Raising the hopes of all his detractors, Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles went on Hello Houston Tuesday and said the state takeover of HISD might end after the completion of the 2026-27 school year.
“I think the official end may be the end of this school year. And the commissioner [Texas Education Agency’s Mike Morath] will determine what the transition will be,” Miles told co-hosts Ernie Manouse and Tessa Barrera.
Of course, when he says “the end” what Miles may be referring to is the beginning of the end. Unless altered, the initial state plan for the move back to an elected board called for a process by which three elected board members would be seated the first year, replacing three appointed board members. Another three would be exchanged in the second year and then the final three on the nine-member board would be seated for the third year – returning to an all-elected board.
Manouse asked Miles if he would continue to be superintendent with the change in boards. Miles said he has four years remaining on his contract but he believes the new school board “will want their own superintendent.”
Miles pointed out that Morath had already earlier said he thought the takeover would not go on much longer.
The state-appointed superintendent said his administration has already met one criterion since arriving in 2023 in that there are no longer HISD schools with multiple years of D- and F-ratings from the TEA. The school district has made enormous gains in the number of its schools that are A- or B-rated.
He defended the inclusion of grades from remedial courses despite the calculation from the Houston Chronicle that several schools would have received lower ratings without those easier courses. Miles said “bridge” courses were allowed by the state and that school districts throughout Texas offer this as a way to better prepare students for their post- high school graduation lives.
HISD has probably cleared the second hurdle of “board governance” since the members of the Board of Managers demonstrate an ability to get along in public — setting a new world record in the number of their unanimous votes — and in full support of Miles. They also frequently and at length devote time in public board meetings in reviews of whether they are meeting the goals they have set for the district.
“We still have some work to do in special education,” Miles said. He defended the recent plan to consolidate most special education students in certain schools throughout the district and denied that any student’s IEP (Individualized Education Program) was altered without a parent’s knowledge of the change.
