Texas Fought To Save Houston Schools. Leftists Want To Tear It All Down.

A coalition of Texas Democrats and education activists is pushing to upend the state’s takeover of Houston Independent School District, which has seen the once-troubled school system reach new academic heights.

In June 2023, the Texas Education Agency announced the appointment of a nine-member Board of Managers and the selection of a new superintendent. Under Superintendent Mike Miles, the district went from having 56 F-rated campuses to just five this year. “Reading and math scores have soared since systemic wholescale reforms were implemented,” a report obtained by The Daily Wire found.

But this week, the newly formed Commission on the Takeover of HISD released an 81-page report recommending tighter limits on state intervention and a greater role for local voters in determining when takeovers end.

The report sharply criticizes the HISD reforms, alleging that the takeover “diminished curriculum,” “damaged relationships” between educators and families, “demeaned educators,” and “destroyed democratic governance.” The report’s conclusions rely on mostly anonymous testimony from parents, students, and educators.

With the midterm elections approaching, the fight over school districts has become a broader battle over whether Texas should continue intervening in struggling school districts or return authority to locally elected leaders. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa has made opposition to state takeovers a central part of her education platform, pledging to remove TEA Commissioner Mike Morath and return Houston schools to local control if elected governor.

“We will restore the American Dream in Texas by saving our public schools,” Hinojosa vows.

The Commission on the Takeover of HISD is co-chaired by leftist Democratic state Sen. Molly Cook, state Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons and the Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen, a Unitarian Universalist minister.

“We don’t want failing schools,” Cook told the Texas Tribune earlier this month. “But automatically taking over the largest school district in Texas because of one failing school is not a fair measuring stick.”

Cook, the first openly bisexual member of the Texas Senate, has spoken publicly about her abortion in 2014 and her identity. “I chose to share my abortion story; I chose to be out and proud; and for me, that is just who I am anyway. I’m just not a super-reserved person. I’m pretty extroverted and pretty proud of who I am and not ashamed,” she said in a statement on her website. Cook has also publicly endorsed transgender participation in sports, including in a social media post.

Bossen has faced scrutiny over comments made by his girlfriend, Sade Perkins, who drew criticism after posting a TikTok video about the deadly flooding at Camp Mystic. According to a Daily Mail report, Perkins characterized the Christian girls’ camp as “whites only” and argued that conservatives would respond differently if the children killed had been Hispanic or LGBTQ.

Other members include New York University professor Domingo Morel, whom the university granted an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion research award; community advocate Kay Wasden, a monthly Black Lives Matter donor; and education researcher Steven Nelson.

Nelson, who describes himself as “gay, bipolar” and has defended critical race theory, previously served as an education advocate with the Southern Poverty Law Center, according to his University of Nevada, Las Vegas profile. The SPLC was found this year to have spent millions of dollars propping up the hate groups it purportedly exists to fight.

More from this network:
Domains for Sale · GOTPeople.org · TheDSAPlatform · The Truth About Socialism

Donate to GOTPeople.org