For families across Comal County, the latest Texas school accountability results offer more than another letter grade. They provide a new snapshot of how students are performing academically, whether they are making progress from year to year and how prepared graduates are for college, careers and life after high school.

Comal Independent School District earned an overall accountability score of 88 out of 100, or a B, for the 2025-26 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency's 2026 A-F Academic Accountability Ratings. That is one point higher than the district's 87 in 2025 and continues a steady rise from an 86 in 2024 and 85 in 2023.

The district says that trajectory makes Comal ISD the only public school district with more than 1,500 students in Education Service Center Region 20 to increase its overall accountability grade every year since 2023.

For a fast-growing school system serving more than 30,300 students across 38 schools, the results give parents and residents a broader look at where the district is succeeding—and where continued work remains.

Comal ISD's Accountability Score Has Climbed Each Year Since 2023

The Texas Education Agency's accountability system evaluates public school districts and campuses using three major areas: Student Achievement, School Progress and Closing the Gaps.

Comal ISD's 2026 results were:

• Overall rating: 88, B
• Student Achievement: 89, B
• School Progress: 82, B
• Closing the Gaps: 86, B

The overall score has now moved from 85 in 2023 to 86 in 2024, 87 in 2025 and 88 in 2026.

That gradual movement can be meaningful for families because Texas accountability ratings incorporate more than a single round of STAAR testing. The system considers academic performance, student growth, graduation and postsecondary readiness, as well as whether different groups of students are succeeding.

Student Achievement Emerges as a Strength

Among Comal ISD's three accountability domains, Student Achievement posted the highest score at 89, up from 87 a year earlier and 86 in 2024.

The underlying STAAR results show Comal ISD students performing above statewide percentages across several measures.

Across all tested subjects, 85% of district students performed at the Approaches Grade Level standard or higher, compared with 76% statewide. The district also surpassed statewide results in reading, math, science and social studies at that level.

At the more demanding Meets Grade Level standard, 66% of Comal ISD students reached the benchmark across all subjects, compared with 52% statewide. At Masters Grade Level, the difference was 34% in Comal ISD versus 24% statewide.

Those numbers provide additional context behind the district's B rating: while there remains room before Comal ISD reaches an overall A, its students are outperforming statewide percentages on several key academic measures.

Graduation and College, Career and Military Readiness Stand Out

For high school families, some of the district's strongest numbers appear in graduation and postsecondary preparation.

Comal ISD recorded a four-year graduation rate of 98.8%, compared with 91.2% statewide, according to TEA data. Its reported dropout rate was 0.2%, compared with 1.9% statewide.

The district also posted a 90% College, Career and Military Readiness, or CCMR, rate, slightly higher than the statewide 87%.

Among the indicators behind that figure, 47.9% of Comal ISD students met college-ready standards on the SAT, ACT or TSIA compared with 34.1% statewide; 33.8% met qualifying criteria on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams compared with 23.3% statewide; and 31.8% earned college credit through dual-credit coursework.

Another notable difference was participation in OnRamps, the University of Texas system's dual-enrollment program. TEA data show 31.9% of Comal ISD students completed an OnRamps course and qualified for college credit, compared with 6.9% statewide.

For parents weighing high school programs, advanced academics, career pathways and preparation for college, those figures help put the overall accountability grade into more practical terms.

Student Growth Improves, While Closing the Gaps Dips Slightly

Not every measure moved upward.

Comal ISD's School Progress score rose from 80 in 2025 to 82 in 2026. Within that domain, the district received an Academic Growth score of 80 and a Relative Performance score of 82. TEA reports that approximately 70% of students measured in the annual growth calculation made at least one year of academic progress.

The district's Closing the Gaps score was 86, down one point from 87 in 2025 and 2024. This part of the Texas accountability system measures how well districts are serving different student groups rather than looking only at overall averages.

That distinction is important. A rising overall Comal ISD accountability rating does not mean every academic measure or every student group improved at the same pace. The Closing the Gaps data give families and district leaders another lens for identifying where additional attention may be needed.

18 Comal ISD Campuses Earn A Ratings

The districtwide numbers tell only part of the story.

According to Comal ISD, 18 campuses earned an A in the 2026 accountability ratings, while another 14 earned a B. Across the district, campuses collected 94 TEA distinction designations, including 18 campuses that earned the Postsecondary Readiness distinction.

Several schools stood out.

Davenport High School earned an overall score of 95, or an A, improving seven points from the previous year and earning all seven distinction designations available to the campus.

Bill Brown Elementary School and Hoffmann Lane Elementary School earned all six distinctions available to elementary campuses.

Farias-Spitzer Elementary, Mountain Valley Elementary, Rahe Bulverde Elementary, Rebecca Creek Elementary and Specht Elementary each received five of six possible distinctions, while Hill Country College Preparatory High School received six of seven.

Those campus-level results can be especially useful for parents because a districtwide rating naturally combines the experiences of dozens of schools serving students from elementary grades through graduation.

What Comal ISD's 88 Rating Means for Local Families

Accountability scores can easily become a conversation about a single letter. For families, however, the more useful story is underneath that letter.

Comal ISD enters the new school year with improving districtwide accountability scores, above-state averages on multiple STAAR performance measures, a graduation rate approaching 99% and considerable participation in college and career readiness programs.

At the same time, the district remains a B-rated system rather than an A-rated one, its Closing the Gaps score slipped slightly this year, and the data show differences in achievement among student groups. Those are areas families and educators can continue watching as future results are released.

The district's scale adds another layer to the story. Comal ISD enrolled 30,341 students in 2025-26, including 31% classified as economically disadvantaged, 18.9% receiving special education services and 6.2% identified as emergent bilingual students. The district reported 2,033.3 full-time teachers and an average of 14.9 students per teacher.

Financially, TEA's report card gives Comal ISD an A and a perfect 100 out of 100 under the state's FIRST financial accountability rating, based on fiscal year 2024 data.

Taken together, the academic and demographic figures illustrate the challenge facing a large and growing district: maintaining academic progress while serving tens of thousands of students with differing needs, backgrounds and goals.

What Happens Next

The 2026 ratings establish another benchmark for Comal ISD as students and teachers begin the 2026-27 school year. Future accountability results will show whether the district can extend its four-year upward trend, move closer to an A overall rating and improve results across all student groups.

Parents who want to dig deeper can review individual campus ratings through the Texas Education Agency's Texas School Report Cards system, where school-level academic performance, student growth, graduation and college-readiness information is available.

For now, the 88 marks another incremental step upward—one that reflects strong results at many campuses while leaving measurable goals still ahead.

Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for additional Comal ISD updates, school news and information affecting students and families throughout the community.

By Tiffany Krenek, My Neighborhood News 

Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.

Local business spotlight

Grow your business
where trust already lives.

Let’s introduce your business to the neighbors nearby.

Spotlight My Business →

Have a local favorite? Recommend a business