HOUSTON – Houston ISD voters will need to vote on two of the nine board of trustee positions, even though the board of managers are in charge.
Incumbents Dani Hernandez and Patricia K. Allen, Districts 3 and 4 respectfully, are vying to keep their seats while Fe Bencosme and Meg Seff are challenging them.
Newcomers H.A. “Savant” Moore and Placido Gomez will take the positions for Districts 2 and 9 as they run unopposed.
Former Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams tells KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun these elections won’t change anything with the state-appointed Board of Managers.
“It is important to say they will not be able to do that until the commissioner removes the board of managers,” Williams said. “At some point in time, the [T.E.A.] commissioner will remove the board of managers and those duly elected trustees will go to work on behalf of the district.”
The goal of the state-appointed superintendent and board of managers is to get the school district in shape to meet certain criteria before eventually handing it back to local control.
- HISD will not have any multi-year failing campuses.
- The special education program will operate in compliance with legal requirements.
- Board procedures and conduct must be focused on student outcomes.
Once those conditions are met, the board of managers and superintendent will work to hand it back over to the board of trustees. Here’s that process:
- The goal is to have the conditions met in two years. If met, a third of the board of managers will be replaced with trustees.
- After some time, another third of the board will be replaced with trustees.
- This continues until the managers are replaced entirely by trustees.
Williams said the trustees should use this time to stay engaged in the district so that when the time comes, they’re ready.
“This is also an opportunity for the newly elected trustees as well as those already there to sort of watch and see what’s going on with the district,” Williams said.