The takeover of the Houston Independent School District by the TEA began on June 1, 2023, the last official work day for teachers. Former Superintendent of Dallas ISD, Mike Miles, deposed Millard House II, the Superintendent of HISD, in this government-led charge.

A whole host of changes has erupted in  HISD, including over 20 libraries across the district closing and turning into computer labs or detention centers.

“I hadn’t seen that about detention centers like I have about turning them into just computer labs. That’s even worse. That’s even worse because they’re turning a safe space into a punishing space,”  Ms. De Alba, an English teacher at El Paso High School said.

Not only this, but most of the libraries closed are in predominantly Black or hispanic neighborhoods, many of which mirror the demographics of EPHS. Houston ISD and El Paso ISD look very similar in a lot of ways. Both districts have levels of poverty far above the statewide average. Both have an unusually high number of students who are English Language Learners, and both districts have an under 10% white population.

“As an educator, I don’t believe that you should be getting rid of libraries period.They’re a safe space for students, and you do have the students that like to read, and you want to keep those students coming to the library,”  Ms. De Alba said.

The changes to the district came after years of poor academic results. Phillis Wheatley High School in particular scored on average 20 points lower on the STAAR tests than EPHS. Despite this, El Paso ISD only scored a point higher than HISD.

So what does this mean for EPISD?

EPHS has already faced a series of changes brought on by the TEA, including standardized testing. After what happened in Houston, the TEA will begin prioritizing the TEKS and raising testing scores, further limiting the rights of teachers.

“Houston is primarily a better funded district than we are,” AP Modern World History teacher, Mr. Lang said. “We’re a small urban district and they’re a much larger urban district. Some of those schools are lower income like some of our schools are too, but if they’re having to cut costs to do that, and making those decisions, one worries about what it will look like here.” 

Houston is a very economically diverse district, and the so-called ‘problem schools’ mirror EPHS, and EPISD in general. Still, Lang doubts this will play out the same here.

“We don’t have as many issues as an urban district like Houston ISD would and what I mean by that is being smaller, and having the culture that we have here on the border, you don’t have the same sort of literacy issues or need to meet needs, to adjust schedules that they’re trying to do make those decisions for in Houston. It’s a problematic situation, and one hopes that eventually they’ll balance out how they’re doing things.” Mr. Lang said. 

The TEA governs over the entirety of public K-12 education in Texas-Houston could easily happen again. So what will this mean for teachers like Mr. Lang?

“Do I think it’ll affect us in EPHS? Not in the same way we may have something similar like that happen, we may have another cost cutting measure done or we may have some new thing we brought in. I also don’t think that we would approach discipline the same way that they do there in Houston.” Mr. Lang said.

Still, EPHS may have cause to be hopeful-EPISD is a very individual district., 

As Mr. Lang puts it,“In general, [EPISD] is a much cuddlier place than Houston, so we can hope we don’t do what they’re doing.”