{"id":192149,"date":"2026-03-05T19:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/192149\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:33:19","slug":"red-states-take-control-of-school-districts-with-new-momentum-fueled-by-national-politics-the-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/192149\/","title":{"rendered":"Red States Take Control of School Districts With New Momentum, Fueled by National Politics \u2013 The 74"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Roxanne Martinez moved back to her neighborhood in Fort Worth so her kids could attend the same schools she did.<\/p>\n

The mother of two was on the booster club. And on a walk one day with students to a polling location \u2014 she\u2019s always encouraged civic involvement \u2014 one asked her why she hadn\u2019t run for school board. That question sparked a campaign, and she was elected in 2021.<\/p>\n

But the board seat Martinez won in the Fort Worth Independent School District may not come with any power for very much longer. Texas education officials announced in October that they would take control of the district and replace locally elected board members with a board hand-picked by the state, a move triggered by the academic failures at a school that has since closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take parent calls almost every night, almost every day, and so to lose that local voice, removing the voice of my constituents, of our voters, is just deeply concerning to me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

State takeovers are having a moment. For decades, state officials have taken over school districts, citing academic and financial calamity. In some cases, the calamity was real: School districts were bankrupt. Very small fractions of students read at grade level. But while those reasons are still the most commonly cited, officials\u2019 rhetoric to justify the tactic has become more overtly political as the country\u2019s political divides have deepened, according to those who study the phenomenon.<\/p>\n

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In Texas, the state has seized control over seven school districts since 2023, four of those announced in the past six months. Nationwide, Chalkbeat tracked at least 21 new school district takeovers in the past three years, with additional takeovers threatened. These come after what some experts said was a lull in the practice. This year already, Texas\u2019 schools chief threatened districts with takeovers over anti-ICE protests<\/a>, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a swipe at unions while suggesting a state receiver should be in control of Broward County Public Schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, states don\u2019t really care about having to justify this action,\u201d said Domingo Morel, a professor at New York University. \u201cBack in the 1980s, 1990s, early 2000s, states really went out of their way to make it look like they really wanted to come in to improve the district.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservative governors and education commissioners have said they\u2019re taking a hard line on academics, targeting entire districts over a few schools, or progress they say is not fast enough.<\/p>\n

Some argue that outside intervention is the only way to break up entrenched political interests that stagnate learning. Researchers also say the revival of takeovers in some states may reflect alarm over flagging academic achievement and financial distress in COVID\u2019s wake.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are really concerned, especially post-pandemic, about student achievement,\u201d said Josh Bleiberg, an education professor at the University of Pittsburgh. \u201cI do think there\u2019s an emergency mindset aspect of here like, \u2018well, we\u2019ve got to do something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

There are examples of takeovers that produced sustained improvements in student outcomes<\/a>, but they are the minority, according to research. More often, research shows the loss of control disproportionately affects communities of color in exchange for meager and short-term gains in academic achievement.<\/p>\n

Some welcome change in the Fort Worth district, where students lag behind their peers on national assessments<\/a>. For others, like Martinez, the takeover is a flex of Republican political power over a district in a politically mixed county<\/a>, and in a school district that primarily serves Hispanic and Black students. To them, the entity that will come out ahead could be the state\u2019s new private school choice program, not public schools.<\/p>\n

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And for a third set \u2014 people like Ale Checka, a longtime teacher in Fort Worth \u2014 two things can be true.<\/p>\n

Yes, Fort Worth\u2019s schools deserved to be taken over, Checka said. But that doesn\u2019t mean she likes it: \u201cGod, I wish we could get taken over by literally anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

State takeovers gaining momentum in Republican-led states<\/p>\n

States run by Democrats have also initiated takeovers<\/a> in the past three years<\/a>, in several instances for financial reasons. But Republican-led states are leading the charge on recent takeovers, although the strategy looks different from state to state.<\/p>\n

In Tennessee, Republican lawmakers want to install a state-appointed oversight board in Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the largest school district in the state, to assume authority of schools in a majority Democratic county<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tennessee Republicans argue a state-appointed oversight board could better turn around lagging academic achievement than the current school board. Opponents of the GOP plan say Memphis schools are not only improving, they\u2019re exceeding state expectations for growth in reading and math on state assessments.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Mississippi<\/a> has taken over two school districts in the past year, after a lull since 2021. The state has had broader authority since 2024, when lawmakers removed a requirement for the governor to first declare a state of emergency in a school district to initiate a takeover.<\/p>\n

GOP leaders in Nevada<\/a> and New Hampshire<\/a> are pushing takeovers for more state control over local districts.<\/p>\n

Not all recent state interventions in local school districts amount to a direct takeover. Indiana GOP lawmakers have mandated a new oversight board for Indianapolis Public Schools<\/a>, but the board\u2019s members would be picked by the mayor, who\u2019s currently a Democrat.<\/p>\n

But the state that\u2019s arguably become the clearest blueprint for the current crop of takeovers is Texas.<\/p>\n

In Texas, just one school in a district can trigger state intervention for that district. In Houston, the trigger was Wheatley High School where more than 90% of Wheatley\u2019s students are Latino or Black and many are from low-income backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Wheatley was deemed unacceptable in the state\u2019s rating system for seven straight school years, which state schools chief Mike Morath cited in 2023 as one reason the state was taking over<\/a>, along with languishing achievement in other Houston schools, which educate about 180,000 students and constitute the state\u2019s largest district.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Morath told the Houston Landing that state intervention<\/a> was necessary in part because the district had allowed chronic low achievement in multiple schools for far too long.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents, teachers have high expectations for kids,\u201d Morath said at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s important for me to maintain high expectations for school boards. So this is ultimately about an intervention action for the school board.\u201d (The Texas Education Agency did not respond to requests for an interview with Morath for this story.)<\/p>\n

State officials put Mike Miles \u2014 a longtime lightning rod in education \u2014 in charge of Houston as superintendent and replaced the elected board with an appointed one. Miles, the former Dallas superintendent who also founded a charter school network, made school hours longer, cut jobs in the district\u2019s central office<\/a>, implemented new curriculum in struggling schools<\/a>, and put more pressure on school principals to deliver results<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The results have been a mixed bag. Houston now has fewer struggling schools, under Texas\u2019 school rating system. But the number of students enrolled has declined by 13,000 since the takeover, an acceleration of earlier enrollment decline<\/a>. And the share of teachers remaining on their campuses between school years fell from 70% before the takeover to 58.6% from the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, according to research from the University of Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, Houston has produced enticing results. \u201cPeople from all over the country, including Alaska, are calling us to ask how we\u2019re doing this,\u201d Miles told The 74 last year<\/a>, touting the district\u2019s academic gains<\/a>. \u201cBoldness is what\u2019s called for, and people are starting to have some hope that big turnarounds can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Republicans in Tennessee have pointed to Houston as a model for a state takeover<\/a> of Memphis\u2019 district, critical of flagging academics and school board dysfunction.<\/p>\n

Parents and teachers in Fort Worth, a district of roughly 70,000 students and the 10th-largest in the state, have eyed the changes in Houston closely.<\/p>\n

Two in 3 students in Fort Worth can\u2019t read on grade level<\/a>, according to the Fort Worth Report. Two middle schools have failed in the state rating system for four consecutive years<\/a>, just shy of the state intervention threshold.<\/p>\n

Trenace Dorsey-Hollins is a Fort Worth mother of two and founder of Parent Shield, a grassroots group pushing the message that Fort Worth\u2019s kids deserve a high-quality education.<\/p>\n

Despite the political undertones of the takeover in Houston, the new management is \u201cchanging the trajectory for a lot of kids\u201d there, she said, and Fort Worth is in need of some \u201ctrue momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The truth is, many schools across Texas are failing, and they\u2019ve been failing kids for a long time, she said.<\/p>\n

Checka acknowledged that Fort Worth is in a literacy crisis that warrants outside intervention, she said. But she\u2019s watched Houston eliminate school librarian positions with horror.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moves that the state is making are not moves that are for literacy,\u201d Checka said. While Houston has improved reading scores, educators have been critical of district-prescribed instruction that doesn\u2019t emphasize reading books cover-to-cover<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Martinez, the board member, notes that the district already adopted higher-quality instructional materials and added teacher training. Just this month, the district shared data showing growth on reading assessments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the state had some magic bullet that was going to just come in and significantly improve schools, one: why haven\u2019t they already shared it?\u201d she asked. \u201cTwo: why are they not partnering with us?\u201d<\/p>\n

Political rhetoric around school district takeovers has changed<\/p>\n

As students walked out earlier this year to protest federal immigration policy, Texas Education Agency officials warned that schools could face state control if student protests continued<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called for investigations into multiple districts, implying that protests were taking kids away from academics.<\/p>\n

Texas hasn\u2019t initiated any takeovers since Abbott\u2019s comments. But the state did place the Austin district under investigation. Austin was already under financial stress<\/a>, and several middle schools are one failing grade away from triggering intervention.<\/p>\n

Morel, who studies state takeovers, said he believed the country would witness a decline in the practice nearly a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Yet Houston marked an \u201coutright political power play on the part of the state,\u201d given that the state used a single school\u2019s shortcomings as the reason for intervention, even when the district itself was not failing in the state\u2019s rating system.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can anticipate that if this type of trajectory continues, that it\u2019s really not about improving schools, that it\u2019s about undermining the political power of these communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s inherent political friction in a takeover, said Johnny Key, a former Republican Arkansas schools chief who oversaw the state intervention in the Little Rock School District from 2015 to 2021. Key acknowledges the takeover wasn\u2019t a \u201csmashing success\u201d but said it stabilized leadership and helped the district plan for the end of desegregation aid, a major funding source.<\/p>\n

Key said any takeover is inherently political, because the state is claiming responsibility for something typically controlled locally. But that doesn\u2019t mean takeovers aren\u2019t necessary, or that state officials are simply dismissing communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo paint state takeover with any type of broad brush ignores the nuance and the differences in the communities that are affected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But ultimately state takeovers must be sensitive to politics and get support from key groups, including teachers, to ensure changes can endure, said Ashley Jochim, a political scientist with the Center on Reinventing Public Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go in and do a bunch of stuff that\u2019s super controversial, even if it benefits kids, if it doesn\u2019t have political support, it\u2019s not going to be sustained over time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Recent controversy over Texas education policy isn\u2019t confined to state takeovers. In conversations about the pending Fort Worth takeover, Martinez and others raised Texas\u2019 school voucher program that Abbott signed into law in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no evidence to suggest Texas is somehow using state intervention as a way to promote vouchers. But critics like Martinez are skeptical of a government touting a voucher program that comes with little accountability for achievement<\/a>, while also claiming it\u2019s trying to raise achievement for already-stretched public schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reasoning behind the strong interventions has less to do about student outcomes and more about shifting of power,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

For Checka, the state\u2019s motivation for taking over Fort Worth Schools matters. The idea that students will learn more every day is what gets her up in the morning. She wishes she felt confident Texas officials had the same motivations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things that are important to me are my students being able to read and write \u2026 my students being able to access opportunities after high school and go to college,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is just not important to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at\/newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019d love to hear how The 74\u2019s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Roxanne Martinez moved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117,223,287,30828,61581,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-192149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-fort-worth","9":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","10":"tag-fort-worth-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-red-states","14":"tag-student-protests","15":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}