Local and state governments rarely read from the same book. NYU Wagner School’s Domingo Morel explains the evolution of state school takeovers—and how they disproportionately target communities of color.
by Erika Filter, National Press Foundation
State takeovers of schools—when state governments intervene in the management of a school district—began in the late 1980s. Since then, there have been more than 100 takeovers across at least 22 states. Most recently, Texas officials announced they would be assuming control of the Houston Independent School District. Domingo Morel, an associate professor of political science and public service at New York University’s Wagner School, explains his research on school takeovers and how they disproportionately target communities of color.
What is a takeover? Takeovers occur when a state legislature, state board of education or a federal court designates the management of a school district to the state department of education or an official like a mayor. The state then has 3 options:
leave the locally elected school board in place;
abolish the school board and replace its members with appointees, or;
abolish the school board entirely.
Takeovers often come after a school district advocates for and receives increased funding. But the improved educational outcomes that come with more resources are often neutralized during a takeover.
Takeovers do not guarantee improved educational outcomes. “We just don’t have strong evidence that they improve educational outcomes like test scores, graduation rates, and so forth,” Morel said. School districts that perform well are often fueled by consistent collaboration between parents, students, and local officials. “State takeovers create tension and hostility that makes that essentially impossible,” Morel said.
Takeovers primarily occur in communities of color. Morel found the strongest predictor for whether a given school district would be taken over is the percentage of Black city council members a given city has. When city councils are majority Black, those cities have up to a 15% chance of being taken over. “The systematic political disempowerment of Black communities through state takeover of local school districts shows how education is central to the project of state-sanctioned political inequality in my view,” Morel said.
On the other hand, Morel said takeovers often play out differently in white school districts. When states take over majority white school districts, 70% of them keep their elected school boards. Majority Latino districts keep their elected school boards about 45% of the time. But for majority Black school districts, more than 70% of elected school boards are abolished, and 30% of them are not replaced, Morel said.
Republican administrations are often the driving force behind school takeovers. “We have not only race politics to take into account, but partisan politics to take into account as well,” Morel said. Even when some cities push for more progressive policies, takeovers are likely to continue. “The tensions between the Republican state administration, governors and state legislatures, and these tensions in cities, which are mostly people of color and mostly Democrats, is what’s contributing to the likelihood of a takeover happening,” Morel said.
Takeovers are branching out. States are beginning to try to take over other sectors of local government, like policing, water management and elections. The state of Mississippi is trying to take over policing in Jackson and Missouri is trying to control policing in St. Louis. The Flint, Michigan water crisis was largely due to a state takeover of city management. Georgia has passed laws allowing the state to take over local election administration. These takeovers are “weaponized” beyond improving the actual management of local resources, Morel said. “They’re being weaponized in a way to really openly harm communities.”
Speaker: Domingo Morel, Professor of Political Science and Public Service at New York University
Takeaways, transcript and resources: https://nationalpress.org/topic/state...
The Future of the American Child fellowship was sponsored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Heising-Simons Foundation. NPF is solely responsible for the content.
This video was produced within the Evelyn Y. Davis studios.
National Press Foundation website: https://nationalpress.org/
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