How will state takeover of HISD’s board work?
Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath finally made it official Wednesday: he plans to temporarily replace Houston ISD’s school board and appoint new representatives to govern the state’s largest district.
With his long-anticipated decision, Morath set in motion the process of selecting of a new governance team for HISD, a lengthy task that could take state officials months to complete. The effort also remains complicated by the HISD school board’s lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency, in which elected trustees are asking a federal judge to stop their removal.
Morath’s decision stems from chronically low performance at Wheatley High School and TEA investigators last week substantiating multiple allegations of misconduct by elected trustees.
The complex process has raised several questions among community members. Here are answers some of the most common queries:
What is the process for identifying and selecting candidates?
TEA officials on Wednesday released their plan for crafting the new board, as well as criteria they will use for picking appointed managers.
TEA has opened the process to the public, offering residents a chance to apply. The process includes 12 steps, with no time frames established for when they will take place or how long they will last.
First, the agency plans to conduct community meetings and receive applications. TEA officials will screen the applications, conduct reference checks with community and elected leaders, and perform background checks. Next, governance training will be provided to applicants and phone interviews will be conducted. Finalists will be subjected to two rounds of in-person interviews and required to perform an unspecified task and additional governance training.
Morath ultimately has the power to select the appointed members. He is expected to choose nine people, equal to the number of elected HISD trustees.
State officials have not said when a new board would take power, but it likely would not happen until March 2020 at the earliest.
Who can apply?
At a minimum, the agency requires that potential board members must: be an eligible voter living within HISD boundaries, pass criminal background screenings, and commit 40 hours per month to the board in the first six months and 15 hours per month thereafter.
Individuals with business ties to the district, conflicts of interest, involvement with a closed charter school or intentions to seek other elected offices will be disqualified, state officials said.
The agency outlined 14 characteristics that must exist on the board. Each candidate is not expected to possess all of these traits, but the entire board must include members who meet these qualifications. They include a demonstrated ability to collaborate, a track record of implementing change and the capacity to engage community members.
In addition, state officials said they want the board to include HISD parents, current or former educators, community leaders, and individuals with expertise in finances or law. Agency leaders noted on multiple occasions that they plan to create a board that reflects the district’s racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic diversity. TEA officials are not required to choose appointees from each of HISD’s nine single-member voting districts.
The TEA does not specify any ideological viewpoints on education that candidates must possess. However, some community and education advocates are wary that Morath, who is an appointee of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, will choose candidates with more conservativeleaning stances. All nine elected trustees are Democrats.
What powers would the appointed board have? And what happens to the elected trustees?
The appointed board would assume all responsibilities held by the district’s elected trustees. That includes the authority to hire or fire the superintendent, set district policy, approve the district budget, establish the tax rate and call bond elections. The appointed board will be required to follow Texas open meetings laws, which mandate that all votes and deliberations about district issues be done in public.
Once an appointed board takes over, HISD’s elected trustees retain their titles but lack any voting authority. Multiple trustees and school board candidates have said they plan to remain a voice for their community if a replacement board is appointed.
Appointed board members, like elected trustees, will not be paid for their work.
How long would an appointed board remain in power?
At a minimum, a full replacement board is expected to stay for two years. State law requires that Morath must tell appointed board members whether he plans to phase them out before the two-year anniversary of their appointment. Morath can extend their stay if “insufficient progress has been made toward improving the academic and financial performance of the district.”
Once Morath decides to phase out the board, three elected trustees would be added to the board annually. Morath has the authority to select which elected officials would assume power each year.
What is an appointed board expected to do in HISD? And what’s the plan for addressing chronically low performance at Wheatley and other long-struggling campuses?
The TEA will give some direction to an appointed board on the most immediate issues that need to be addressed. Raising student achievement at Wheatley and other low-rated schools will rank among the top responsibilities. While its focus may be narrowly tailored to a few challenges, the appointed board remains responsible for governance of the entire district.
State officials will not dictate how the board should address Wheatley’s performance or remedy governance fissures. Rather, the appointed board will take responsibility for crafting plans for the district in conjunction with the superintendent’s administration.
The current HISD leadership team is implementing plans for Wheatley and other long-struggling schools, mostly through its signature Achieve 180 turnaround effort. The district’s elected trustees also boast that they have refocused on student achievement following multiple displays of public acrimony. However, only some trustees have been engaged in that process.
What happens to HISD’s superintendent position?
Texas law mandates that Morath choose the district’s superintendent when he installs a stateappointed board. The replacement board can keep or cut loose Morath’s choice once in power.
Morath has not said whether he intends to keep Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan, who has held the position since March 2018. Lathan has a strong track record of raising achievement in low-performing schools and four years of experience in the district. However, Morath could seek to provide HISD with a fresh start after more than a year of discord between Lathan’s administration and a majority of board members.
What impact will the HISD board’s lawsuit have on the appointment process?
For now, TEA officials are moving ahead with plans to empower a new school board. That could change, however, if a federal judge grants a preliminary injunction sought by the HISD board, which wants to halt all efforts to remove them from power. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel has set a hearing on the motion for Dec. 5 in Austin.