Local Grievance Process

TEA encourages parents, students, staff, and members of the public to raise concerns with their school or school system as soon as an issue arises. If you can’t reach a resolution through an informal meeting with the appropriate teacher or school administrator, every school system is required to have a local grievance process, which is a formal process for raising and addressing concerns.

Issues the Grievance Process Can Address

• Transportation
• Child custody
• Classroom assignments/campus transfers
• Designation of excused or unexcused absences
• Dress code
• District grading policies and student retention
• Homework practices
• Student discipline
• Interpersonal interactions
• Staff hiring and evaluation
• Cafeteria food options
• Job responsibilities
• Student pick-up/drop-off
• Extracurricular activities
• Disagreements with school staff

If your issue is not on this list, or if you have a concern about a violation of law, please use our Parent Complaint Navigator. It will ask you a short series of multiple-choice questions about your issue and, based on your responses, tell you the best way to resolve your question or concern. 

Tips for Filing a Grievance with Your School or District

Every district’s process might be a little different. When filing a grievance, it is important that you keep the following things in mind: 

• Document in writing all details of your concern as soon as you are made aware, including dates, names of parties involved, witnesses, etc. 
• Raise the concern or complaint to your school or district as soon as possible. School district policies usually require you to file a grievance within 10-15 days after learning about the issue.
• Keep a record of all communications, including phone calls and in-person meetings you have with school or district staff.
• If you disagree with the actions or decision of the Board of Trustees regarding your grievance, you may be able to appeal that decision to the Commissioner of Education. Learn more about Appeals to the Commissioner.

Finding Your School District's Grievance Policy

To find your district's local grievance policy, ask an administrator how to access the relevant policies, which might be on the district's board policy website.  

Policy manuals generally have three separate grievance policies: 

• DGBA (LOCAL) for employee grievances, 
• FNG (LOCAL) for student and parent grievances, and
• GF (LOCAL) for grievances by all others, including vendors and taxpayers.

Resources About the Grievance Process

• Local Grievance Process One-pager (English)
• Local Grievance Process One-pager (Spanish)