By Juan A. Lozano and Paul J. Weber -
The Associated Press
The authorities of Texas announced this Wednesday that the state will take control of the public school district of Houston, the eighth largest in the country with almost 200,000 students, after years of threats in this regard due to the denunciations of irregularities and chronic low grades in a of the nearly 50 schools.
"This action empowers a board of Houstonians who strongly believe that all children can learn and achieve at high levels when given the right support, this action puts that kind of board in charge of the district," the district commissioner said. Education Mike Morath to local Houston Public Media.
"I think it's really important for families to know that this decision is not a reflection of the amazing students in Houston, nor is it a reflection of the hard-working teachers and staff in Houston. There are a lot of students in Houston who are really flourishing, but there are also a large number of students in Houston who haven't received the supports they need to be successful," he added.
A group of people demonstrate against the Texas government taking control of the public schools in the Houston district, on March 3, 2023.Juan A. Lozano / AP
The decision of the government of Republican Governor Greg Abbott represents one of the largest school takeovers in the history of the United States.
In addition, it deepens the dispute around the largest city in Texas, where Democrats rule at the local level while Republican leaders at the state level have tried to increase their authority after electoral setbacks and pandemic restrictions.
In recent decades, other large cities such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Detroit, Michigan have been taken over by state authorities, often viewed as the last resort for underperforming schools.
The decision is usually rejected by the community and its critics maintain that this formula obtains little improvement.
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The state of Texas began planning a takeover of the Houston Independent School District in 2019, following allegations of misconduct by school trustees, including inappropriate influence of vendor contracts, and endemically low academic results in a of its approximately 50 high schools.
The district sued to stop the takeover from going through, but new education laws later passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature and a January ruling by the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for it to go through. just.
Houston's schools are not under the mayor's control, unlike cities like New York or Chicago, but as takeover rumors mounted, the city's Democratic leaders rallied against it.
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Most of Houston's school board members have been replaced since 2019. District officials also say state officials are ignorant of academic gains made in all of the city's schools.
Race is also an issue, because the vast majority of students in Houston schools are Hispanic or black.
Domingo Morel, a professor of Political Science and Public Service at New York University, has studied school takeovers across the country and noted that the political dynamics in Texas are similar to states that have intervened elsewhere.
Houston's demographics, according to Morel, are also similar.
“If we just focused on taking over school districts because they are underperforming, we would have a lot more takeovers,” Morel said.
"But that's not what happens."