HISD has lost more than 21,000 students since the takeover began. When official enrollment numbers for this year are released, the loss will be closer to 30,000 students. Some families have gone to private schools or charters. Others have left the district or the state.
And some are being forced out. Even eight year olds in third grade.
Houston. Beaumont and Fort Worth ISD takeovers have adopted some charter school’s deeply anti-democratic principles, including purposefully excluding vulnerable students to artificially raise ratings, all at the expense of student learning.
NES and Future 2 administrators have been telling parents of young children who are struggling that their children might be better off if they “homeschooled” them. One mom told us yesterday that an administrator told her that the school just did not have the “services” her child needed.
Third graders are being told that there is no place for them in public school. Elementary schoolchildren are being made to feel that they don’t belong in the very system legally obligated to educate them. That is wrong. It is also against the law.
And when parents refuse to be pressured into removing their children, some reportedly face threats of Child Protective Services calls if they insist on keeping them enrolled. These are deeply troubling allegations that demand investigation and accountability.
In a thriving democracy, we educate all of our children. Texas has required school attendance since 1915 because educating children is a public responsibility. The goal is to prepare them to lead meaningful lives and become contributing members of a well-functioning society.
But when the goal becomes selling a school district takeover at any cost, children stop being treated as students with individual needs and potential. They become numbers to be manipulated, liabilities to be pushed out, and commodities to be traded away in pursuit of better ratings. That is wrong.
That’s why we need Gina Hinojosa to win. That is why we need Vikki Goodwin, Flip 3 Dem State Board of Education candidates (in greater Houston- Palmer, Perkins and Mallet-Fontenot), and Democrats up and down the ballot to win.
Help get out the vote.
Make a call. Knock a door. Blockwalk with Molly Cook and CVPE Sunday at 2 pm. Help get out the vote. Don’t assume everyone on your block is voting. Don’t assume the teacher fired from HISD for playing chess with their students after finals is voting. Don’t assume your niece is voting. Call them.
Whatcha gotta lose? Except the future of public education.
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