Resolution No. 4

Resolution On Denouncing Mayor Turner’s Proposal for HISD and Supporting HISD Activists

Passed December 13, 2018

1. WHEREAS a proposal to turn four public schools that primarily serve students of color into privately run charter schools is currently underway and supported by several members seated on city council;
2. WHEREAS the affected schools, Highland Heights Elementary School, Henry Middle School, Kashmere High School and Wheatley High School, service communities of color;
3. WHEREAS the proposed non-profit in-line to assume control over the schools’ governance, finances, and academics is called ‘The Coalition for Excellence and Equity in Education’ and is run by three private sector elites;
4. WHEREAS one of these three is Stephanie Nellons-Paige, who shaped her career through the for-profit education market in testing companies like Scantron, and charter schools like Can Academy, currently works with Strada Education, a non-profit that produces research and programs that support for-profit privatization motives through tax deductions;
5. WHEREAS another of these three is Corbin Robertson, who owns the largest privately owned coal manufacturer in the US, and is a notorious, money backed climate-change denier, and has no special experience with K-12 education;
6. WHEREAS the last of these three is Trini Mendenhall, who co-founded the Fiesta grocery chain, has contributed to Republican candidates, and has no special experience with education;
7. WHEREAS grassroots activists and organizers from the community have been fighting for months against privatization of these schools;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Houston Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America will adopt the following positions:

1. We denounce the Mayor appointing these three wealthy un-electeds to take control over the aforementioned schools under the guise of local control, as it is an insult to the community and the grassroots activists and leaders fighting to protect these schools;
2. We fully support the efforts of advocacy groups such as HISD Parent Advocates, Black Lives Matter Houston, Indivisible Houston, Pantsuit Republic Houston, Public Citizen, and FIEL in the fight against turning the our schools over to the private sector.