District Equity Plans

Title I, Part A, Sec. 1112(b)(2) under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires all local educational agencies (LEAs) that receive Title I funds to develop a plan for “how the local educational agency will identify and address, as required under State plans as described in section 1111(g)(1)(B), any disparities that result in low-income students and minority students being taught at higher rates than other students by ineffective, inexperienced, or out-of-field teachers.”  

Up until the 2019-2020 school year, all LEAs that received Title I funds created and submitted equity plans describing how the LEA would decrease gaps as they relate to low-income students and students of color being taught at higher rates than other students by inexperienced, out-of-field, and ineffective teachers. 

Throughout 2019, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has gathered stakeholder feedback in order to ensure that the equity plan process enables LEAs to efficiently and effectively identify strategies to close equity gaps when and where they existed.  Based on this feedback, the state’s approach to equity planning has been revised so that only a subset of LEAs will be required to submit equity plans to TEA, and those LEAs will receive more meaningful support in developing plans and pursuing strategies.

If an LEA is required to continue creating and submitting an equity plan based on the identification of significant gaps in student growth for low-income students and students of color, it will be notified in December.  Those LEAs’ new equity plans for the 2020-2021 school year will be due in the Spring of 2020. 

For questions or additional information on Equity Plans, please contact your regional education service center equity lead listed on the Texas Equity Plan Toolkit. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Heather Salaz 
Manager, Educator Equity and Support 
Texas Education Agency