Houston ISD preparing for change following midterm elections

And big changes could soon be coming to Houston's independent school district following the midterm elections. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has pledged to replace Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath and end state takeovers of public schools. Fox 26's Jillian Hartman joining us now live outside of Houston ISD headquarters with an update. Jillian. Yeah, so tonight was the first school board meeting since the election, and now there's growing hope among parents, students, community members, and elected trustees that HISD will go back to local control. And tonight we learned that a possible transition could happen as early as January. So after the midterm election last week, Houston ISD announced its state-appointed board of managers will meet with elected trustees about a potential transition back in 2022. The board was appointed by the Texas Education Agency as part of the state's takeover of Houston ISD. Now, the district said the meetings are to ensure a smooth and successful transition to elected governance. HISD says it plans to schedule meetings over the coming months about the district's progress and challenges. Now, elected trustees will get updates on district operations, including student achievement, academic programs, finances and facilities in the district. The district said the meetings will not change the current leadership structure. Now, last week, the district said there is no timeline of a transition, but tonight the board shared this update. We've already begun that work. We met with the elected trustees on Monday to lay out a robust transition plan, building on the regular meetings that we've had held throughout this year. We're planning as if the trustees must be ready by mid-January of 2027. The district staff are assembling. A comprehensive transition package covering everything that a trustee would want to know about the district, including operations, budgets, finance, transportation, human resources. Classroom learning and much more. When the trustees return, they will have the information they need to do their best work. Until then, the board will continue to run the district's business as usual. We will not try to codify any reforms implemented during the takeover. Those decisions belong to whoever governs next, which will be the elected trustees. We will respect whatever decision... The governor-elect and the next education commissioners make about the timing and the structure of the transition. Our commitment does not change. The transition must never come at the expense of Houston students and their pursuit for greatness. All right, so Jillian here, did the board actually take a vote on this new CTE center? Yeah, so this was a heated debate tonight. So the board actually voted seven to zero approving a $92 million contract for a new career and technical education center. And this actually caused an uproar inside tonight because they voted despite community members and some elected trustees pushing back and giving them pushback and actually asking the board to delay the vote and let the trustees decide.