HISD Data - A Crystal Ball for FWISD?
As the saying goes… Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
While we acknowledge that HISD is geographically different than FWISD, both districts have been taken over. Leadership driving these takeovers is the same. Even the trainers who presented at the Lone Star Governance training sessions for Board of Manager prospects in Fort Worth, is the staff running things in Houston and previously in other places like DeSoto. While we all hope for the best, we know that it is prudent to prepare for the worst. There is no reason to think that things will be different. The University of Houston just released their review of how the HISD takeover has impact aspects of the district. The report titled ‘Houston ISD Takeover: By the Numbers’ was just released January 2026 and the picture isn’t pretty. Our goal is not to form opinions for you, but acknowledge your intelligence as a reader of this information. So please read the report… all 46 pages. It is linked below:
If you are looking for the Cliffs Notes, here you go. The report starts out by describing the situation surrounding the takeover. As stated, two Houston ISD high schools had poor performance which permitted the TEA to initiate the takeover of the full district. The replaced Board of Managers (BOM) has the power to amend the district’s budget, reassign staff, or relocated academic programs. You, the voter, do not have the ability to vote the BOM out if you don’t like what they are doing. The UH report provides some fantastic context and real-world data showing what has happened there.
The decrease in student enrollment since the takeover has increased both in magnitude and as a proportion of the prior-year student enrollment.
Research shows that declining student enrollment has immediate effects on schools as well as far-reaching effects on the surrounding communities.
Since the takeover, 9th grade student enrollment has declined by 15.1%.
Since the takeover fewer Houston ISD students are moving to another Houston ISD campus and choosing instead to move to a non-Houston ISD school district or charter school or leave public schools entirely.
The most striking difference between the Houston ISD teaching population before the takeover and since the takeover is the number of inexperienced and uncertified teachers employed by the district.
The number of uncertified teachers has increased 19-fold. From 1% just before the takeover, to 19.8%, in TWO years’ time.
Teacher retention has reached a 9 year low.
The winners of this have not been the HISD students. It has been neighboring districts and charter schools.
The data is not pretty. No matter how you look at it. And it does not bode well for what is to come in the FWISD.
The University of Houston conclusion is this: “After the first two years of the state takeover, the Houston ISD student and teacher populations have changed substantially. Since the takeover, the decline in Houston ISD enrollment has increased compared with yearly declines experienced prior to the takeover, and the declines since the takeover are large compared with increases in the total public school enrollment statewide. The Houston ISD teacher population employed during the first two years of the takeover is substantially different from the population employed before the takeover; it is composed of many more uncertified and inexperienced teachers than before the takeover. T he trends of a declining student population and a less experienced and increasingly uncertified teacher population are concerning and important areas of focus as the district strives for improvement.”
Will we look back in five years and contemplate all of the things we should have done? Why would we think differently?
