- HAR 2019 Chair Optimistic About Affordability and Opportunities for New Houston Residents This Year [Houston Chronicle]
- Williamsburg Enterprises Intends to Invest $100M in 2019 in Blighted Retail Properties [Bisnow]
- Tensions Continue To Escalate Between HISD, Parents, and Activists After Most Recent Town Hall [Houston Public Media]
- How Cy-Fair ISD Transports More Students Than Any Other School District in Texas [Community Impact]
- An Interview with the Co-Founder of Coworking Concept Coming to 1923 Washington Ave. in 2019 [HBJ ($)]
- Dirt Bar Co-Owner Rescues Heights-Adjacent Vara’s Sports Bar To Preserve Its Quirky Dive Vibes [Culturemap]
- Wire Fraud Scam Targeting Houston Area Homeowners Picking Up Speed [abc13]
- Spring Firefighters Looking Forward to New Station and Equipment This Year [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Downtown Houston: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
No single person continues to damage Texas children’s education more than Abbott. We need statewide reform and he is responsible for steering the ship.
.
Vote these bozo’s out of state office folks.
If only these parents put as much effort into their kids education as they do fighting against the state takeover.
Fact: 91% of HISD schools meet the standard. Only four schools put of hundreds do not and state Republicans are ready to call it a “crisis†and do a “takeoverâ€. This is nothing more than a witchhunt against HISD by the corrupt Republicans dicatating over this crazy political state. Kick their a$$’s out especially that wannabe mini-Trump governor.
The activists are right to want to sue TEA and get the legislature to through out the whole stupid testing/state takeover statute. But the big problem with these activists is that all they want to do is fight the system. They have never articulated any meaningful program of reform for HISD that would help lift up the schools that are struggling. So, if the activists get everything they want (no TEA takeover, no testing, etc.), we are still in the same place as far as the quality of HISD schools.
When discussing the possible state takeover of HISD, it’s important to remember the law (HB 1842) passed with 125 yes votes in the House (including the vote of Houston’s current Mayor) and 26 yes votes in the Senate (including ALL of the D’s in the Houston delegation). This doesn’t absolve our current statewide leadership of their responsibility, but let’s remember this law isn’t the product of a party line vote.
For those interested: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=HB1842#vote520
Parents mention school equality over school choice. What does that mean precisely? They get the same funding, I believe, as any other school. Perhaps more depending upon which federal programs the population qualifies for. Does equality mean something other than money? How do you make Kashmere Elementary “equal” to West University Elementary or some other high performing school? How did HISD’s Apollo 20 program work, which gave MORE funds to underperforming schools, did it have measurable improvements? Does equality mean giving some substantially more funding than others? and then do you keep giving more until their scores EQUAL the students at high performing schools? If you keep taking from the weathier public schools, they will simply leave to go to private and then what will that do to the district averages? Underperforming schools are a heavily nuanced problem and will exist regardless of who is in office because money cannot solve it. Perhaps our measures of performance are wrong. Perhaps we need to let go of the one size fits all mentality in our educational curriculums and have outlets geared more to the real world.
Underperforming schools are adjacent to underperforming parents.