Texas Takes Over Houston Schools That It Had Underfunded

Texas officials have announced a state takeover of Houston's nearly 200,000-student public school district, the eighth-largest in the country, acting on years of threats and angering Democrats who assailed the move as political, Juan A. Lozano and Paul J. Weber reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU-Texas) condemned the takeover.

The announcement, made by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's education commissioner, Mike Morath, amounts to one of the largest school takeovers ever in the US.

It also deepens a high-stakes rift between Texas' largest city, where Democrats wield control, and state Republican leaders, who have sought increased authority following election fumbles and COVID-19 restrictions.

An annual Census Bureau survey of public school funding showed Texas spent $10,342 per pupil in the 2020 fiscal year, which is $3,000 less than the national average, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University in Houston revealed.

The takeover is the latest example of Republican and predominately white state officials pushing to take control of actions in heavily minority and Democratic-led cities.

They include St. Louis and Jackson, Mississippi, where the Legislature is pushing to take over the water system and for an expanded role for state police and appointed judges.

The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU-Texas) condemned the takeover. At a news conference in Austin, state Democratic leaders called for the Legislature to increase funding for education and raise teacher pay.

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