The independence of the state's largest school district remains in limbo following an opinion ruling from the Texas Supreme Court last Friday, siding with the Texas Education Agency, which has long been vying to take over Houston Independent School District.The independence of the state's largest school district remains in limbo following an opinion ruling from the Texas Supreme Court last Friday.
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court sided in favor with the TEA, which could mean a state-appointed conservator to essentially replace the superintendent and a state-appointed board of managers would replace the elected school board."No matter how you slice it, when people are appointed and not elected, there's less accountability," Griffin said.
"In 2015, House Bill 1842 established based on academic performance," Griffin said. "If one campus in any school district in the state of Texas had four or five years of low performance, the commissioner could either come in and close the campus or appoint a board of managers."And after a highly dysfunctional school board meeting made headlines with bitter in-fighting, the state announced its intentions.
The TEA responded to our questions about the future saying, "TEA continues to review the Supreme Court's decision in order to determine next steps that best support the students, teachers, parents, and school community of the Houston Independent School District."