Texas Education Agency will take control of Houston ISD

I haven't read all the thread. The reason the takeover happened is because State Rep Harold Dutton, a graduate of Wheatley High School was trying to hold HISD accountable for Wheatley's poor performance so he got legislation passed that if one school in a district was not performing the entire district could be take over by the state.

 

The law was well-intentioned. But, ill-considered.

 

https://www.fox26houston.com/news/h...me-off-after-husband-diagnosed-died-of-cancer

Pretty heartless. I know a coworker of this woman, who ain't too pleased. Morale in HISD seems to be in the dumps.

 

I can't imagine being so heartless that you would even consider firing someone in a situation like that. It's so disturbingly callous.

 

Doesn't FMLA apply here? I dont even understand how that's legal.

 

Their new head of HR addressed that recently, per the article: "We actually lawfully could engage in immediate termination of at-will employees, which includes the employee cohorts that you mentioned, such as bus drivers and nutrition service workers, and a myriad of support staff on campuses. We choose not to." And, the next day, they chose to do so, I guess.

 

Yeah but in her case, she might have an argument that the termination was illegal. FMLA leave is actually protected by law. So if she was indeed taking unpaid leave to care for her husband, I'd imagine she could file a suit against HISD if she wanted.

 

This deserves its own thread. Disgusting

 

Here's a link that doesn't require you to go thru twitter: Disappearing Dollars: Texas public schools missing millions (spectrumlocalnews.com)

 

He fired the principle of the year. He is the corrupt Trojan horse from Abbot to destroy Houston public school.

https://abc13.com/post/hisd-parents...ion-crockett-elementary-neff-school/14809722/

 

That can't be legal. How can Texas tax dollars be diverted out of state to charter schools? I smell something fishy and it leads to Greg Abbott.

One of the nation's foremost supporters of school vouchers dumped more than $6 million into Greg Abbott's war chest after the governor made the issue a top priority.

Jeff Yass, a GOP megadonor who lives in Pennsylvania, gave Abbott $250,000 in October and another $6 million in December, according to state campaign finance data updated Tuesday.

Abbott's campaign has ballyhooed it as the "largest single donation in Texas history." The governor, who is not up for re-election this year, now has $32 million in his campaign coffers.

Abbott has raised more than $19 million since July, the data show.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/...on-from-out-of-state-school-voucher-champion/

 

Texas GOP dismantling of public education to push their agenda of closing school libraries and pushing for-profit schools should be a topic that is discussed daily. Want to see how good corporate run education is? Ask the next person you meet with a University of Phoenix degree if they put it on their resume. And libraries are a nexus of learning and creative growth. Ignorance doesn’t vote.

It’s stomach turning and the number two reason I consider moving out of the state on a regular basis.

 

That's all Abbott cares about. He doesn't give a damn about funding schools, mental healthcare, social services, or anything that doesn't put billionaires' money into his hands. He's killing public education, and doesn't give a damn. Why do people keep voting for that jerk? Feed the wealthy, and take from the middle class and poor. The GOP mantra.

 

This seems like a massive crime. Texas tax dollars benefiting a superintendent's own out of state charter schools?

This should be the type of thing that kills "school choice" among rural Republicans.

 

And yet I have a sneaking suspicion that, thru some convoluted machination, it will be determined that nothing illegal happened and nothing will be done about it.

 

While many ISDs are facing shortfalls and have to lay off people, we hear of this corruption, sending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to out-of-state projects. Rural Republicans in this state are facing the challenge, if not bigger, for their public schools with not enough funding.

Hopefully, there is enough outrage to demand an actual investigation.

I don't know if the Federal education department can do anything here. They should, but I'm not sure if they have the power to do anything.

 

Talking about funding, our ISD mentioned that State Education funding is dependent on attendance. Absenteeism has gone up significantly since the pandemic (who knows the reason, but I could guess people are more easily sick these days, including kids, or people don't like school... who knows), but it seems tying absenteeism to funding is stupid. A 5% absentee rate doesn't mean educating gets to be done at a lower cost. It's like tying salaries and facilities' budgets not to actual salaries and facilities, but to how many students show up each day.

Tying funding to attendance rather than fixed costs seem extremely silly and weird. Not sure if this is a recent thing, or if it has always been like this in Texas. And not sure if other states do this.

 

I guess I'd point out that Abbott's chief Republican opponents in the House that have been blocking vouchers just got primaried a couple months ago. And of course, those new candidates have a cakewalk in November. I expect vouchers to pass in the next legislative session. Maybe they put up some guardrails to keep money from flowing out of the state, but the private school business will be booming.

 

I give you a thumb down for that information if I could.

My sad face.