HOUSTON — Dozens of families across the Houston Independent School District kept their kids home from school Wednesday as part of a “sick out” to protest the Texas Education Agency’s 2023 takeover of the district.
Community Voices for Public Education (CVPE) organized the protest to voice frustrations with Superintendent Mike Miles and some of the district’s policies since the state takeover, ABC 13 reports. In part, organizers said the protest was meant to highlight HISD’s inadequate response to potential ICE raids.
“HISD has always, and will always, continue to support and educate every student who walks through our doors. While our commitment to students has not changed, we know this is an uncertain time for many in the Houston community. We will do everything within our power to ensure stability and continuity of care for our students while they are in our schools, and the safest place for our students to be during the school week is in school,” HISD spokesperson Alexandra Elizondo wrote in a statement. “It is entirely irresponsible for CVPE to cynically exploit people’s legitimate concerns about federal immigration policy to push their own political agenda about the state intervention. Encouraging students to skip school only hurts students.”
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Demonstrators: HISD State Takeover Prioritizes Standardized Test Scores
Protesters alleged teachers are under immense pressure to perform well on state standardized tests and that there is no support for teachers or parents.’
“We simply, as HISD parents and the constituents of this school system, have an extreme distrust. I think that was proven through the vote down of the bond,” said parent Noel Rushin, who planned to keep his child home on Wednesday. “I hope that HISD understands our children are not monetized dollars. It’s not a matter of our children being a point to get funding. HISD’s job is to provide the highest level of education it can to all of the individual students of HISD. It’s there to make sure we prepare Texans for tomorrow, not just to pass a test just to get a score.”
HISD said standardized test scores have dramatically improved since the state takeover and teacher absenteeism has fallen sharply, according to KHOU.
“Do they want to go back to the time when only 17% of graduates earned a living wage, when the schools serving our poorest students graduated students with empty diplomas, or when students with special needs were so chronically underserved that the state had to step in?” Elizondo said. “Encouraging students to skip school only hurts students.”
HISD parent Jessica Campos voiced concerns over the loss of certified teachers, library closures, curriculum changes, and the handling of district funding under state control.
“We want an elected board back. We want a voice in this because these are our children they are harming,” she said. “It’s up to us, the people experiencing the everyday mess, to go to the state and tell them what’s going on so they can make laws that benefit us.”
Houston ISD Superintendent Criticized Over Spending
Ruth Kravetz, co-founder of CVPE, also criticized Miles for “spending the taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor.”
In Texas, each public school receives funding based on attendance, not on enrollment. Therefore, higher levels of absenteeism means less money. Kravetz said it works out to be $33 less each day a kid misses school.
On Wednesday morning, CVPE said 1,000 families from 147 HISD schools had filled out its online form confirming their participation in the sick out. The group expected those numbers to rise throughout the day.
HISD has not yet released absentee data for Wednesday.
