Texas Officials Taking Over Houston Schools Explained: Latest Battle Between Blue Cities And Red States

Topline

A Texas state agency will take over authority of Houston’s school district due to poor performance, but some experts believe school takeovers do more harm than good.

Key Facts

Chief Critics

Democratic officials are against the takeover—state Rep. Ron Reynolds told the Houston Chronicle this was an attempt to promote what Abbott believes in, which Reynolds thinks is to “push charter schools” and school vouchers, not “diversity, equity and inclusion.” Abbott has expressed support in allowing Texas residents to use tax dollars to send students to nonpublic schools, a process known as “school choice,” which uses state-sponsored scholarships (or school vouchers) to send kids to private or charter schools. Some organizations like the National Educator’s Association are wary of the damage charter schools can cause to public schools, citing reasons like the drainage of funds from public schools because charters are publicly funded and increased segregation by race and income.

Key Background

There’s over 10,000 school districts in the country and there’s only been “about 110 or so, state takeovers,” Domingo Morel, an associate professor of political science and public service at New York University told CNN. New Jersey was the first state to take over schools and recently gave authority back to the school district in 2022, ending a 33-year streak. Around 33 states have passed laws allowing the takeover of public school districts that didn’t meet rating requirements. However, a 2017 study showed a state takeover in Tennessee did not improve student achievement, suggesting it’s possible to improve schools without removing them from the school district’s jurisdiction. Michigan officials placed the Detroit Public Schools under the authority of an emergency manager from 1999 to 2016, but a 2019 report found an estimated $610 million in wasteful state spending and mismanagement of educational services and schools. Morel’s book, Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy, found around 85% of school takeovers occurred in predominantly Black and Hispanic school districts.

Tangent

This takeover is another example of white, Republican-appointed officials attempting to gain control of Democratic cities with mostly Black and Brown populations and leaders. In Mississippi, Republican state lawmakers are attempting to expand the state-run Capitol Police jurisdiction to include Jackson, Mississippi, a predominantly Black city. Both the Mississippi House and Senate have passed separate bills on the matter and will iron out the legislation in the coming weeks as the 2023 legislative session is approaching an end. The reason for the expansion, lawmakers noted, is Jackson, Mississippi’s high crime rates. In 2021, the city saw a record-breaking 155 homicides, earning a homicide rate of 97.6 murders per 100,000 residents. This shattered St. Louis’ record of 87 murders per 100,000 residents. Similarly, in the majority-Black city of Mason, Tennessee, local officials with the help of the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the state’s white, Republican comptroller after he took steps to take over the city’s finances in March 2022. The lawsuit alleges there were unfair requirements in the comptroller’s financial corrective plan and he racially discriminated against the town. However, the city threw out the lawsuit after an agreement was reached with the comptroller to raise the minimum requirement for state approval for town expenditures from $100 to $1,000, allowing the town more leeway in their spending, according to ABC 24.

Further Reading

State Education Commissioner Moves To Takeover HISD, Replace Entire Elected School Board (Houston Public Media)

Texas Education Agency announces takeover of the Houston Independent School District (Houston Public Media)

Majority-Black Town of Mason reaches agreement with Tennessee Comptroller’s office regarding town’s finances (ABC 24)

NAACP files lawsuit against Tennessee comptroller, claims threat to take over majority-Black town is discriminatory (CNN)

House revives state police expansion and bitter fight over Jackson ‘takeover’ (Mississippi Today)