A report released Oct. 8 from over a dozen stakeholders claims the state's takeover of Houston ISD has weakened the district in several ways.
The report, which was created by a 14-member commission of local politicians, educators and HISD parents, comes as officials involved in the takeover cite improvements in a number of areas, including test scores and three straight years of improvement in the state's accountability scores.
At a glance
The Commission on the HISD Takeover—which has three co-chairs, including State Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston, and State Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons, D-Houston—was formed in 2025, according to the commission’s final report. The commission was created in response to the TEA's takeover of HISD in June 2023.
According to the October report, the Commission on the HISD Takeover’s key findings were that the state takeover:
Diminished HISD's curriculum to a narrow focus on test preparation
Dismantled student, teacher and family relationships due to new district policies
Weakened teachers' professional autonomy
Took away local representation for the community
Included financial waste
“Our kids are being hurt by the state's methods, and it is so far past time to change them. … The only path forward for our students, parents and teachers is to end this takeover and rewrite our laws, so no district suffers like this again,” Cook said during the commission's Oct. 8 news conference.
Going forward
The commission's report also called for legislative changes to the state takeover process. Suggestions include:
Raising the threshold for the state to takeover Texas public school districts
Stopping the practice of completely replacing an elected board of trustees with an appointed board of managers
Setting more power limits on state-appointed superintendents and boards of managers
Creating more ways to end state intervention instead of leaving the decision solely to the TEA commissioner
How we got here
Throughout the 2025–26 school year, the Commission on the HISD Takeover collected feedback on the state’s takeover from teachers, students, parents and community members, according to the report. Input was collected via:
Three in-person events where 51 people submitted testimony
An online survey that had 32 participants
Four focus group discussions
The other side
Although the state takeover has been controversial, improvement in some measures has been reported by HISD. In June, when the TEA released the spring 2026 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, HISD saw year-over-year improvement in two-thirds of the exam categories, as previously reported by Community Impact.
In August, the district saw its third consecutive year of overall improvement in the TEA’s accountability ratings for school districts statewide.
However, at the same time, HISD has seen a decline in student enrollment since the state took over the district, while experienced educators are leaving the district at higher rates, according to a Jan. 15 report.
HISD will remain governed by officials appointed by the Texas Education Agency until at least June 2027, as previously reported.
A request for comment was pending with HISD officials as of press time Oct. 12. This story will be updated if a response is received.
Learn more
To read the full report from the commission, click here.
