By Mary Rooke
It has been two years since Republicans in Texas took control of the nation’s eighth-largest school district, and the results are impressive.
In June 2023, following chronic underperformance at specific campuses and governance failures, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) took over the Houston Independent School District (HISD), removing the superintendent and dissolving the district’s elected school board. On the same day, the TEA appointed Mike Miles as superintendent and replaced the elected school board with a state-appointed Board of Managers.
Out of approximately 274 schools in HISD, 121 received D or F ratings in 2023. Still, the trigger was Wheatley High School (WHS), which had received failing accountability ratings for seven consecutive years. It was also unable to meet the state’s special education compliance standards and had several issues with board dysfunction.
Due to legal mandates under Texas Senate Bill 1882 and House Bill 1842, state intervention is permitted if any school in a Texas district receives failing ratings for multiple consecutive years, even if the overall district’s performance meets the standards.
Miles and the Board of Managers will oversee the district until at least 2027, reporting directly to the TEA, bypassing traditional local control until the district meets criteria for sustained improvement. During the last two years at the helm, Miles has overhauled the district, including the implementation of the New Education System (NES) model across over 100 schools, increased teacher salaries that range from $100,000 or more based on performance, and timed lessons. Additionally, several school principals have been replaced.
These reforms are already showing vast improvements in student outcomes. While exact district-wide A-F ratings for the 2024-2025 school year are still being finalized, recent reports indicate that there are no schools in the district with an F rating. This is a remarkable contrast to the 56 F-rated schools prior to the takeover.
Republicans have long advocated for aggressive interventions, like state takeovers, merit-based teacher pay, centralized curricula, and accountability measures, to address failing schools. These policies are often opposed by Democrats, who prioritize local and teacher union control. (Trump’s Census Bombshell Could Upend 2026 Midterms)
The elimination of all F-rated schools in HISD just two years after Miles took over, coupled with improved STAAR scores and a projected B district rating for the 2024-25 school year, provides Republicans with the data to bolster their arguments. It also gives a battle plan for other Republican-led states to implement these procedures in their struggling urban school districts.
Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves told the Daily Caller in April that the state’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report card from 2024, showing it leading the nation in demographic-adjusted 4th- and 8th-grade scores, was “not a miracle at all.”
“It’s really a result of conservative reforms implemented in public education — they’re making a huge difference for kids,” the governor said.
While the long-term outcomes will hinge on Miles’ tenure and community support for the takeover, it currently appears that Republicans have successfully stepped in to address decades of Democratic failures. Our children deserve a better education than what is currently offered to them, but it shouldn’t take state control to give it to them. Thankfully, Texas laws afforded the students in this district a chance.
