Turner: State takeover of HISD near
TEA still remains vague about timeline as mayor accuses the agency of ‘overreaching’
Mayor Sylvester Turner sounded alarms at the City Council meeting Wednesday, saying he has heard the state intends to take over Houston ISD as early as next week, the most official signal yet that the
Texas Education Agency plans to seize control of the state’s largest school district.
“I’m talking to legislators, and what they’re saying to me is that the state intends to takeover the district, replacing the entire board, replacing the superintendent ... And they intend to do it next week,” said
Turner, who spent three decades as a state representative.
The embattled school district has faced the threat of a state takeover for four years because of trustee misconduct and academic struggles. A Texas Supreme Court ruling in January cleared the way for the state to intervene, sending a fresh jolt of uncertainty into the 187,000-student district that is seeing students leave in droves. The state would face a monumental task of managing a massive bureaucracy and boosting student achievement in a district where 80 percent of students are from low-income families.
The mayor questioned how the state could successfully take over 273 schools, and urged the community to speak out against the takeover.
“We can’t be silent on this one. The state is overreaching,” Turner said at a City Council meeting. “It is a total obliteration of local control, and when you take it, you own it … You are destroying the public education system.”
Rep. Alma Allen, who had also been hearing rumors of a impending takeover, asked TEA Commissioner Mike Morath about the possibility at a Public Education Committee meeting Tuesday.
“The streets have it … that it’s
going to be March 6, and there are already persons that have already been asked to take over the position of superintendent,” Allen said. “Do you have any idea (if this is true)?”
Morath did not confirm or give a timeline.
“All I will say is we’re waiting to evaluate the Supreme Court’s ruling that has not yet been finalized,” Morath said during the meeting. “What we’re going to do is going to be a mandatory action under state law, not a discretionary action.”
The looming takeover rumors come just days before HISD is set to host thousands at its State of the Schools. It will be the second event for Millard House II, who was hired as superintendent in June 2021.
While some officials seem sure that a takeover is days away, Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said there is still much uncertainty.
“It’s difficult because we don’t know the full extent of what they intend to do,” Anderson said. “But I will say we’re very disappointed because this move seems purely political. I think we’re going to see a mass exodus of teachers in the district, and I hope they don’t use that as an excuse to close schools.”
Dani Hernandez, HISD board president, said there haven’t been any contingency plans made in the event the district is taken over because there are “too many unknowns.”
“I believe in a democratically elected board. I think HISD should have local control of the board,” Hernandez said. “HISD has been on an upward trajectory in terms of governance of the board, and student academics.”
Despite the uncertainty in the district, she said she intends to run in the next election. Typically, elected trustees are brought back a year or two after a takeover.
Traci Riley, an HISD parent who lives in the Greater Heights, said she feels a takeover in the middle of a school year would be disruptive.
“All we’re going to do is make a fresh start that is going to hurt children and test scores,” Riley said. “I just don’t understand the urgency. How does a transition period right before testing benefit children?”
A takeover has been brewing since 2019 when Morath made a move to take over HISD after allegations of trustee misconduct and after Phillis Wheatley High School received failing accountability grades for seven straight years.
In 2020, HISD sued, and a Travis County district judge provided the district some relief by granting a temporary injunction, bringing the TEA’s plan to a halt. An appeals court upheld the injunction, but the TEA took the case to the Texas Supreme Court.
The justices heard arguments from both TEA and HISD in October over whether Morath had the authority to appoint a board of managers to replace elected Houston school board members. The state argued that he does under a bipartisan law, enacted in September 2021, known as Senate Bill 1365, that gives the education commissioner authority to appoint a board of managers based on a “conservator appointment” that lasts for at least two years. The law became effective after the case was first taken to court.
The state appointed Doris Delaney to be a conservator for Kashmere High School after its low academic performance triggered sanctions in 2016.
HISD’s counsel argued that wasn’t enough to count under the law. The purpose of a campus conservator is to help make an improvement, and Kashmere High School now has a passing rating, HISD’s lawyers said in October.
Other Texas districts that have been taken over include Kendleton ISD, North Forest ISD, La Marque ISD and Beaumont ISD.
HISD will have a right to due process hearings, per state code. However, that hearing will be held by the TEA and overseen by a hearing officer the commissioner selects, making it difficult for school districts to get a ruling in their favor, experts said.
A potential takeover would have both personal impact for those in the community and likely an economic impact, as many takeovers have led to employees losing their jobs, said Attorney Christopher L. Tritico, who has represented three Houston-area districts — North Forest, Beaumont and La Marque — in takeover hearings.
“This has been brewing for a long time. They have had a long long time to consider the downside of what they were doing to the community and hardworking employees,” Tritico said. “I would hope that the governor and commissioner would stop and take a look at that.”