The superintendent of Houston ISD worked his last day in office last Friday, ahead of the impending takeover of Texas’ biggest public school system by state-appointed managers.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, one of Houston ISD’s struggling campuses triggered a takeover mechanism in Texas law because of chronic underperformance.
This required the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to dismiss the local school board and install new leadership. TEA Commissioner Mike Morath previously said that he would not appoint a board of managers until June 1 at the earliest.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted on May 26, “This will be [Superintendent] Millard House [sic] last day. In 20 months as superintendent he has improved the academic performance of the schools that needed attention. He shepherded the district in difficult times. I want to thank him and apologize to him for how the State treated him.”
In his notification to Houston ISD’s Board of Trustees about the takeover in March, Morath lauded House for his accomplishments at the district but said he was obligated to give the district a “fresh start,” opting to appoint a new superintendent, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Rumors circulated in the last month that Morath might appoint former Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles to the top post at Houston ISD, however, TEA would not confirm that any decision had been made, according to KHOU.
Like Houston ISD, Dallas ISD has long struggled with producing adequate student achievement outcomes. In fact, it has been performing worse than Houston ISD in recent years, prompting insinuations of some kind of double standard by several education activists, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Looking at on-time graduation rates, HISD saw 85.7% of its Class of 2022 earn a diploma in four years. Only 81.1% of DISD’s Class of 2022 graduated on time.
Dropouts were also worse at DISD. The district logged a dropout rate of 4.5% for the 2021-2022 school year. HISD’s dropout rate was 4% that year.
Following the March announcement of the takeover, hundreds of Houston residents applied to TEA for a seat on the new board of managers — which TEA posted job openings for on its website outlining the requirements.
TEA’s move to take over the district has spurred some outcry from community members over the dismissal of their locally-elected school board. It also prompted claims that the state agency was not being transparent about the actual process, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
TEA has since been more clear about the course of events that will unfold and expressed its hope to retain current trustees in an advisory capacity.
“It is absolutely our expectation and intention that the new board [would] engage and partner with you guys. We would invite you to be advisors and partners with the Board of Managers,” said Steve Lecholop, deputy commissioner of governance of TEA, at a Q&A session attended by the current trustees earlier this month.
“I would encourage you to share your vision, your values, your concerns and really partner with them to help define and develop what they’re going to implement,” Lecholop advised.
According to ABC 13, trustees pushed back against Lecholop at the meeting, with at least one trustee raising the issue that they would be working for no pay.
“So y’all want to get two-for-one freebies, huh? Because we don’t get paid, zero,” said Trustee Kathy Blueford-Daniels.
“Each of you has institutional memory that is valuable and well-informed. Engaging with the new board members to relay that is going to be a very valuable service that each of you could provide,” Lecholop said during the meeting.
Still, parts of the Houston ISD community are still skeptical about the impending takeover.
Following an in-person meeting with Morath, some Houston teachers suggested that TEA was still not being forthcoming.
“People were asking about charter schools. People were asking about teacher pay. People were asking about what interventions were going to take place from the state, and most of the questions weren’t answered,” said Houston ISD high school teacher Stephen Wright, speaking with ABC 13.
The local teacher’s union is also criticizing TEA’s decision to pay out the remainder of House’s contract, tweeting:
“80% of Houston Taxpayers do *NOT* want outgoing #HISD Supt paid 2-Yrs Salary (almost $1M) without working those years. #TEA *did* Publicly State @HISDSupe could be used as a Consultant (as an option).”
Morath is expected to name a new superintendent and board of managers on Thursday, June 1.