Texas Education Agency extends Houston school district takeover through 2027

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The state takeover of the Houston Independent School District will continue for two more years, the Texas Education Agency announced Monday.

Education Commissioner Mike Morath had until June 1 to decide next steps for the state’s largest school district, whose former superintendent and elected school board members were ousted and replaced in 2023 due to years of poor academic outcomes at a single campus and allegations of leadership misconduct.

Since then, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles has led the district, a controversial figure in Houston who has ushered improvements on state exams while struggling to win over community support.

Still, Morath decided to extend the intervention until June 1, 2027, applauding the district for its improvements but citing the need for more progress. That progress, he said, will have to include no school campuses with failing accountability scores across multiple years, compliance with special education requirements and improved school board governance.

Morath on Monday also announced the appointment of four new school board members, replacing four he selected in 2023.

“With the changes made in the last two years, Houston ISD is well on its way to being a district where all of its schools provide students with the educational opportunities that will allow them to access the American Dream,” the commissioner said in a statement. “Ultimately, two years has not been enough time to fix district systems that were broken for decades. The extension of this intervention will allow the district to build on its progress and achieve lasting success for students once the board transitions back to elected leadership.”

The Houston Chronicle first reported the extension of the takeover.

Miles inherited a district that for years ran an overall well-performing school system and was experiencing a bit of momentum after years of scandal and public dysfunction. Still, certain campuses struggled for years, and in the end, one spurred the takeover.

Under Miles’ leadership, the district has experienced extraordinary staff turnover and plummeting student enrollment. Miles has faced accusations of shepherding a militaristic educational environment where teachers have limited freedom to teach in ways they see fit and children are exhausted and disengaged from learning.

Miles, on the other hand, has touted student improvement on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR test, and progress in the district’s A-F accountability ratings as proof that his model is effective, an achievement that Morath and state lawmakers have publicly commended.

During the November election, Houston voters shot down a plan to approve $4.4 billion in academic and infrastructure improvements for the school district — the largest proposal of its kind in state history — which many saw as a litmus test for Miles’ support.

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