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'Funeral' held ahead of Houston ISD charter vote Tuesday

Houston ISD trustees will vote on whether to move forward with plans to temporarily give up control over 10 low- performing schools, allowing a charter school operator to take over.

HOUSTON – Houston ISD trustees have a big decision to make Tuesday.

They will vote on whether to move forward with plans to temporarily give up control over 10 low- performing schools, allowing a charter school operator to take over.

There's already a planned protest, and the opposition isn't just calling it a protest. They're calling it a funeral for those schools.

Essentially, there are 10 underperforming schools in HISD – Wheatley High School is one of them

There’s a new state law that went into effect in 2015 that requires campus closures or a state takeover if any district school gets a fifth straight improvement required rating for poor academic performance this year.

By surrendering those schools to a charter school program, the district can avoid school closures or a state takeover of HISD’s locally-elected school board.

Here’s a look at the 10 schools at risk. They include Henry Middle School and Highland Heights Elementary School. The move will affect 6,000 plus students.

The fact that community members are holding a funeral let’s you know how controversial this is.

Those who are organizing the funeral have created this list of demands:

1) The HISD Board should sue the TEA over failure to comply to state testing laws.

2) Sue the TEA for discrimination based on race through the accountability system.

3) Refocus district dollars from test prep to holistic education in all schools.

4) Get out of the charter school business permanently.

5) Don't give up on our schools.

On social media this discussion continues. Lots of negative reaction from parents, so it will be interesting to see what happens Tuesday evening.

HISD is on a time crunch. If they don’t approve this plan Tuesday night, they’ll have six days to find another partner or plan before those state sanctions kick in.

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