Acknowledging that the district had “no further legal recourse,” Houston ISD trustees voted Thursday night (March 9) to end the lawsuit aimed at preventing the state from seizing control, and elected officials are warning that the takeover is “imminent.”
Fox26 News aired an interview with State Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Dist. 27), who said he met with Texas Education Agency Chief Mike Morath Thursday and learned details of plans for the TEA to assume control of the district.
Reynolds said Morath will meet with Texas area legislators next week to get input on appointments to a board of managers that will replace the HISD board of trustees in decision-making, reducing elected board members to “figureheads,” and that official legal notice to HISD will follow.
The legislator said that full state control will come slowly, though, perhaps over a period of months.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner also spoke with Fox 26 Thursday, denouncing the TEA for making decisions without public input, and claiming that the state has already decided on a replacement for Superintendent Millard House II.
Neither the current board members nor House were in their positions back when the state’s action started percolating in 2019. That was when chronic underperformance by some HISD schools and questionable activities by several board members prompted a TEA investigation that eventually triggered mandatory provisions for a takeover.
The HISD lawsuit led to a ruling that delayed the TEA taking control, but a Texas Supreme Court ruling in January cleared the way for the state to move forward.
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