Abbott takes over Houston ISD, largest Texas school district, due to low performance

A Senior official in Gov. After a long court battle, Greg Abbott’s (R.TX) administration announced Wednesday it would appoint a board to manage the Houston Independent School District.

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath sent a Wednesday email to the school district informing them that the Houston school board would lose its authority. A board of Morath-appointed managers would temporarily assume control of the district because of low academic achievement at many district schools. This was due to Wheatley High School’s 27% failure rate to meet state grade standards for the 2021-2022 school years. He also stated that he would be appointing another superintendent.

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“A school board has a solemn responsibility to focus above all else on serving all students enrolled in its school system,” Morath wrote. “It does this by ensuring its superintendent is positioned to provide a strong set of supports for district teachers and staff who work directly with those students, not just on some of its campuses, but all of them. The intervention I am ordering is focused on ensuring the Houston ISD governing team is better supporting its students.”

The state attempted to take over the day-to-day operations of the school district’s school district in 2019 but the school district filed a lawsuit. An injunction was obtained by the district and was in effect from January 2020 through January 2023 when the Texas Supreme Court declared that the takeover was legal.

The initial attempt by Morath and TEA to appoint a management board was prompted by the poor academic performance at Wheatley High School. It had not met state benchmarks for seven years consecutively. The agency’s factsheet was reviewed by The Washington Examiner Additionally, the school board claimed that several of its members had repeatedly violated Texas law.

“In the time since that injunction was imposed, a former board president, the district’s chief operating officer, and four district administrators either pled guilty or were indicted for illegal activity related to a bribery scheme,” Morath spoke of a criminal case in Houston ISD Board of Education where Rhonda Skillern Jones (ex-president) and other district administrators pleaded guilty federal corruption charges.

Morath explained that state law required him to intervene. Despite the progress made since the original takeover attempt, he was still required by law to appoint the board. This was due to the seven-year period of neglect. “unacceptable academic performance” Wheatley

“The governing body of a school system bears ultimate responsibility for the outcomes of all students,” Morath wrote. “While the current Board of Trustees has made progress, systemic problems in Houston ISD continue to impact district students.”

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and the Texas Federation of Teachers criticized the state’s takeover of the school district.

“You cannot run school districts, cities, and counties from Austin, Texas,” Turner said. “You tell me how this benefits the kids? Instead of grading the students and the teachers, the TEA needs to grade themselves on how they are handling this. I give them an F.”

According to the ACLU of Texas, “hostile takeover” This would have adverse effects on Houston’s schools and teachers. It also implied that racial bias was motivating.

“The state takeover of HISD is not about public education — it’s about political control of a 90% black and brown student body in one of the country’s most diverse cities,” The legal group tweeted. “And it’s not what our students and teachers need.”

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Morath stated in his letter that the Houston ISD community would select the board of directors. He also welcomed applications. “committed to serving on behalf of the students of the district and the community.”

“The members of the Board of Managers will be responsible for overseeing the management of Houston ISD, including oversight of the district’s efforts to address and correct the deficiencies [in the district], and for implementation of effective structural and procedural improvement strategies for long-term positive change,” Morath wrote.