Bastrop ISD holds public hearing on 2023–24 annual report; board hears concerns over lower reading and math results

Rachel Repke, Bastrop ISD director of accountability and compliance, presented the district’s 2023–24 District Annual Report (the TAPR) at the board’s public hearing on Feb. 18, 2025, summarizing statewide assessment, demographic, finance and safety data from the 2022–23 and 2023–24 school years.

Repke told the board, “This report is a compilation of TEA data from our PEIMS and our student assessment data,” and said the 800‑page annual report will be posted on the district website and made available in paper at the district service center and on campuses.

The TAPR snapshot Repke showed includes decreases from 2022–23 to 2023–24 in reading, math and science “approaches or above” percentages, modest increases in social studies, and lower measures of annual growth. Repke said the report also shows a small decline in the district’s economically disadvantaged population and modest increases in students identified as emergent bilingual, receiving special education services, and identified as gifted and talented. Attendance measures in the published TAPR lag by one year but showed improvement for the period included.

Parents in the public hearing questioned what the “approaches, meets, masters” performance bands mean in classroom terms and pressed district staff about third‑grade reading levels. One parent described concern that many third‑grade students are entering fourth grade without expected grade‑level skills. In response, Jennifer Eberly, identified in the presentation as chief of staff, and other district leaders explained classroom implications and district actions. Eberly said the state changed assessment and accountability requirements and that those changes contributed to statewide shifts: “Basic terms, it's the the state changed the rules of the accountability system during, and that's why you see dips not only in Bastrop ISD, but across the entire state.”

Repke and other staff explained the TAPR’s limitations: it does not include updated A–F campus ratings or district distinctions because those releases are delayed by ongoing litigation over accountability changes. Repke also summarized the report’s safety and discipline section, noting Bastrop ISD’s incident rate for Title 5 felony‑related discipline was 0.001 (well below the 1% persistently dangerous threshold) and that most campus incident counts were below the FERPA threshold (five or fewer) and therefore redacted in the public document.

Parents and trustees also discussed how the district communicates student progress and interventions to families. Staff described screening data, progress conversations, campus‑level intervention plans and parent‑teacher conferences; they said campuses are continuing to build the skills and routines for those conversations and to share student progress and next steps with families.

The full annual report will be posted online and made available at the district office and on campuses, Repke said; she provided contact information for follow‑up questions.

The board did not take action on the TAPR itself; the presentation and public hearing were informational.