HOUSTON – After hundreds of submissions, the Texas Education Agency has closed its application window to decide who will oversee the Houston Independent School District.
This comes after the TEA announced its plans to take over HISD and replace the superintendent and the school board.
However, there are concerns about the demographics of the applicants.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) hosted a news conference at Gulfgate Mall Saturday morning to discuss this issue.
The application portal closed on Thursday, and at last check 10% of the applicants were Hispanic.
“Whoever is running the largest school district in the state of Texas must have equitable representation of our community, that’s why we are here today,” said Sergio Lira, president of the Greater Houston LULAC Council.
As of April 7, there were 374 applicants. 40% were African American, 33% were White, 10% were Hispanic, 5% were Asian and 12% identified as other, according to the TEA.
LULAC said the Latino community is underrepresented. According to the organization, Latino’s make up 62% of HISD’s student body, and not having a board that reflects the demographics of the district feels illegitimate to the group.
The president of LULAC said the board recruitment process is lacking transparency, and there are other issues.
“By giving us a short window of opportunity, by lack of transparency and by lack of recruitment in the Latino areas with Latino leaders, they have managed to further whittle our numbers down,” Lira said.
LULAC said it expects to take legal action alongside the American Civil Liberties Union.
Additionally, the TEA did expand their initial application deadline by a couple of weeks.
By the numbers:
Below you can find a breakdown of the demographics of some of the applicants.
Total: 462 applicants and 422 live within HISD boundaries
Female: 260
Male: 199
Other: 3
African American: 180
Hispanic: 52
White: 154
Asian: 21
Other: 20
Education:
High school diploma: 22
Bachelor’s degree: 118
Master’s degree: 198
Doctorate degree: 124
RELATED CONTENT:
TEA Takeover: Hundreds apply for the board of managers to run HISD
Houston coalition files DOJ complaint due to TEA takeover
Timeline: How the TEA takeover of Houston ISD unfolded
Houston ISD board to hear presentation on takeover transition