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KIPP Texas reports early STAR gains, enrollment improvement and $8M staff retention payout
Summary
At its June 5 board meeting, KIPP Texas shared preliminary STAR results showing gains across math and overall subject-level targets, announced a $8,000,000+ retention bonus for staff, and said final STAR and regional growth data will be published in July and September respectively.
KIPP Texas officials told the board June 5 that preliminary state STAR test results show the charter network met or exceeded nine of 12 subject-level targets for 2025, with especially notable gains in math and mixed results in English I and II.
"Our 2025 STAR data is showing an increase in achievement for KIPP Texas," Chief Executive Officer Saba Ali said, adding that the results are early and that growth measures are not yet final. Ali said final STAR data will be available on the TEA family portal on June 17 and in final form from the Texas Education Agency on July 25; the network plans to provide regional breakdowns in September.
The CEO highlighted several operational trends the board will monitor: average budgeted enrollment (ABE) finished roughly 3.5% higher year over year, beginning-of-year enrollment rose about 3.3%, and the network reduced chronic absenteeism to 15% (a 3-point improvement). Ali said those gains enabled the organization to issue a staff retention bonus totaling more than $8,000,000.
Ali also flagged areas for attention. English I and II showed declines across performance bands compared with the previous year, though first-time testers exceeded the Meets+ categories in those courses. Early growth data indicate the eight designated transformation primary schools produced strong math increases (double-digit percentage gains in some bands), while ELA increases were smaller but positive.
Board members pressed for granular regional data and final growth metrics; Ali reiterated that deeper analysis will be provided in September once all inputs and growth calculations are complete. She also warned the board to expect potential downstream effects from recent litigation in Texas regarding undocumented students’ tuition that could affect college matriculation numbers.
The board’s discussion closed with a reminder that STAR remains the accountability system for the near term and that the management team will return with more detailed, region-level evidence and a full growth analysis.
