Battle continues over 3 underperforming HISD schools

Remember back in August, when the HISD board voted to close three underperforming schools if they didn't shape up? The schools in question — Kashmere High, Sam Houston High and McReynolds Middle School — are three of the lowest-performing in the state: Kashmere and Sam Houston have earned "academically unacceptable" ratings for four consecutive years, while McReynolds has been ranked one of Texas' bottom five schools three years in a row. Supporters of the schools said last summer that the schools were failing because HISD was neglecting them, and state Rep. Harold Dutton, in a stunning piece of reasoning, said Kashmere kids were actually brilliant, but the dumbbells in other HISD schools brought their academic rating down.

Now another state representative has entered the fray: This time it's Kevin Bailey, who has proposed a bill that would prevent HISD from closing any poorly performing schools without the approval of the Texas Education Agency. The bill, which wouldn't place the restriction on any other school district in the state, is a way to keep HISD from neglecting Kashmere, Sam Houston and McReynolds any farther, Bailey said: "I don't think they should just blame the community and the students."

Even if it gets passed, it's unclear whether Bailey's bill would really make a difference: The TEA, which would have the final say on whether HISD could close underperforming campuses under the proposal, is the agency that ranked Kashmere, Sam Houston and McReynolds so low in the first place, and state lawmakers urged the TEA to be firm against underperforming schools during the last legislative session. Dutton said he would support the bill, but that he doesn't trust the TEA; he also said he's considering floating his own legislation about closing schools, including one bill that would prohibit school districts from closing poorly performing schools unless "the building had something to do with the school being low-performing." Of course.

HISD Trustee Natasha Kamrani, who represents Sam Houston High, said the ability to close underperforming campuses should remain with the school district. "This bill — it's putting the decision in somebody else's hands other than ours," she told the Chronicle. "What we need to stay focused on it making sure Sam Houston is great."