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• District of Innovation — Concluded that it was premature for a teachers’ association to challenge a provision in an ISD’s District of Innovation plan — that allows an individual who is not certified to teach career and technical education (CTE) to teach CTE courses. That’s because the district has not yet assigned an individual who is not certified to teach CTE to teach CTE under the District of Innovation plan. Mission CISD Classroom Teachers Association v. Mission CISD, No. 014-R10-10-2020.

  The commissioner ruled the association would be entitled to challenge the provision only if one of its non-CTE certified members is assigned to teach CTE.

  The commissioner did side with the association, however, by rejecting MCISD’s claim that the association had to be a partnership or a corporation in order to file its challenge of the district’s policy on behalf of its members, and that the association couldn’t list itself as the sole plaintiff without also having to list the name of at least one of its members as a co-plaintiff.

• ISD partnerships — Concluded that an ISD’s partnership agreement with an out-of-state entity to manage a campus for the ISD — that was previously upheld in a final ruling by an appeals court — won’t be invalidated for other objections raised by a teachers’ association. San Antonio Alliance/TSTA, et. al. v. San Antonio ISD, No. 026-R10-04-2019.

  The commissioner rejected claims by the teachers’ association that the partnership agreement should be voided due to what the association claimed were open meetings act violations and other procedural errors. No such errors occurred, the commissioner ruled.

  This decision is a remnant of a dispute that led to a final ruling, by a San Antonio appeals court in 2019, that SAISD did not violate the rights of campus personnel in entering into a partnership agreement with New York-based charter school operator Democracy Prep to run the academically troubled Stewart Elementary. See TEN, April 22, 2019.

  Also: In a separate lawsuit filed against Morath and the TEA, a state district judge last month sided with TSTA and Texas AFT in challenging the commissioner’s interpretation of a provision of SB1882’s ISD partnership rules. The judge’s ruling is subject to appeal by the TEA. See TEN, June 22.