Texas to take over Houston school district

The Texas Education Agency on Wednesday said it will take over the nearly 200,000-student Houston Independent School District this summer. The district’s school board has failed to improve student outcomes in the district, said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. This summer, the state education agency will appoint a board of managers from Houston to take the place of the district’s current superintendent and elected board of trustees. State officials first attempted to take control of the district in 2019 after 50 schools received failing academic performance ratings. The district opposed the move in 2019. Morath said on Wednesday that a new school board has made some progress, but more needs to be done.

What is the legal precedent for this move? Texas has taken over a school district 15 times in the last 30 years. The state passed a law in 2015 mandating a state takeover if a school district or one of its campuses receives a failing grade from the Texas Education Agency for five consecutive years.

Dig deeper: Read R. Albert Mohler Jr.’s column in WORLD Opinions about an Arizona school district that removed student teachers from a Christian college.