The Made-up Crisis Behind The State Takeover Of Houston's Public Schools

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Texas says the takeover is about improvement. It's really about racism.
By The Conversation

Misc 1/12/20 5:47am Read time: 6 minutes

Domingo Morel, Rutgers University Newark

If the state of Texas had its way, the state would be in the process of taking over the Houston Independent School District.

But a judge temporarily blocked the takeover on Jan. 8, with the issue now set to be decided at a trial in June.

The ruling temporarily spares Houston’s public school system from joining a list of over 100 school districts in the nation that have experienced similar state takeovers during the past 30 years.

The list includes New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans, Baltimore, Oakland and Newark. Houston is the largest school district in Texas and the seventh largest in the U.S

https://crooksandliars.com/2020/01/made-crisis-behind-state-takeover-houstons

They did this same republican shit in Louisiana after Katrina ...................

[mountain grammy]

1. Schock Doctrine

And nothing will stop it.

[DallasNE]

2. In Michigan They Did It With Whole Cities

Just ask Flint how well that has worked out.

[Lonestarblue]

3. HISD is enormous.

The Houston Independent School System (HISD) has 284 schools and over 214,000 students with nearly 100 different languages spoken. Over 80% of the students are considered economically disadvantaged. The excuse given by the state for the takeover is that a few of the schools did not meet state standards. Out of 284 schools! HISD has its problems, but state takeover is not likely to improve them. Many people think the takeover is just an excuse to turn the schools over to for-profit charters—an exceedingly lucrative contract for someone with state house connections.

Having worked with HISD in the past, I fear that it is too bureaucratic, too large, and too insistent on its one-size-fits-all approach. HISD has one of the most diverse populations in the country, yet its teachers are constantly challenged to use one consistent instruction method and district-wide tests with all students, regardless of their stages of learning. It might better serve students if the district, one of the largest in the country, were broken up into smaller groups of schools and the enormous overhead of managing a 284-school system diminished. Given the politics of the Texas Board of Education and the focus on everything being for sale, having the state take over the schools is unlikely to result in anything other than the cheating of HISD students of an education.

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5. What is absolutely remarkable is that these people that want to do this "stuff"

more than likely went through a public education system of some sort........................they are hypocrites.......................

[AwakeAtLast]

4. Look so Indiana

Gary, Indianapolis, Muncie.

Anderson and Evansville are probably next.