Education

For Katy ISD families, the newly released 2026 Texas school accountability ratings offer a picture that is both encouraging and more nuanced than a single letter grade.

Katy ISD earned an overall B rating with a score of 88 out of 100 in the Texas Education Agency's 2026 A-F Accountability Ratings, maintaining the same overall score it received for 2025. Behind that number, district students continued to outperform Texas averages across every STAAR subject reported by TEA, while graduation rates remained well above statewide levels. At the same time, the data identify differences in achievement among student groups and several individual campuses with lower ratings — areas likely to remain important as the district plans its next steps.

The results matter well beyond a state report card. For families weighing schools, homeowners following the strength of their local public education system and a fast-growing community looking at how well students are being prepared for life after graduation, the ratings provide one of the broadest public snapshots of Katy ISD's academic performance.

Katy ISD Earns an 88 Overall in 2026

The Texas Education Agency released the 2026 A-F Accountability Ratings on Aug. 14 for 1,202 school districts and 9,105 campuses statewide. Across Texas, 24% of districts and 24% of campuses improved their rating from 2025, and 85% of rated campuses received a C or higher. 

Katy ISD's 88, or B, overall rating is built from three major accountability areas:

• Student Achievement: 87, B
• School Progress: 87, B
• Closing the Gaps: 89, B

Katy ISD also received a Postsecondary Readiness distinction designation.

The district's overall score remained unchanged from 2025. For additional context, Katy ISD received an 87 in 2024, an 88 under the revised standards in 2023 and a 91 under the accountability system used for its original 2022 rating. TEA cautions that scores across those years are not always directly comparable because accountability standards changed.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said the statewide results are intended to recognize progress while helping communities identify areas requiring additional attention.

“This year’s A-F ratings illustrate the progress Texas public schools are making and acknowledge the hard work of our educators while illuminating areas of needed improvement to ensure that all students have access to a high-quality education. Through our commitment to transparency and accessibility, parents and the public can explore the ratings and associated resources to clearly understand the performance of their schools,” Morath said.

Katy ISD Students Outperform State STAAR Results Across Every Subject

One of the clearest takeaways for Katy-area parents is found deeper in the Student Achievement report.

On STAAR assessments, 86% of Katy ISD students scored at the Approaches Grade Level standard or above across all subjects, compared with 76% statewide.

The advantage continued across each reported subject: reading was 86% in Katy ISD compared with 76% statewide; mathematics was 83% compared with 73%; science was 88% compared with 79%; and social studies was 88% compared with 77%.

The difference becomes larger at the higher performance levels.

At the Meets Grade Level or Above standard, 69% of Katy ISD students reached the benchmark across all subjects, compared with 52% statewide. At Masters Grade Level, 41% of district students reached the standard versus 24% across Texas.

In social studies, for example, half of Katy ISD students reached Masters Grade Level, compared with 27% statewide. In science, the comparison was 47% locally versus 28% statewide.

Those figures provide important context behind Katy ISD's B rating: although an 87 Student Achievement score falls short of the 90-point threshold for an A, district STAAR performance remained substantially above Texas averages.

Graduation Rates Remain a Strong Point

Katy ISD's graduation data also stand out.

The district posted a 96.5% four-year graduation rate, compared with 91.2% statewide. Its five-year graduation rate was 97.2%, versus 92.5% across Texas, while its six-year rate was 96.9% compared with the state's 92.5%.

Katy ISD's reported dropout rate was 0.4%, substantially below the statewide rate of 1.9%.

Those numbers are especially relevant to families looking beyond STAAR scores because Texas' Student Achievement rating also considers whether high school students are graduating and whether they are prepared for college, a career or military service.

College and Career Readiness Data Tell a More Mixed Story

The district's College, Career and Military Readiness data provide another layer to the 2026 Katy ISD school ratings.

Katy ISD reported 82% total credit for CCMR criteria, compared with 87% statewide. However, the district considerably exceeded Texas averages in several college-focused measures.

About 55.9% of Katy ISD students met the college-ready standard on the SAT, ACT or TSIA, compared with 34.1% statewide. Another 44.9% met the qualifying standard on an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exam, nearly double the statewide figure of 23.3%.

Other measures trailed the state. Katy ISD reported 16.1% of students earning college credit through dual-credit courses, compared with 27% statewide, while 24.8% earned an industry-based certification compared with 32.4% across Texas.

That combination suggests Katy ISD's postsecondary preparation is particularly strong in traditional college-readiness measures while leaving room for growth in some career certification, dual-credit and alternative postsecondary pathways.

School Progress Holds Steady at 87

Katy ISD also received an 87 in School Progress, unchanged from 2025 and one point above its 2024 score of 86.

School Progress considers more than whether students are currently performing at grade level. It looks at how much academic growth students made and how the district performs compared with districts serving similar percentages of economically disadvantaged students.

Katy ISD received an 83 for Academic Growth and an 87 for Relative Performance. TEA reports that approximately 75% of students made at least one year of academic progress, while 37% of students who had been academically behind made at least one year's progress under the accelerated-learning measure.

The district's economically disadvantaged population was listed at 43.3% for the 2025-26 accountability year.

Closing the Gaps Is Katy ISD's Highest Accountability Domain

Katy ISD's strongest of the three major accountability domains was Closing the Gaps, with an 89, just one point shy of an A. The score was unchanged from both 2025 and 2024.

That category is designed to measure whether different student populations are succeeding rather than allowing strong districtwide averages to obscure disparities.

The detailed results show meaningful differences.

For academic achievement in reading and language arts, for example, the rate was 72% among all students, but 58% among African American students and 61% among Hispanic students. White students were at 82% and Asian students at 90%.

In mathematics, overall academic achievement was 64%, compared with 44% among African American students, 52% among Hispanic students, 75% among White students and 89% among Asian students.

Graduation rates were high across most reported groups, including 95.7% overall, 94.2% among African American students, 94.1% among Hispanic students, 96.6% among White students and 99.2% among Asian students.

For Katy ISD, those figures help explain why Closing the Gaps remains an important part of the accountability story. Strong overall results coexist with measurable differences in academic outcomes, giving families and educators a clearer view of where additional attention may have the greatest impact.

Katy ISD Campus Ratings Range From A to D

The districtwide B does not mean every Katy ISD school received the same grade.

TEA's campus report shows a broad collection of A-rated schools, including Cinco Ranch High School, Jordan High School, Seven Lakes High School, Taylor High School and Tompkins High School, along with numerous elementary and junior high campuses.

Katy High School, Mayde Creek High School, Morton Ranch High School and Paetow High School received B ratings.

Several elementary schools received C ratings, while Jack & Sharon Rhoads Elementary, Mayde Creek Elementary, Robert King Elementary and West Memorial Elementary received D ratings. Two alternative campuses — Harris County School for Accelerated Learning and Opportunity Awareness Center — were listed as Not Rated.

That variation is important for parents searching for Katy ISD school ratings, Katy schools near me, best schools in Katy, Texas, or 2026 TEA ratings by campus. A districtwide score provides useful context, but a child's individual campus may tell a different story.

TEA's TXschools.gov system allows families to search by school or home address and compare campuses on selected performance measures. 

A Large District Serving More Than 95,000 Students

The accountability results also reflect the scale and diversity of one of the Houston area's largest public school systems.

The report lists 95,136 students across 78 schools for Katy ISD, with 43.3% identified as economically disadvantaged, 24% as emergent bilingual students and 19.2% receiving special education services.

The district reported an attendance rate of 95.2% and chronic absenteeism of 10%.

Katy ISD employed approximately 13,601 full-time staff members, including 6,933.5 full-time teachers, with 13.7 students per teacher. The average teacher salary reported for 2025-26 was $73,094.

Those numbers offer some perspective on what an accountability score represents: the districtwide grade brings together results from tens of thousands of children across communities, grade levels, programs and individual schools spanning a large part of the greater Katy area.

Katy ISD Receives an A for Financial Accountability

Separate from its academic accountability grade, Katy ISD received an A in the state's Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas, or FIRST, with a score of 98 out of 100.

The 2024-25 FIRST rating is based on fiscal year 2024 data. TEA's report lists approximately $1.403 billion in revenue across all funds and $1.725 billion in expenditures across all funds for the period reflected in the report.

FIRST is a financial accountability system rather than an academic measure, so the 98 should not be confused with Katy ISD's 88 academic accountability score.

For local taxpayers, however, it provides another piece of the overall picture when evaluating a public school system responsible for educating more than 95,000 students.

What the 2026 Katy ISD Rating Means for Families

No single state rating can fully describe a school, much less a district the size of Katy ISD.

The 2026 results nonetheless give families several concrete takeaways. Katy ISD remains a B-rated district at 88, its overall score is stable year over year, students outperform statewide STAAR averages across all reported subjects and graduation rates remain well above Texas averages. Many individual Katy ISD schools earned A ratings.

The data also point to areas worth following: the district remains two points away from an overall A; academic performance varies among student groups; some college and career readiness measures trail statewide rates; and several individual campuses received D ratings.

Texas' A-F system, established by the Legislature in 2017 through House Bill 22, evaluates schools through Student Achievement, School Progress and Closing the Gaps. TEA says its purpose is to give parents and communities clearer information while helping schools identify where improvement is needed. 

For Katy-area parents, perhaps the most useful next step is to look beyond the district's 88 and examine the report for the campus their child actually attends. With schools ranging from A to D within the same district, the campus-level data provide the more personal view of how students are performing close to home.

As the 2026-27 school year unfolds, My Neighborhood News will continue following Katy ISD news and the decisions that affect students, families and neighborhoods across the Katy area.

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.