Rumors are reportedly circulating that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) will be moving to take over the Houston Independent School District (HISD) as early as this week.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner made mention of the possible development at a city council meeting on Wednesday.
“I’m talking to legislators, and what they’re saying to me is that the state intends to take over the district, replacing the entire board, replacing the superintendent … And they intend to do it next week,” Turner said, per the Houston Chronicle.
A state takeover of HISD would mark the culmination of a four-year legal drama between the school district and TEA over whether the state’s education agency has the legal authority to temporarily replace HISD’s elected school board with an appointed board of managers or conservator.
The Supreme Court of Texas weighed in on the matter recently, ruling in favor of TEA and opening the door for a state takeover of the district, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
At play is a law that allows the state government — via its education regulatory agency (TEA) — to appoint new district leadership if a campus logs five consecutive years of “unacceptable performance.”
Texas House Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston), a supporter of the law, told Fox 26, “I didn’t want to take over either. I wanted them to fix the schools. When I passed this law, I never thought this would happen. I thought they would fix the school.”
If TEA were to make the move, it would be the first time a district of HISD’s size would be run by a state-appointed school board. It would also pose a direct threat to the school boards of other similarly-sized districts that have allowed their campuses’ academic performance to falter.
Case in point, the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), which had 29 campuses earn a failing grade on last year’s TEA accountability report despite the best efforts of its educators, has had a long history of poor academic performance, as well as allegations of grade manipulation and corruption.
Still, it is unclear whether any particular campus at DISD is putting its Board of Trustees in jeopardy, even as a September poll last year found that a plurality of respondents blame the district’s poor academic outcomes on mismanagement.
In a statement last week, per KHOU 11, HISD Superintendent Millard House II said: “I remain laser-focused on fulfilling my duties as Superintendent alongside our Board of Trustees to provide the best possible educational outcomes for all HISD students. My team and I will continue to implement our community-informed strategic plan, which is delivering results for HISD students and families.”
The Dallas Express reached out to the TEA and Rep. Dutton for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.