A Texas Takeover of Houston’s Public Schools
On March 15, Texas officials announced a state takeover of the Houston Independent School District. Texas’ most populous city has a public school enrollment of just under 200,000 students, making it the largest in Texas, and the eighth largest school district in the United States.
Texas officials justify the takeover with claims that the Houston ISD oversees underperforming schools, has conducted “chaotic board meetings marred by infighting”, as well as violations of the open meetings act and procurement laws. Additionally, school trustees have been accused of misconduct in the influencing of contracts with vendors.
Problems in Houston Independent School District
Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that less than half of all eighth graders from HISD tested at or above the national basic achievement level for math, the lowest levels seen in the district since 1990. The NAEP also showed a slight decline in eighth grade reading, in addition to declines in fourth grade math and reading.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath wrote a letter to HISD superintendent and school board that read, “Under state law, the Commissioner is required to either appoint a Board of Managers to govern the school district or order the closure of the campus when a campus has an unacceptable performance rating for five consecutive school years.”
The specific campus Morath referred to is Phillis Wheatley High School, an east Houston secondary school that has been severely underperforming academically for several years, which violates Texas law HB 1842. The law, passed in 2015, reads:
Relating to public school accountability, including the intervention in and sanction of a public school that has received an academically unsuccessful performance rating for at least two consecutive school years and the designation of a school district as a district of innovation.
“What that law requires is if that threshold is ever met, that the commissioner of education is required, it’s not discretionary, is required to either order a closure of that school or order a board of managers for the whole district,” Morath told ABC 13 News. “It’s not in the best interest of kids at Wheatley to close Wheatley, so that leaves us with the board of managers.”
Criticism of the Takeover
This move by the Texas State Government has been met with major criticism from Texas teacher unions as well as people from across the country. At a news conference, Texas American Federation of Teachers President Zeph Capo said that they are angered by the decision, and that he was skeptical that the Texas Education Agency would be able to handle, much less correct, the situation at HISD.
“The state and its officials will now be responsible for more than 180,000 students, and 25,000 school employees,” said Capo. “For their sake, I have no choice at this point but to wish them well and hope that they succeed. But make no mistake, we will watch every move.”
Many see the takeover as a political move, with a mostly Republican state government interfering with a mostly Democrat-led Houston city government, which oversees one of the more diverse school districts in the US. According to the district’s demographics, HISD students are 62% Hispanic, 22% Black, 10% White and 4% Asian.
Other critics of the takeover have pointed out that HISD isn’t even the worst performing district in Texas, and that the district suffers from poor funding. According to the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, the state as a whole spent $10,342 per student in 2020, which is over $3,000 less than the national average. It’s difficult to make that same argument for Chicago Public Schools.
Comparisons to Chicago Public Schools
According to the 2022 IBSE Illinois Report card, there are 18 schools in the CPS School district that did not have a single student who was able to read or do math at grade level. The average annual amount of money spent per student at these 18 schools was $23,923.
Schools like Douglass Academy High School and Association House High School spent over $50,000 per student, and yet find themselves amid the other 18 schools in this dreaded category. Much of this funding versus performance disparity can be blamed on recent losses in student population.
CPS has seen its enrollment drop for 11 straight years, losing over 82,000 students in the past decade. These losses actually help in areas of classroom size and teacher-to-student ratios. However, they are also indicative of the serious lack of confidence parents have in the district’s ability to properly educate their children.
Despite the losses, Chicago’s school district is still in the top ten in the US for student population, as is Houston’s. And the two districts’ similarities don’t stop there.
In terms of overall diversity, the racial demographic breakdowns are similar, although CPS student demographics have a slightly larger Black population and slightly smaller Hispanic population. According to the district’s demographics, CPS students are 47% Hispanic, 36% Black, 11% White and 4% Asian.
When comparing the two districts’ NAEP results, it’s plain to see that both have been struggling. After holding steady for most of the 2010s, 8th grade reading and math scores for CPS students dropped significantly in 2022. Eighth grade math saw the worst decline, returning to pre-2010 levels, and erasing the significant progress CPS had made over the last decade.
Decreasing Scores But Increasing Graduation Rates?
In spite of the drops in student enrollment, lower NAEP scores, and struggling academics, CPS has seen an increase in high school graduation. CPS actually leads the nation’s school districts in graduation improvement. High school graduation rates for CPS have grown from 49% in 2007 to nearly 83% in 2022.
“What I’m very very proud of is our four-year graduation rate increased by 2.7% to 82.9% which is a record year for CPS,” Pedro Martinez, CEO of CPS, told CBS Chicago News. Additionally, 59 schools in the district exceeded that rate of 82.9%. So, if academic performance is struggling, how can graduation rates be soaring?
Advocates of the district attribute the rise in graduation rates to increased focus on the success of incoming freshmen, as well as improved attendance and favoring class discussion over lectures. They claim schools did not lower standards and that their educators are not just passing their students on to the next grade, whether they are prepared for it or not.
Criticism of CPS and Social Promotion
Critics of the district claim that they are doing exactly that. “Social promotion” is a term used to describe the idea that students who are failing to meet grade requirements should still be allowed to move on to the next grade with their peers to protect their self-esteem, and allow them to continue to socialize with others their age.
The critics ask if CPS isn’t using social promotion or lowering standards, then how is the graduation rate at 83%, but only 26% of their 11th graders can do both math and reading at grade level? Critics also point to SAT scores of newly graduated or soon to graduate CPS students.
According to the 2022 SAT data, CPS student scores dropped significantly from 2019. SAT reading scores were eight points lower in 2022 than they were in 2019, and were 23 points lower than the state average. CPS students scored even worse in math, approximately 24 points lower than in 2019, and 25 points below the state average.
Would a State Takeover Help CPS?
In 2016, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner actually proposed a takeover, similar to what Texas is doing with HISD. His reasoning at the time focused on the large amount of debt the district had accrued, nearly $6 billion at the time, as well as teacher strikes and poor academic performance.
Although the proposal ultimately never took place, several other states have enacted takeovers of school districts in the past with mixed results. The majority of these states were led by Republican Governors or state legislatures.
Two types of takeovers exist. In one, a state may target specific schools within a district that they deem are in need of better management or restructuring. The other type involves a full takeover of an entire school district. In 2005, while still reeling from the impacts of Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana State Government took control of 107 of New Orleans’ 120 schools, converting many of them from public to charter schools. While many still criticize the Louisiana takeover, student test scores generally improved. Proponents of school district takeovers cite this as one of their success stories.
In another case, the Ohio state government, under then-Governor John Kasich, performed a takeover of the Youngstown City School District in 2015. Seven years later, YCSD still ranks amongst the worst performing school districts in Ohio.
There are many reasons why state takeovers of school districts don’t usually work out very well. First, an over-focus on test scores tends to blind state officials to the underlying causes of poor performance. Second, outsiders who are brought in to district leadership are often not familiar enough with local issues or conditions that can affect student performance. Finally, state officials often come in with unrealistic timetables, usually based on priorities of the state rather than actual conditions on the ground.
CPS Takeover Unlikely to Happen Anytime Soon
For these reasons and more, it seems unlikely that Springfield would move to take over CPS, especially under the current Democratic leadership. Nonetheless, CPS schools continue to struggle with major issues in academic performance and enrollment losses.
If the state government stands pat, it will be on Chicago’s leaders to amend the situation. Perhaps mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, a former CPS teacher and organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union, will be able to use his experience to find the right solutions. If not, CPS may continue to spiral, and a future state takeover could be imminent.
Written by Seth Herlinger
Sources:
ABC News: Texas announces takeover of Houston’s school district, sparking concerns from educators
AP News: Texas announces takeover of Houston schools, stirring anger
The Atlantic: Could a State Takeover Help Chicago’s Struggling Public Schools?
CBS Chicago: New milestone as CPS graduation rate rises to 82.9%
Chalkboard Chicago: Chicago’s NAEP scores fall, wiping out a decade of growth in math
Chicago Sun-Times: CPS enrollment drops, continuing decadelong slide
CNN: Texas officials will take over the state’s biggest school district, raising questions about who controls America’s classrooms
CNN: Texas takes control of Houston Independent School District
Crain’s Chicago Business: How Chicago improved its high school graduation rates
Forbes: Five Reasons School Takeovers Fail
Houston Public Media: Houston ISD sees sharp declines in math and reading performance, along with rest of country, in first national assessment test since pandemic
Illinois Policy: CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS STUDENTS TEST SCORES WORSE THAN PRE-PANDEMIC
Illinois Policy: SAT SCORES IN DECLINE ACROSS ILLINOIS, CHICAGO SINCE 2017
Wirepoints: How can 84% of Chicago Public Schools students graduate when only 26% of 11th graders are proficient in reading, math?
Wirepoints: Not a single student can do math at grade level in 53 Illinois schools. For reading, it’s 30 schools
Top and featured image courtesy of Andrew Adams‘ Unsplash page – Creative Commons License
Inset image courtesy of yooperann‘s Flickr page – Creative Commons License
