Academic program claims: IB cost and the math-exam failure rate

Claim check

• Claim 1: “IB costs very little.” Verdict: A district review put it at about $511,406 a year, about $255,703 per campus.¹
• Claim 2: “About 90% of students fail the new math test.” Verdict: Can’t be checked. No public data.

In short

We checked two claims. IB does cost money: a district review put it at about $511,406 a year.¹ The claim that about 90% fail the new math test can’t be checked.² There is no public data.

Related: academic programs · claims checked · money out

Claim 1: what IB costs

IB now runs at Leander High School only. A district review put the cost at about $255,703 per school, $511,406 in all.¹ The 2025-26 budget booked $868,325 in IB cuts.³

Whether that is “a lot” is a judgment. The cuts were less than 0.2% of what the district spent on day-to-day operations in 2024-25.³⁴

Cost per student

The same review counted 47 students working toward the IB diploma. That works out to about $16,096 per diploma student each year.¹ Over five years, 208 Leander High and 155 Vista Ridge High students earned the diploma.¹

So the cost is small next to the whole budget, but large per student. Both things are true.

How the cuts were decided

We found no board vote on IB by itself. The IB cuts were inside the yearly budget votes: 6–1 on June 19, 2025, and 6–0 (one absent) on June 18, 2026.⁵ That is legal and normal. It does mean no single vote shows where each trustee stood on IB.

Claim 2: “about 90% fail”

We searched the saved meeting transcripts, including the Feb. 2026 public comments on the new math track, and did not find this figure. The district has not published pass rates for the new math track.² We found no number that backs the claim, and none that disproves it.

Verdict: We cannot confirm it.

What the state does show

About 43% to 44% of graduates met the AP or IB mark in any subject for the classes of 2022 to 2024.⁶

For the district as a whole, the state’s final 2025 grade was a B (88). It was B in each rated year from 2018 to 2024.⁷

The district’s side

• IB is not a program the state requires.⁸
• Pass rates for a brand-new course take time to collect and check.

Questions to ask

• When will the district post pass rates for the new middle-school math track?
• How much did the change to IB actually save, by the district’s count?

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: We no longer say a parent raised the claim at a Feb. 2026 meeting. Our transcript search did not find the figure.
• Nov. 2, 2026: We changed wording so it says no more than our sources show.
• Nov. 2, 2026: We made the source link names plainer.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.

What you can do or watch next

• Watch the next state test results and school report cards each summer.

What we still don’t know

• Pass rates for the new middle-school math track.
• Whether the IB savings reached the full $868,325 the budget counted.³

Full story: IB, gifted classes and dual language.

Numbers marked “our math” are our estimates, not official figures. The notes show the inputs and the steps.

Footnotes

1. Board packet, Mar. 26, 2026, program review “International Baccalaureate”: offered at Leander High School; cost about $255,703 per campus, $511,406 total; diplomas in the last five years LHS 208, VHS 155; transportation stops. Packet pp.90–95. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Board packet, Apr. 24, 2025, “Math Pathway 3 – Implementation.” Packet p.56. Board packet, Sept. 9, 2025, Pathway 3 details. Packet p.56. ↩ ↩²

3. Board packet, Aug. 17, 2026, “25-26 Budget Reductions”: Elementary “International Baccalaureate Coordinators & Spanish Teachers ($271,325)”; High School “International Baccalaureate ($597,000)”; total $15,397,802. Column totals check. Packet p.85. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Operating spending 2024-25: $491,212,282 (TEA PEIMS actual financial data; see the money-out page). Our math: $868,325 ÷ $491,212,282 = 0.18%. The cuts are for 2025-26 and the spending total is for 2024-25, the latest full year. ↩

5. Budget votes: June 19, 2025, 6–1, Minutes; June 18, 2026, 6–0 with one absent, Minutes. No separate IB vote was found. ↩

6. Board packet, Feb. 5, 2026, 2024-25 TAPR report: “AP/IB Met Criteria in any subject 43% 44% 43%” (classes of 2022–2024). Packet p.32. ↩

7. Texas Education Agency, final 2025 A–F ratings (after appeals, Dec. 11, 2025): Leander ISD B, 88. Earlier: 2024 B 86, 2023 B 88, 2022 B 89, 2019 B 89, 2018 B 89. ↩

8. Board packet, Mar. 26, 2026, IB review: “The program is not a required program.” Packet p.91. ↩