Texas Education Agency Plans Takeover of Houston ISD, Mayor Says

Mayor of Houston, Texas, Sylvester Turner, speaks during a news conference at the 90th Winter Meeting of United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) in Washington on Jan. 19, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner spoke out Wednesday about the rumored takeover of the Houston Independent School District.

Turner addressed the issue during a City Council meeting. He said that multiple lawmakers had informed him of the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) plans to take control of the district as soon as next week.

“What they’re saying to me is that the state intends to take over Houston Independent School District [HISD], replacing the entire board, replacing the superintendent, and running, taking over the entire school district,” Turner said.

HISD is the state’s largest school district, with nearly 195,000 students attending its 274 schools.

Yearslong Battle

In January, the Texas Supreme Court reversed a temporary injunction blocking the TEA from taking control of the district, clearing the way for state managers to replace school board members (pdf).

“Under the governing law, the District’s claims do not support a temporary injunction against the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency and his appointed conservator,” Justice Jane Bland wrote in her opinion. “We therefore reverse the court of appeals’ judgment, vacate the temporary injunction, and direct the trial court to consider the Commissioner’s plea to the jurisdiction.”

The case stems from allegations of misconduct by school board trustees and years of low academic performance at Phyllis Wheatley High School.

TEA Commissioner Mike Morath first attempted to oversee the district in 2019, after lowering the district’s accreditation status to “Accredited-Warned.”

HISD took the matter to court, arguing the TEA did not have the authority to impose the district’s power.

In 2020, a Travis County judge granted a temporary injunction halting the agency’s takeover. The following year, Texas lawmakers approved SB 1365, which lawyers for the TEA argued provided the agency authority to proceed in its plans to oversee the district.

HISD Superintendent Millard House II, who took the helm in 2021, developed a five-year plan to address the problems within the district.

“Guided by community input, the district developed and is executing its five-year strategic plan,” House said in a press release in January. “There is still much more work to be done, but we are excited about the progress we have made as a district and are looking forward to the work ahead.”

Wheatley’s rating improved from unacceptable to a C during the 2021-2022 school year.

Turner told the City Council that a state takeover would be detrimental to the district.

“And when you take it, you own it,” Turner said. “And if you take it and start breaking it up into charter schools and utilizing vouchers and all of this, you are destroying the public school education system.”

The TEA and HISD did not respond to requests for comment.