THE BIGGEST SHOW IN TEXAS: HOW HOUSTON'S SCHOOLS BECAME A BILLIONAIRE'S PLAYGROUND AND WHY YOUR VOTE ON TUESDAY IS THE ONLY FIRE EXTINGUISHER IN THE ROOM
An Op-Ed | October 29, 2026
There's a quote that never gets old — mainly because it ages like fine irony. On January 11, 2000, then-Governor George W. Bush stood before cameras and delivered what may be the most accidentally honest thing ever said about American education policy: "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"
Twenty-six years later, in the fourth-largest city in America, that grammatically challenged question has never been more relevant. Houston Independent School District — once a locally governed, B-rated school system serving over 190,000 students — has been seized by the state, handed to a charter school entrepreneur, stripped of its elected school board, drained of nearly $450 million in reserves, and is now hemorrhaging students at a rate that would make a sinking ship blush. The kids still in the building? Many of them are staring at AI-generated lesson plans written by algorithms and approved by... well, nobody's entirely sure who.
Welcome to the New Education System™. Buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy ride — unless you vote on Tuesday.
The Takeover: How Texas Hijacked Houston's Schools
Let's set the scene. In 2023, the Texas Education Agency (TEA), under Commissioner Mike Morath, replaced HISD's democratically elected school board with a state-appointed Board of Managers and installed Mike Miles — founder of the Third Future Schools charter network — as superintendent. The stated reason? One chronically failing high school (Wheatley) and governance concerns.
One school. Out of hundreds. And the state's solution was to seize the entire district.
Diane Ravitch — the nationally renowned education historian, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, and proud 1956 graduate of HISD's own San Jacinto High School — called it what it was: "unfair, racist, and wasteful." She has pointed out repeatedly on her blog that HISD was a B-rated district under the state's own accountability system before the takeover. Not failing. Not collapsing. A B. That's the grade most parents would high-five their kids for getting on a math test.
But the takeover was never really about Wheatley High School, was it?
Follow the Money: The Privatization Pipeline
Here's where the plot thickens like a good Texas chili — heavy on the grease.
Mike Miles didn't arrive in Houston from some ivory tower of educational idealism. He arrived from Third Future Schools, a charter school network he founded in 2015. That same network has since been contracted to manage at least 12 struggling schools across seven Texas districts, including Killeen, San Antonio, Waco, and Beaumont — all under the convenient umbrella of Senate Bill 1882, which lets districts outsource school management to charter operators in exchange for extra state funding and accountability relief.
The TEA investigated allegations that public funds from Texas were being funneled to Miles' Colorado-based charter operations. The TEA — the same agency that appointed Miles — cleared him. Critics called this the fox auditing the henhouse.
Meanwhile, HISD has been spending between $10 million and $19 million per year since 2023 building its own centralized curriculum — staffed by over 100 employees and turbocharged by AI-generated content. That curriculum is now being handed out for free to districts across Texas and as far away as Colorado and Oregon. As the Big Education Ape blog put it: "That's not a curriculum budget. That's a curriculum industrial complex."
And who's cheering from the skyboxes? The billionaire privatizer elite.
The Billionaire Buyers' Club
The push for vouchers, charter expansion, and the dismantling of traditional public schools in Texas isn't a grassroots movement. It's a checkbook movement. Here's the roster:
| Donor | Fortune Source | Texas Education Play |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Yass (PA) | Susquehanna International Group | Poured $10M+ into Texas to primary anti-voucher Republicans |
| Tim Dunn (TX) | CrownQuest Oil | Funds Defend Texas Liberty PAC; targets moderate GOP |
| Farris & Dan Wilks (TX) | Fracking (Frac Tech) | Decades of bankrolling right-wing education PACs |
| Betsy DeVos (MI) | Amway / AFC | National school privatization network funding Texas races |
| Elon Musk | Tesla / SpaceX / X | Heavy contributions to conservative Texas candidates |
These aren't Texans worried about their neighborhood school. These are out-of-state and in-state oligarchs who see public education as a market to be captured — and your children's classrooms as the inventory.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), the American Federation for Children, and the Club for Growth serve as the policy laundering machines — drafting model voucher legislation, running attack ads against rural Republicans who dare vote with public school parents, and hosting conferences where "school choice" is pitched like a timeshare in Cancún.
The Scoreboard: What the "Gains" Are Actually Costing
Miles and his boosters love to flash the numbers: D- and F-rated campuses plummeted from 121 to nearly zero! STAAR scores are up! Achievement gaps are narrowing!
Let's not dismiss those gains — but let's also not swallow them whole without chewing.
Here's what the cheerleaders leave out of the highlight reel:
- 21,000 students have left HISD since the takeover, costing the district roughly $190 million in state funding. When you lose a fifth of your student body, your "improvement" may just be a selection effect wearing a graduation cap.
- Teacher campus retention dropped to 58.6% — down from above 70% before the takeover. Nearly 20% of teachers are now uncertified, up from 0.3% in 2016–17, according to University of Houston researchers.
- Nearly $450 million in reserves have been drained in just two years. NES campuses cost an additional $700,000 in first-year startup costs each and roughly $2,200 more per student in ongoing expenses.
- School libraries have been gutted and replaced with "team centers" used for discipline. Librarians — gone.
- Special education students — roughly 3,000 of them — were reassigned to different campuses, prompting a federal investigation.
As the Texas Tribune reported, the biggest question isn't whether test scores can rise under military-style management. It's whether this model can survive its own financial gravity.
Diane Ravitch: Houston's Daughter Fights Back
If there's a single voice that cuts through the bureaucratic fog with the precision of a scalpel, it's Diane Ravitch. The San Jacinto High School Golden Bear. Senior editor of the El Oroso yearbook, class of 1956. Wellesley grad. Columbia Ph.D. Former Bush administration official turned America's most prominent defender of public schools.
Ravitch hasn't just criticized the HISD takeover — she's made it personal. On her widely read blog, she has published teacher testimonies describing:
- Scripted lessons with 4-minute timer checks that eliminate professional judgment
- A "culture of fear" that values compliance over trust
- The systematic destruction of school libraries — institutions she credits with sparking her own intellectual life as a Houston public school student
She calls the entire voucher-and-takeover playbook part of the "Destroy Public Schools Movement" — a manufactured crisis designed to make public schools look so bad that desperate parents will accept anything, even redirecting their tax dollars to private academies with zero public accountability.
She's not wrong.
Tuesday Is Your Microphone
Here's the part where this stops being an article and starts being a call to action.
Next Tuesday, November 3, 2026, Texans go to the polls. And this election isn't just about personalities or party labels. It's about whether public schools belong to the public — or to the billionaires trying to buy them.
Candidates like Gina Hinojosa, who is running on a platform to end the voucher program, increase teacher pay, and audit the TEA's no-bid contracts, represent the clearest alternative to the privatization machine. As The 19th reported, even conservative Republican moms fed up with what's happening to their public schools are crossing over to support her.
James Talarico, a former public school teacher himself, has been one of the Texas Legislature's most vocal defenders of public education funding and opponent of voucher schemes.
These are candidates who will listen to communities instead of donors. Who understand that a school board should be elected by parents, not appointed by an agency commissioner. Who know that a child's education shouldn't depend on whether a billionaire in Pennsylvania thinks their school deserves to exist.
The Bottom Line
The HISD takeover is not a reform. It's a hostile acquisition — of public institutions, democratic governance, and children's futures — dressed up in the language of accountability.
The test scores may have ticked up. But the cost has been staggering: thousands of teachers gone, 21,000 students fled, half a billion in reserves burned, libraries demolished, special education disrupted, and an entire community's democratic voice silenced.
And now they want to franchise the model to every struggling district in Texas. Beaumont. Fort Worth. Lake Worth. Waco. San Antonio. Your town could be next.
George W. Bush accidentally asked the right question twenty-six years ago. Is our children learning? Well, here's what they're learning in Houston right now: that the adults in charge value compliance over curiosity, algorithms over teachers, and profit over people.
Unless you vote on Tuesday.
Vote for public schools. Vote against vouchers. Vote like your children's futures depend on it — because they do.
Sources: Big Education Ape Blog, October 2026 | The Texas Tribune, Houston Chronicle, ProPublica reporting on HISD sustainability, enrollment, and reform spread | DianeRavitch.net and The 19th News on Ravitch's HISD commentary and Gina Hinojosa's campaign | Houston Chronicle and Spectrum News investigations into Third Future Schools financial allegations
HISD Takeover, Texas Privatization & the Fight for Public Schools: A Comprehensive Source & Reading List
Here is a curated, organized reading list covering every major thread of this story — from the state takeover itself, to the billionaire donor networks, to the legal battles, to what you can do about it on Tuesday. Bookmark this page.
🏫 1. The HISD State Takeover — Core Reporting
These are the essential investigative and analytical pieces documenting what has happened inside Houston ISD since 2023.
| Source | Title / Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| The Texas Tribune | "High costs, dwindling enrollment: Is Houston ISD's playbook under takeover sustainable?" (Sept. 2026) — The single best deep dive into the financial unsustainability of the NES model. | texastribune.org |
| KSAT / Texas Tribune TribCast | "Houston is a model for school takeovers. Is it sustainable?" (Oct. 2026) — Audio + text exploring whether the Houston blueprint can survive its own costs. | ksat.com |
| Houston Chronicle | "Mike Miles' HISD reforms are spreading through Texas schools" (June 2, 2026) — Documents how HISD's curriculum and model are being exported to other districts. | houstonchronicle.com |
| Houston Chronicle | "HISD spent millions building its own curriculum. Now other school districts are using it for free" (Oct. 19, 2026) — Reveals $10M–$19M/year in curriculum development and its spread. | houstonchronicle.com |
| KPRC 2 | "HISD STAAR scores show academic gains three years after state takeover" (Aug. 13, 2026) — The reported test-score data. | click2houston.com |
| Houston Landing | "Houston ISD projecting huge spike in D and F-rated schools" — Context on the contested accountability rating system. | houstonlanding.org |
| University of Houston | "Houston ISD Takeover: By the Numbers" (Jan. 2026) — Independent academic research on enrollment decline, teacher retention (58.6%), and uncertified teacher rates (19.8%). | uh.edu |
🔗 2. The Spread of the Houston Model to Other Districts
Reporting on how the HISD playbook is being franchised across Texas — through state appointments, charter contracts, and curriculum sharing.
| Source | Title / Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| ProPublica / Texas Observer | "Texas School Takeovers Expand, Following Houston ISD Pattern" (June 3, 2026) — Documents the personnel network connecting HISD to Beaumont, Fort Worth, Lake Worth, and beyond. | propublica.org |
| Texas Standard | "Houston ISD reforms spreading with growing state takeovers of Texas schools" (June 9, 2026) — Fort Worth's ELEVATE initiative and the HISD administrator pipeline. | texasstandard.org |
| Houston Chronicle | Coverage of Third Future Schools managing 12+ campuses across Edgewood, Killeen, San Antonio, Waco, Texarkana, and other ISDs under SB 1882. | houstonchronicle.com |
💸 3. Mike Miles, Third Future Schools & Financial Investigations
The charter school money trail and conflict-of-interest questions.
| Source | Title / Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Diane Ravitch's Blog | "Houston: Mike Miles Denies Transfer of Millions to His Colorado Charter Schools" (May 2024) | dianeravitch.net |
| Spectrum News | Video investigation: "Mike Miles faces allegations of financial wrongdoing" — Allegations of public funds funneled from Texas to Colorado. | youtube.com |
| Houston Chronicle | "Houston ISD leader responds to report he diverted funds" — Miles' response and TEA investigation clearance. | chron.com |
| Big Education Ape | "The Million-Dollar Monster in Houston's Classrooms: Mike Miles, AI Curriculum, and the Slow-Motion Privatization of Public Education" (Oct. 2026) | bigeducationape.blogspot.com |
🤑 4. Billionaire Donors & the Voucher Machine
Who is funding the privatization of Texas public education — and how.
| Source | Topic | Where to Start |
|---|---|---|
| Texas Tribune | Jeff Yass' $10M+ in Texas voucher spending; Abbott's $48M war chest | texastribune.org |
| Texas Observer | Tim Dunn, Wilks brothers, and Defend Texas Liberty PAC funding of anti-public-school primary challenges | texasobserver.org |
| ProPublica | National network connecting DeVos' American Federation for Children (AFC) to Texas PAC spending | propublica.org |
| OpenSecrets | Campaign finance database — search Texas races, PACs, and individual mega-donor contributions | opensecrets.org |
| Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) | The primary think tank drafting model voucher/ESA legislation (read critically) | texaspolicy.com |
📣 5. Diane Ravitch — Public School Defender & HISD Alumna
Her blog is one of the most important independent sources of teacher testimonies, policy analysis, and historical context on the privatization movement.
| Source | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| DianeRavitch.net | Her daily blog — search "HISD," "Houston," "Mike Miles," or "Texas vouchers" for hundreds of posts including teacher and parent testimonies. | dianeravitch.net |
| "Reign of Error" (Book) | Ravitch's definitive book debunking claims that American schools are failing and exposing the corporate reform agenda. | Available on Amazon, libraries |
| "Slaying Goliath" (Book) | Chronicles how grassroots parent and teacher movements have fought back against privatization nationwide. | Available on Amazon, libraries |
| "Diane Ravitch — An Education" (Video) | Documentary featuring Ravitch reflecting on her Houston childhood and journey to defending public schools. | Search YouTube / PBS |
⚖️ 6. Legal Battles — Houston Federation of Teachers (HFT)
| Source | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| KHOU / ABC 13 Houston | "Judge grants temporary restraining order against HISD over new teacher evaluation system" — Coverage of HFT's successful legal challenge. | khou.com / abc13.com |
| Houston Chronicle | Ongoing coverage of HFT lawsuits over HB 2 teacher raises, evaluation legality, and contract disputes. | houstonchronicle.com |
| Texas AFT | Statewide teachers' union — policy briefs, legislative updates, and legal action summaries. | texasaft.org |
👨👩👧👦 7. Parent Advocacy & Community Organizations
| Organization | Focus | Where to Find Them |
|---|---|---|
| Community Voices for Public Education (CVPE) | Grassroots Houston group leading rallies, walkouts, and campaigns to restore elected school boards | Facebook, Twitter/X — search "CVPE Houston" |
| Citizens Commission on the HISD Takeover | Released the 81-page "Diminished, Degraded, and Destroyed" report (Oct. 2026) with community testimony | Report available via KPRC coverage |
| Texas Parents & Educators Coalition | Statewide advocacy against vouchers and state takeovers | Facebook groups, legislative testimony archives |
| YouthRise TX | Youth-led advocacy tracking HISD accountability and student voice | youthrisetx.org |
🗳️ 8. Your Vote on Tuesday — Candidates & Voter Resources
| Resource | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Vote.org | Check your registration, find your polling place, see what's on your ballot | vote.org |
| Gina Hinojosa | Candidate platform: end vouchers, increase teacher pay, audit TEA contracts | Search campaign website |
| James Talarico | Former public school teacher; vocal opponent of voucher schemes and defender of public school funding | Search campaign website |
| Texas League of Women Voters | Nonpartisan voter guide with candidate positions on education | lwvtexas.org |
| Raise Your Hand Texas | Bipartisan public education advocacy — tracks school finance legislation and voucher votes | raiseyourhandtexas.org |
🧠 9. Research & Policy Deep Dives
For those who want the academic and policy-level analysis behind the headlines.
| Source | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| University of Houston — College of Education | Independent research on HISD teacher retention, certification rates, and enrollment trends | uh.edu |
| Network for Public Education (NPE) | National research and advocacy org co-founded by Diane Ravitch — tracks charter school finances, voucher outcomes, and state takeovers nationwide | networkforpubliceducation.org |
| National Education Policy Center (NEPC) | University of Colorado–based research center providing peer-reviewed analysis of school choice, charters, and accountability | nepc.colorado.edu |
| Texas Education Agency | Official state accountability data, intervention announcements, and investigation reports (read critically — they are the intervening agency) | tea.texas.gov |
🔑 Key Takeaway for Readers
This story has more moving parts than a Swiss watch — but the through-line is simple:
Public money → Private hands → Less accountability → Weaker schools → More "crises" → More privatization.
The best antidote to that cycle is informed voters. Share this list. Read the sources. Talk to your neighbors. And show up on Tuesday.
"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" Well, now you're learning. And that makes all the difference. 🗳️