Raising Concerns with Your School: Local Grievance Process

TEA encourages parents, students, staff, and community members to raise concerns with their school or school system as soon as an issue arises. If informal efforts—such as speaking with a teacher or administrator—don't resolve the issue, every school system is required to offer a formal grievance process.

Issues the Grievance Process Can Address

• Transportation
• Child custody
• Classroom assignments or campus transfers
• Excused vs. 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 concern isn’t listed or involves a potential violation of law, use the Parent Complaint Navigator. While designed with parents in mind, this tool is available to anyone with a complaint and will guide you through a few multiple-choice questions to recommend the best next steps. 
 

Understanding The Grievance Process 

Here's what you need to know:

• Act quickly: You must file within 60 days of learning about the issue. 
• Informal resolution: If you try to resolve the issue informally, you may have up to 90 days to file.
• Hearing timeline: Your school or school system must hold a grievance hearing within 10 days of submission.
• Notice: You’ll receive at least 5 business days’ notice before the hearing.
• Decision: written decisions must be provided within 20 days after the hearing.

Tips for Filing a Grievance 

Ensure your grievance is well-documented and considered: 

• Write down all relevant details (dates, names, witnesses, etc.) as soon as you become aware of the issue. 
• Keep records of all communications, including emails, phone calls, and meetings with school or district staff.
• If you disagree with the Board of Trustees’ decision, you may be able to appeal to the Commissioner of Education. Learn more about Appeals to the Commissioner.

Finding Your School District's Grievance Policy 

• Recent updates from Senate Bill 12, require schools to make grievance procedures easier to find and understand. Grievance forms and procedures must be clearly posted on each school district or charter school’s website.
• This information must also be included in the student handbook. Look for a section labeled “Online Policies” or similar on your district’s website.

Key Local Policies to Review 

Policy manuals generally have three separate grievance policies: 

Pay close attention to the following local 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.