DECISION MADE: State will take over HISD, Texas Education Agency announces | ABC13's live coverage dives into what's next
After weeks of rumors and speculation across the Houston area, the highest official at the Texas Education Agency confirmed the state will be taking over the Houston Independent School District for some time.Leaders at HISD received a two-page letter on Wednesday morning notifying them that the TEA will temporarily take over the state's largest school district.
The move comes after years of what the state considers dysfunction and a failure to properly educate all children. In 2019, HISD had 21 schools that received an F grade.This past August, for the first time in eight years, Wheatley High School, which was one of those F schools, had a passing grade.The TEA concluded in 2019 that board members also violated multiple laws.
Understandably, for the last several weeks there have been a lot of questions about what this now-official state takeover will look like and how soon it will happen. "Only when you have this sort of diverse of group of people coming together can you then arrive at what are the best decisions to be made for kids," Morath said. "Certainly in a district as large and diverse as HISD, they have to be able to get along with one another. They have to go through and have vigorous debates with one another about what the best course of action is, but then ultimately agree to be unified in support of kids.
So, how soon will we see changes? Morath confirmed the current HISD board of trustees and the superintendent will remain in their elected roles, however, they will have no authority until the state decides to transition out of their HISD oversight. This could happen in months or years. He confirmed that in past school district takeovers, the boards of managers have stayed in the district between two and six years.
Morath added that the HISD board of trustees will no longer have authority but are asked to stay engaged with the appointed board to create a seamless transition once the state pulls away from HISD.
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