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Rage_Like_Nic_Cage t1_jcb7o0k wrote

> While some have accused the state of playing politics and meddling in local affairs, Morath shut down the idea and said he doesn’t think there’s any truth to it.

given that a school takeover seems like a fairly big deal and states like Texas have recently been pushing laws that expands the GOP’s control over school systems, it would be really great if they expanded on what the critics were saying and if there is any legitimacy to their claim, other than taking the governments word on it

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justforthearticles20 t1_jcbghi2 wrote

Education is an existential threat to Conservatism and White "Christian" Nationalism. Red States are pulling out all the stops to prevent losing power by creating more generations of hate filled drooling idiots.

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StringandStuff t1_jcc4t21 wrote

I am a local and fairly well educated on it as a lay person and parent. It is a complicated issue. HISD is extremely diverse and big. Some of the best high schools in the nation are in HISD and some that perpetually underperform are also in the district.

A lot of the issue comes down to what metrics are being measured and what can realistically be expected of a school that has all the problems of entrenched poverty and unstable living situations for the students’ families.

I do personally think there is a bit of politics involved because the state TEA is much more conservative than the district leadership in the large districts in the state. They made a set of school accountability metrics that I think most schools with high poverty issues would have is struggles meeting and waited for HISD to not pass the thresholds.

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moleratical t1_jcdgn43 wrote

True, except Wheatley is the only one out of 267 schools that failed, and it has since met the states own metrics albeit after it failed for numerous years in a row.

I will say it's not that complicated. If you want to fix the problemed schools, then we need to fix the communities that they serve. But the state has no interest in investing in poor, minority communities.

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Bahamuht t1_jcce90m wrote

Lmao HISD is known for being terrible and corrupt.

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moleratical t1_jcdgv45 wrote

Every district has its problems. Hell,bthe TEA and State government are also known for being corrupt and terrible.

But I bet you most of those kids in hisd would surprise you regarding what they know.

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moleratical t1_jcdg4bd wrote

I teach in the area, it's entirely political.

There was one school, count them, one school, in all of hisd's 267 schools that consistently failed to meet state standards. The board also continued a meeting after closing it to the public, after some on the board made a controversial decision regarding the continuation of the Superintendents contract. this is against states law.

The state moved to take over HISD back in 2019 because of these things. But due to legal maneuvers and covid the process was delayed. In tge interim the entire school board has been replaced except for one member who was not involved in the controversy, and Wheatley High School, which serves one of if not the poorest and most crime ridden communities in the city, met the state guidelines.

The state still chose to take it over despite being a large urban district and averaging a B by the state's own metrics.

Vouchers are coming, I gaurentee it. Furthermore, there are many other districts with far more failing schools than houston, but those districts aren't nearly as left leaning.

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