This story has been updated.

CAST Lead High School in San Antonio got a D-rating, considered a failing grade, from the state during the last round of A-F accountability scores. School officials want the state to reconsider.

A-F ratings are released by the state every year to show families how effective public schools are at teaching children. Largely criticized by school district leaders for leaning heavily on state assessment grades, ratings from past years were held up in the courts as some districts tried to block the Texas Education Agency from releasing its ratings.

But the courts ruled in favor of the TEA this year, clearing the path for the agency to publish school ratings from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. The latest scores, representing the 2024-25 cycle, were also published.

While many at the state level see the release of state ratings as a win for public accountability, public school leaders worry families will get the wrong impression off a single letter grade that doesn’t really capture the whole picture of services schools provide for children.

Aside from CAST Lead, which is part of East Central Independent School District, two San Antonio charter school districts — George Gervin Academy and Somerset Academies of Texas — are also appealing their state ratings, according to the TEA. 

In the case of CAST Lead, a small school co-managed by the local education nonprofit CAST Schools and East Central ISD, school leaders expect the rating to be “corrected” to at least a C.

Operating across San Antonio in partnership with other school districts, CAST Schools typically received A or B ratings from the state, a feat the nonprofit attributes to its focus on rigorous academic and career-based learning.

CAST Lead received an F during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.

“The success of CAST Lead should be measured in how well graduates are prepared,” said Jeanne Russell, founder and executive director of CAST Schools.

Jeanne Russell, executive director of CAST Schools, is pictured during a press conference in 2021. Credit: Nick Wagner / San Antonio Report

Russell pointed to some of the school’s stats. Of last year’s graduating class, 88% planned to enroll in college and 100% were considered “college career and military ready” by state standards.

CAST Lead has an enrollment of slightly over 200 and serves grades 8-12. Opening its doors in 2020, the open-enrollment school has only had two graduating classes.

Using a unique career-focused model CAST schools are known for, CAST Lead offers student pathways in business, retail and hospitality management and agribusiness. About 90% of students also land internships while at CAST, a detail education leaders say is crucial to securing high-paying jobs later on.

Recent standardized testing scores also show improvement across all categories at CAST Lead, a change that wasn’t reflected in the school’s overall rating, Russell said.

On a recent visit to San Antonio, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath defended the state’s accountability system and standardized testing process.

There’s a lot of “common sense” to the system, Morath said, adding that the system is designed to be rigorous and show what students don’t know.

Morath also says the public nature of the accountability system pushes schools to be more effective.

“It is about recognizing what our performance is and reflecting on where we have been and how much we have grown,” he said.

Required by law, the state rating system receives a makeover every five years, causing some school leaders to feel like the goal post is constantly moving. Adding to the controversy, education experts say the most recent update from 2023 makes it much harder for high schools in particular to get high ratings.

Even so, Morath assures the accountability system is designed in a way that allows any school in Texas to score an A, regardless of student demographics and socioeconomic factors.

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath answers a question from the audience during his visit in San Antonio at Harmony Hills Elementary on Aug. 15, 2025. Credit: Isaiah Moseley for the San Antonio Report

The state is also on the verge of adopting a new standardized testing system, replacing the yearly STAAR to three shorter tests taken through the school year, which may affect student performance and school ratings.

While CAST Lead’s rating is 69, East Central’s overall district rating sits at 73, a 10 point jump from the 2023-24 school year and the largest growth seen by a San Antonio school district from that cycle to the 2024-25 cycle.

If CAST Lead families are concerned about the school’s rating, Russell said she would tell them the students are “exceptionally prepared for life after high school.”

During an August school board meeting, East Central Superintendent Roland Toscano said the low CAST Lead rating could be attributed to the school’s young age, especially since the current rating system heavily weighs post-secondary outcomes when it comes to high schools.

East Central district officials declined an interview for this story.

Leona Daniel-Fletcher graduated from CAST Lead in May. Now she’s a marketing and management freshman at Texas A&M University-San Antonio and a youth activist.

Her experience at CAST Lead wasn’t perfect, Daniel-Fletcher told the Report, but she does feel prepared for life after high school. CAST Lead was a good fit for her, because of its small class sizes and project-based learning approach.

Daniel-Fletcher especially appreciated the business focus of the school, which taught her how to file taxes and create business plans. She also acknowledged the school had growing pains, as enrollment increased and the school faced challenges shared by most schools exiting the pandemic.

“The school is continuing to grow,” Daniel-Fletcher said. “If they continue to get the correct support in the places they need to be and ask past students what fell through the cracks, then I feel like there is 100% chance that these students will get what they need.”

It’s unclear when the state will release its final ruling on CAST Lead’s rating.