W. J. Gumbert left the following comment about the state takeover of Houston, based on the low test scores of one high school. For the uninitiated, Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick hate public schools. John Arnold is a billionaire who made his money as an energy trader at Enron and now campaigns against public sector pensions and in favor of charter schools.
Gumbert writes:
Let’s remember that charters close their low performing campuses enrolling economically disadvantaged students to circumvent accountability. Wheatley HS is 93.8% economically disadvantaged, 78.9% “at-risk”, 20.5% special education and student mobility is 28.5%. Wheatley would be evaluated under the “alternative academic accountability standards if it was operated by a charter. Regardless, TEA assigned HISD an academic accountability rating of 88.
At the same time as HISD’s takeover, TEA has approved the following charters, operated by appointed boards, to expand despite operating campuses with a lower rating than Wheatley HS:
KIPP Texas – 4 campuses rated 46-54
International Leadership of Texas – 3 campuses rated 45-58
Harmony Science Academy (Waco) – 51
Jubilee Academies – 3 campuses rated 50-51
Great Hearts – 56
The takeover of HISD is SOLELY to allow TEA, Abbott, Lt. Dan and crew to implement the largest portfolio of privately operated charters in the nation. It is not a coincidence that John and Laura Arnold reside in Houston, have funded the expansion of the portfolio model and are funding IDEA’s expansion in Houston. It is time for everyone that cares about kids and democracy to take a stand!!!!!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As we know, they operate under the philosophy of heads they win, tails we lose. Dishonest, disingenuous people.
“have funded the expansion of the portfolio model”
The ‘portfolio model” is another carefully crafted phrase to describe the exact same privatization agenda ed reform has been promoting for 20 years.
They shower resources and support on charter schools and starve the public schools. It’s a way to wind down public schools and replace them with private contractors without attracting opposition from the public. The big losers are the students in the existing public schools while the plan is executed, but, hey. You gotta break some eggs when you’re working to reach 100% charter/voucher market share and capture the market.
The Arnolds “reformed” Cleveland with this exact same plan. Maybe someone in Houston should travel there and get some real information on how it’s worked out. No one in ed reform mentions Cleveland anymore. It’s another experiment they abandoned when it wasn’t good for the “brand”.
I occasionally check in on Betsy DeVos’ twitter feed to see if she’s found a public school yet.
Nope:
“Secretary Betsy DeVos
I had a great time at the Faith Leaders Summit at usedgov
discussing how #EducationFreedom Scholarships will provide students a myriad of opportunities to find the right educational fit – regardless of zip code or family income.”
It’s so odd how these “agnostics” can never find a single public school anywhere in the country to support, promote or invest in.
Any charter or private school is better than any public school. It’s ideological. A pure preference for private over public.
If you lived in another country and exclusively read ed reformers you would think there were no public schools in the United States. They simply don’t exist in the echo chamber. We’re paying a huge group of people in government who devote themselves exclusively to about 10% of schools and students. They could all not show up for work again and the only schools that would be affected are charter and private schools.
I would just encourage Houston public school parents to read any of the thousands of ed reform articles extolling the “portfolio model” and look for mention of the public schools in the “portfolio”. All of the effort and investment goes to charters. The public schools (and public school students) disappear. They’re designated a less desirable tier. Deemed not worthy of investment or effort.
Public schools are ignored by ed reformers because ed reformers hope to replace them with the schools that meet their ideological requirements, and private sector is always preferable to public sector.
It is not a matter of if, but rather when does Texas flip from being a Republican state to a Democrat’s state. The three largest cities (Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio) in the state are controlled by Democrats. The numbers will continue to grow as the population of Hispanics continues to grow. The other side of this is will the Democrats have enough of a backbone to remove all legislation regarding NCLB and it’s child, ESSA?
There is no educational reason for transferring governance into the hands of an appointed board of education. The motivation is wholly political to hasten privatization. Privatizers target mostly minority majority communities unfairly. This move is yet another example of separate and unequal treatment for minorities. The people of Houston should stand up to those that seek to deny them democratic governance of their public asset while privatizing vandals steal the common good. By the was the real estate alone is worth many millions of dollars. This is public property that must remain public.