Questions swirl as fate of HISD board remains uncertain. Here are a few answers.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath came to and left the Greater Houston area Thursday without addressing one of the biggest issues on his agenda: the fate of Houston ISD’s school board.
In the coming weeks, Morath likely will be forced to decide whether to replace all trustees governing Texas’ largest school district or close one of HISD’s most historic campuses, the consequence of historic Wheatley High School failing to meet state academic standards for a seventh consecutive time. While Morath was in no mood to discuss the looming decision following the release of academic accountability ratings Thursday — he hurried out of an Aldine ISD school without answering questions or making a statement on HISD — a review of comments by the commissioner, his top deputies and state education leaders offers insight into the likely process.
Barring a successful appeal of Wheatley’s grade, which became public Thursday, Morath is widely expected to strip power from the nine HISD trustees and appoint a new board of managers comprised of Houston-area residents. The process likely would take multiple months to complete, with a replacement board seated sometime in early 2020.
“These are not going to be people that live in Austin,” Morath told the Houston Chronicle in the spring of 2018, when asked about the possibility of a state-appointed board taking control of HISD. “These are going to be well-qualified people that live in Houston that just didn’t want to run for school board before, but they wouldn’t mind being appointed."
In light of the looming state intervention in HISD, home to nearly 210,000 students and 280 campuses, here are answers to the most common questions swirling about a replacement school board:
Why is Morath “widely expected” to oust HISD trustees instead of closing Wheatley?
To date, Morath has not definitively stated he would prefer replacing HISD’s school board over shuttering schools, though he hinted at it last year.
“I'm not sure (school) closure is, in fact, the best option in Houston,” Morath said at the time, cautioning that he wanted to see academic accountability results for chronically low-rated schools before making a decision.
Morath’s top lieutenant in Houston, AJ Crabill, echoed the commissioner’s comments at a town hall meeting last year.
“We have to look beyond state-mandated closure as a panacea in this particular instance,” said Crabill, who served as the Texas Education Agency deputy commissioner of governance until this summer, when he became a special adviser to Morath. “I don’t say that out of an unwillingness to use that as an option. I say that from someone who’s gone to the campuses and doesn’t see that it actually moves the ball forward for those students.”
In addition, several state legislators working in education circles have stated they believe a replacement board is imminent.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican and member of the Senate Education Committee, declared earlier this month that he is “nearly 100 percent certain” that CONTINUE READING: Questions swirl as fate of HISD board remains uncertain. Here are a few answers. - HoustonChronicle.com
