Texas superintendents on Saturday said state takeovers of school districts — where democratically-elected school boards are ousted and replaced with a state-appointed board of managers — is not a sustainable means to improve student learning.
Two of Texas’ largest school districts, Houston ISD, and most recently, Fort Worth ISD, are under a takeover, after five consecutive years of failing ratings at one of their campuses.
“Do I think that's sustainable? Absolutely not. I don't,” Martha Salazar-Zamora, the superintendent of Tomball ISD, said at The Texas Tribune Festival. “I don't think that's what local control is supposed to look like. I don't actually think that's what the public school experience is supposed to look like.”
About 40 miles north of Houston, Tomball ISD is a high-performing district with about 22,000 students. The district earned an A rating in 2025.
On the panel Saturday, school leaders from across the state — Salazar-Zamora, San Angelo ISD Superintendent Christopher Moran and Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura — warned state takeovers are threatening local control at a time districts are already cash-strapped because of budget deficits.
Since 2000, the Texas Education Agency has taken over 11 school districts around the state. State leaders have reasoned it is their last resort to improve academic performance, a responsibility public schools have to its communities.
Upheaval in the Houston school district has shown how contentious takeovers can get. While state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles touted no failing schools in 2025 because of his reforms, it came at the cost of a mass exodus of students and teachers.
The superintendents on Saturday said that they don’t shy away from accountability measures to ensure their students are on track with their learning, however, decision-making power should remain at the hands of local school boards.
At the helm of the Austin school district, Segura is currently looking at closing about a dozen campuses and redrawing boundaries, primarily to avoid such state sanctions that would affect the district’s more than 70,000 students.
“Right now, if we continue our trajectory, we will not be able to serve our students, and that will ultimately lead to a state intervention at some point down the road,” Segura said. “I do not want to be there. I'm not going to be the superintendent that allows us to get there.”
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.