By Thomas Ultican 9/23/2026
I am looking forward to the Network for Public Education (NPE) conference in Houston September 25-27. It seems when public schools and human rights are under attack that is where NPE schedules its conference. In 2015, we went to Chicago where I amazingly formed a relationship with Karen Lewis that lasted until she sadly succumbed to brain cancer. In 2016, we were in Raleigh, North Carolina where transgender students were under attack and succeeding conferences have followed a similar pattern. Why Houston, Texas? Houston has Texas’s largest school district. It was cynically taken over by the state as part of Governor Greg Abbott,s ongoing effort to privatize public education.
It is not just in Houston but public education in all of Texas is under attack by the Governor and his team. In 2015, Abbott appointed Dallas Independent School District (DISD) Trustee, Mike Morath, the state’s Commissioner of Education. Morath’s only education experience was as a substitute teacher in one class for part of a year and serving for two terms on the DISD board. When he ran for school board in 2011, he was unopposed and became the first of a new wave of pro-school privatization and business community PAC supported candidates. He initiated the Houston school takeover.
At the beginning of this month, ABC New Channel 13 in Houston reported that 14 districts in the state are under threat of takeover. The list includes the Clarksville, Cleveland, Coldspring-Oakhurst, Elgin, Judson, Kingsville, Manor, Nacogdoches, Poteet, Runge, San Angelo, San Antonio, Spring and Waco school districts. The schools all have a large percentage of low-income students and high rates of Black and Hispanic students.
The Absurd Houston Takeover
Abbott signed two laws that accelerated school takeovers and privatization efforts. In 2015, HB 1842 was passed and signed into law. It states that if a district has one school that fails testing for five years in a row that the state must close that school or takeover the district and appoint a new school board. In 2017, SB 1882 gave schools the option of turning over a failing school to a private entity such as a charter school. This is the legal machinery that is aligned against Texas public-school districts.
Make Morath originally attempted to takeover Houston Independent School District (HISD) in 2019. The takeover was blamed on poor testing results at Phillis Wheatley High School. The next year, HISD sued and, in 2020, a Travis County district judge halted Morath’s plan by granting a temporary injunction. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) got the states supreme court to overturn the injunction in 2022. They argued that a 2021 law, SB 1365, allowed the state to takeover HISD. It is notable that Harold Dutton, a state Representative from Houston, voted for SB 1365.
Houston ISD is the largest school district in Texas with about 200,000 students and 284 schools. The takeover was blamed on the venerable Phillis Wheatley High School which opened on January 31, 1927. Famous alumni include Archie Bell of Archie Bell and the Drells, actor Charles Robinson (Night Court), band director Freddy Gains, football star Lester Hayes and many more. U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee referring to Wheatley said,
“I’m emotional about it because Barbara Jordan went here. She held this office. Mickey Leland went there. He held this office.”
NPE Executive Director Carol Burris wrote about Wheatley for the answer sheet blog. She noted that Phillis Wheatley High School had been regularly rated as “academically acceptable” until YES Prep opened nearby in 2011. During the 2021-2022 school year, Wheatley served 10 times as many Black students and more than twice as many students with disabilities as YES Prep.
Still the district and the school were making excellent progress. According to the state’s measure in 2022 HISD was B-rated and in less than 2 years 40 of the 50 schools that had received a D or F ratings were rated C or better. Phillis Wheatley High School was rated a C with a score that was two points away from a B rating. Yet Morath and Abbott ignored reason and went ahead with their ill-conceived takeover.
At the time, New York University Professor, Domingo Morel, claimed:
“The Houston public school system is not failing. Rather, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Education Commissioner Mike Morath, and the Republican state legislature are manufacturing an education crisis to prevent people of color in Houston from exercising their citizenship rights and seizing political power.”
The Privatization Train
During the 2024, election, Abbott got rid of the rural politicians that did not support vouchers. According to Propublica he was able to get millions in contributions from billionaire donors to eliminate many fellow Republicans from the statehouse. TikTok investor Jeff Yass of Pennsylvania kicked in $6 million, a Besty Devos group put up $4 million and the federal Club for Growth coordinated with another PAC to add $8 million to the privatization effort.
The pro-voucher candidates Abbott supported won. The governor’s voucher crusade represents the culmination of more than three decades of work by Christian conservative donors, whose influence in Texas politics has never been more pronounced. They have poured millions of dollars into candidates and helped lead or fund a network of organizations, such as the influential Texas Public Policy Foundation to galvanize Republicans around public-school privatization.
Before being appointed by Morath to run Houston’s schools, Make Miles was leading Third Future Schools a charter school in Colorado. TEA’s newly appointed leaders Sandi Massey in Beaumont ISD and Ena Meyers at Lake Worth ISD also worked at Third Future Schools.
Third Future has expanded into Texas. They operate the Texas Partnerships which is an option for saving a district with a poorly scoring school. By contracting out the operation of that school to Texas Partnerships the takeover onus is lifted. So far, 44 campuses have contracted with the Texas Partnership of which 14 are preschools that are not part of the state’s ratings system. The Texas Observer reported:
“Of the remaining 30 schools, 18 ended their time under private management with failing state overall accountability ratings, according to an Observer analysis of TEA ratings and academic performance reports. Eleven posted worse ratings in at least one of their two final contract years than those schools did in the year before the private partnerships began.
Hope to See You in Houston
NPE 2025 in Columbus, Ohio
This weekend in Houston, I expect to hear more details about the attack on public schools in the state and what efforts are being taken to counter them. Zeph Capo, President of Texas American Federation of Teachers, will most assuredly be a great source of information during his keynote speech. And the founder of Pastors for Public Education, Rev. Charles Foster Johnson, will also have some interesting items to share.
There are many speakers that I am looking forward to hearing and the author Katherine Stewart is one of them. Her three books, The Good News Club, The Power Whorshippers and Money Lies and God are master works of research and good writing. I consider Kathrine a friend and am excited to see her again.
Also speaking are Randi Weingarten, President American Federation of Teachers, Professor Maurice Cunningham from Boston and Professor Julian Vasquez Heilig from everywhere. These are some of my favorite people and I always look forward to tipping a few with them and hearing what they have to say. Because of word length limitation, there are many great speakers that I have not mentioned.
I am also looking forward to eating some Texas beef. It will be a special weekend.
Sorry to miss this one– we’re traveling and will be out of the country. Excellent piece, especially for the many teachers who think it’s only THEIR state where policies are chipping away at public education. Have a grand time!