again went to Patlan Elementary with a – 84
- C Ratings included….
- McQueeney Elementary – 75
- Koennecke Elementary – 75
- Weinert Elementary – 74
- Vogel Elementary – 71
- And again, Seguin High School – with 70
- Campuses receiving D Ratings were
- Barnes Middle School – 66
- Briesemeister Middle School – 69
- Jefferson Elementary – 69
- Rodriguez Elementary – 69
Lee says the results show that the district is moving in the right direction, but he cautions against treating the ‘C’ as the finish line.
“People are excited because it’s improvement and we want to see improvement. The district is moving in the right way. I strongly believe that. And while this is a win, it’s not necessarily the win. We still have growth that needs to happen. We still have some campuses that are rated at a D. Maybe, they’re right there at that 69, but we don’t want any campuses rated that way. We want more campuses that are achieving an A and a B. And so, we still have work to do. It’s good momentum. It’s not necessarily that we’ve hit the destination,” said Lee.
Meanwhile, the Seguin ISD was not the only area district that reported academic progress by the state. The Seguin Daily News this week will continue to look at the overall ratings for both the Navarro and Marion ISDs.