Ten failing campuses, a potential state takeover, a budget shortfall topping $115 million, and a superintendent who chose to jump ship rather than ride the wave accurately describes the current state of Texasâ largest school district.
Currently at hand is a 2015 law authored by Houston Democrat State Rep. Harold Dutton. The law provides a pathway for the state to assume control of districts that canât turn around their failing campuses. Now, ahead of takeover talks, another unlikely entity is eyeing involvement: the City of Houston led by Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Turner told local media that he was asked to get âvery, very, very involved in HISD.â His interest in exerting mayoral influence over the district isnât surprising, as one of his first moves after taking office was to hire the cityâs first director of education.
âAsked whether the city could become a âpartnerâ with the district, giving the city significant authority over operations at campuses, Turner said Wednesday: âLetâs just say Iâve been asked to be very, very involved by multiple individuals, and then I am deciding to what degree and to how far I am going to get involved in the day-to-day operation of any of the school,'” reads an article in the Chronicle.Â
Whether Turnerâs power play is just that, a power play, or a genuine effort to help the failing district, he was not elected to sit on HISDâs board, was not hired as superintendent, and does not oversee any educational resources that the district is in need of. With the cityâs own budget shortfall, flood recovery, and mountainous long-term debt, it would best serve taxpayers for Turner to stick to what he was hired by taxpayers to do.
The district has considered surrendering each of the ten failing campuses to various âpartnersâ who would help stave off a state takeover. This pathway was provided during the most recent legislative session in the form of Senate Bill 1882. If a district partners with a nonprofit, higher education institution, charter school network, or government entity, it can avoid state sanctions.
But with the number of these alternative entities in the Houston area, the city is far from the best one to partner with.
Houston has no direct involvement in education and, as such, has no track record of success when it comes to turning around failing schools. Partnering with a partner that has no experience in your core function does not promise solid returns.
Also, Houston has its own problems. Debt, budget shortfalls, overstaffing, lack of efficiency, to name a few, show that many of the systemic problems that are found within HISD occur within the cityâs bureaucracy as well. If Houston canât solve its own problems, how can it address those of the stateâs most monstrous school district?
Coincidentally, Houston is home to the last county board of education in the state. If there is any government entity that should step up to aid HISD, itâs the Harris County Department of Education.
HCDEâs website says that it is a model organization that âleverages 20¢ into $1.00 of services through shared service arrangements such as cooperative programs, that save school districts extraordinary amounts of their own budget dollars.â Many taxpayers will disagree that HCDE is a âmodel organizationâ and call for its closure. But if there is ever a time for HCDE to step up and leverage its tax revenue and resources, itâs now.
HCDE considers its top goal to âimpact education by responding to the evolving needs of Harris County,â and it is far from short on funding. At the end of fiscal year 2017, HCDEâs unassigned fund balance was over $17 million, while its total revenue was over $80 million.
An audit of HCDE found that, âA majority of property tax revenue was allocated for internal expenses related to the Departmentâs operations and technology support services;â or as Colleen Vera of TexasTrashTalk puts it, âHCDE collects a property tax to support itselfâŚnot Harris County students.â Also reported was that the district paid nearly $1 million in employee stipends without board approval.
All of this is to say that HCDE should redirect its efforts to helping HISD. To be clear, HCDE should shut down, but as of today it exists and it is in taxpayersâ and studentsâ best interest for HCDE to be the first partner in turning around HISDâs failing schools.
In a board meeting discussing potential partners, HISD officials said they werenât interested in partnering with charter networks or even other ISDs. Charter networks and nonprofits with experience in turning around failing schools should top the list for partners after HCDE. But regardless of the entities that the district ultimately chooses, the City of Houston should not be at the top of that list.