Following a state-mandated conservatorship and years of squabbling board members, the Texas Education Agency decided Wednesday to overhaul South San Antonio Independent School District’s entire board of trustees.
The state also appointed Saul Hinojosa, a retired superintendent for Somerset ISD, as South San’s new superintendent.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath appointed Hinojosa and a completely new seven-member board of managers, citing nearly two decades of elected trustee and administrative dysfunction, in which he said resulted in “diminished student academic outcomes, poor financial controls, public distrust and multiple TEA investigations.”
South San ISD’s board has been under TEA investigation four times, twice in 2021 and twice in 2023.
The decision to take over South San ISD comes after the TEA found the district was in violation of five different state education codes and demonstrated the district “failed to oversee the management of the district when it engaged in actions or inaction that could negatively impact district personnel and the students of SSAISD.”
Mentioned in the investigation’s final report was the board’s inability to keep a superintendent for a full term since 2011, repeated failures to meet quorum during board meetings and the district’s $12 million budget deficit.
According to the report, the TEA’s Special Investigations Unit will recommend to the Commissioner of Education that a sanction be issued up to and including the installation of a Board of Managers that replaces the existing board of trustees due to the current board’s demonstrated inability to ensure adherence to state law requirements relating to governance.
Abelrado “Abe” Saavedra was appointed as the district’s conservator in 2023 by the TEA. Saavedra was tasked with guiding the board and reporting back to the TEA.
Though the outgoing board of trustees seemed to be on an upward trajectory in September after Saavedra told the Report that “things had calmed down,” Saavedra had sent a letter to Morath last year urging him to install a board of managers.
In the letter, Saavedra said the solution would “facilitate a clean break from the governance failures that have persisted in South San Antonio ISD and facilitate an opportunity for the district to be governed by community members who can implement best practices and provide wise oversight and strong governance.”
According to Steve Lecholop, deputy commissioner of governance at the TEA, the state takeover of South San ISD is only the 10th district overhaul to occur since 2000.
SSAISD had 7,872 students in 18 schools as of the 2022-23 school year, so it’s much smaller than HISD. I can’t say I know much about it but I do know that I’ve seen headlines about its various issues over the years, so this doesn’t seem like a shock to me. I noted this in part because any TEA takeover is of interest for obvious reasons, the appearance of former HISD Superintendent Abe Saavedra, and that stat at the end about ten takeovers since 2000. I’d love to see a comprehensive report on how those other eight districts have done before and after the experience. Whatever happens from here, I wish everyone in SSAISD good luck and a good outcome.