Houston, Texas (KTRK) – ABC13 confirmed that the Texas Education Agency will stop the rumors on Wednesday. Commissioner Mike Morath will announce what the agency plans to do with the Houston Charter School District, where the possibility of an imminent state takeover has loomed for weeks.
Houston area lawmakers will meet in person with the TEA commissioner in Austin at 9 a.m. Wednesday. He will inform them of the state’s plans for the district before a public announcement affecting 187,000 students and their families.
SEE ALSO: ISD Houston teachers and staff head to Austin to advocate for schools
Three weeks ago, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said a takeover of the state’s largest school district was imminent.
The Texas Tribune reported that a job advertisement looking for candidates to apply for a new board to oversee HISD and a slideshow explaining the agency’s responsibilities could be found on the TEA website before it was removed Tuesday night.
Speaking of a full takeover, Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, said, “I think the decision has been made, and they’re determined to do it.”
He joined the many state officials, Houston area leaders, and community members who have publicly opposed the state takeover of HISD. Despite the improvement, past failures at Wheatley High School and at the board level paved the way for TEA to consider removing the Board of Trustees, replacing Superintendent Millard House II, and closing Wheatley. The delegate can declare action on any of these options or any combination of these options.
“I don’t think it’s going to be positive and I want the crowd to be prepared for the worst,” Reynolds said. “That’s what we expect to have tomorrow.” “I am ready to take over the board, take over local control with a board that will have no accountability to the public, and that will be accountable only to the TEA Commissioner.”
Rep. Reynolds says he thinks the decision will boil down to politics.
“I think they want to license many of these schools in HISD,” Reynolds said. “And there’s a huge push toward vouchers and other things that affect public schools. So, that’s the ugly side of politics that I despise.”
SEE ALSO: Looming HISD Acquisition Raises Concerns About Impact on Communities of Color
Current trustee Kendall Baker said he wasn’t convinced state involvement would be a bad thing.
“Let’s look at the positive side of it,” Baker said. “Wait and see what happens. What happened in the past got us in a bit of trouble. Now, the Commissioner has the green light to come in and check. He has my full support in whatever is going on.”
Baker and the other trustees would lose their decision-making power in HISD if Commissioner Morath appointed a new board of directors that would be accountable to him, rather than to the local constituents.
“The hope is that if that happens, they’ll take charge, patch what they want, and then bring it back. And they’ll bring it back to the sitting trustees,” Baker said.
State law does not specify a timeline for how long a takeover can last. This only adds to the uncertainty Reynolds described as troubling for the largest and most diverse school district in the state.
“Keep engaged. Keep pumping everything into these students, because they’re going to need it,” Reynolds said in a letter to people who have invested in public education.
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