Another school district has been taken over by the Texas Education Agency due to mismanagement by elected board members.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced last week that his agency had appointed a new seven-member board of managers and a new superintendent to operate and lead the South San Antonio Independent School District.
Morath said the takeover followed “nearly two decades of dysfunction” by district administrators and elected trustees that resulted in “diminished student academic outcomes, poor financial controls, public distrust, and multiple TEA investigations.”
TEA took the drastic step of taking over management of the district after a year-long evaluation period in which the elected board of trustees “failed to rectify documented governance deficiencies and shortcomings.”
“For far too long, the best interests of students and teachers in South San Antonio ISD were cast aside by many of the very adults elected to serve them, who instead worked in favor of their own self-interests,” said Morath.
Trustees’ deficiencies were detailed in a 47-page investigative report by the TEA.
Allegations include that elected trustees failed to maintain effective control over district finances and operations, failed to hold meetings with enough members present to conduct business, and failed to work with each other or their superintendents to address declining enrollment and budget deficits.
South San Antonio ISD went through five superintendents and four interim superintendents from 2011 to 2022.
Saul Hinojosa is the district’s new TEA-appointed superintendent.
Hinojosa spent 15 years as the superintendent of Somerset ISD, a small San Antonio-area district that was A-rated in 2022, the last year school accountability ratings were released.
“My goal is to make [South San Antonio ISD] an A-rated district,” Hinojosa said during a special meeting Wednesday night to organize the newly appointed board of managers.
Managers elected Raymond Tijerina as board president and Karla Sanchez as board vice president.
The new board of managers will be in place for up to four years, depending on when the commissioner determines no further intervention is required. TEA will then set a timeline for the district to transition back to elected trustee control.
TEA-appointed managers are also running Houston ISD, the largest school district in the state, and La Joya ISD, a South Texas district plagued by corruption.
The next South San Antonio ISD board meeting is scheduled for March 19.
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