Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s day by day e-newsletter that helps to keep readers up to the mark on the maximum very important Texas news.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner stated Wednesday morning that he has been informed that the Texas Education Agency plans to take over the Houston Independent School District as early as subsequent week.
The largest faculty district in Texas and the company that oversees it had been locked in a felony combat for years, with the TEA elevating issues over Houston ISD’s faculty board control and coffee rankings in a single highschool.
“I’m talking to legislators, and what they’re saying to me is that the state intends to take over the district, replacing the entire board, replacing the superintendent,” Turner stated at a City Council assembly. “I find that totally alarming.”
News of Turner’s expectation was once first reported by The Houston Chronicle.
This comes after a House Committee on Public Education assembly Tuesday the place state Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, informed TEA Commissioner Mike Morath that she heard that the company would announce the takeover on March 6.
“We have not made any final decision and not announced any final action,” Morath informed Allen.
Morath and the TEA first moved to force out the district’s school board in 2019 based on allegations of misconduct via trustees and years of low efficiency at Phillis Wheatley High School. The highschool gained a C duty grade final yr, an development from the F it gained in 2019. Houston ISD general gained a B grade.
Houston ISD sued, and in 2020, a Travis County district pass judgement on halted Morath’s plan via granting a temporary injunction. The case sooner or later reached the Texas Supreme Court, the place the agency’s lawyers argued final yr {that a} 2021 legislation — which went into impact after the case was once first taken to courtroom — lets in for a state takeover. The legislation lets in the TEA commissioner to interchange a college board and its superintendent if considered one of its colleges receives consecutive years of failing grades.
The Supreme Court threw out the injunction in January, clearing the trail for the TEA to position in position new faculty board individuals, who may just then vote to finish the lawsuit.
The Texas Education Agency and Houston ISD didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
During the House committee assembly, Morath stated the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion and had now not but finalized it.
“What we’re going to do is going to be a mandatory action under state law, not a discretionary action,” Morath informed Allen.
tale via Source link