Despite public outcry, Texas House Representative Harold Dutton Jr. isn’t sorry he opened the door to the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District. In fact, he’s proud of it.
“Some people mistakenly believe that the idea first came from Gov. Greg Abbott or some other Republican. But in fact, it came from me, a Democrat,” Dutton wrote in an opinion piece for the Houston Chronicle back in March when the state first announced its decision to take over the district, oust its elected board, and install an unelected board of managers and superintendent.
But since the state installed Mike Miles as superintendent of the district, chaos and disruption have only grown: At least 58 principals have left or been removed; more than 600 teachers have resigned—twice the number compared to each of the following two school years after the pandemic; and hundreds of students have been walking out of the classroom chanting, “School feels like a prison.”
