Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa is drawing a line in the sand on public education, promising to end state takeovers of Texas school districts and hand power back to locally elected boards and the communities that vote them in. Speaking Monday outside the historic, now-closed Pease Elementary building in downtown Austin, she cast the pledge as the centerpiece of a new organizing blitz for public schools, rolled out just as the Texas Education Agency moves into more districts and local leaders scramble to close campuses and slash budgets.
Hinojosa used the event to unveil a statewide organizing effort, Team Texas Public Schools, which she said will train parents, teachers, and administrators of any political stripe to push back on school closures and weigh in on district decisions, according to Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor. “This plan is not Republican, it is not Democratic,” she told the crowd at Pease. Her campaign materials also say that, if elected, she would fire Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath and temporarily halt the state’s A-F accountability system and STAAR testing while the state rewrites how schools are evaluated.
Using Pease Elementary, one of several Austin campuses shuttered in recent years, as a backdrop, Hinojosa promised to “return those school districts back to communities” and “stop the closures and takeovers,” as reported by the Austin American-Statesman. The paper noted that the Pease appearance served as the opening stop on a statewide tour designed to make education the defining issue of her campaign. Hinojosa, a former Austin school board member and current state representative, tied the state’s takeover policies to what she describes as a broader “assault” on public schools.
How takeovers work
Under state law, the Texas Education Agency can intervene in a school district when at least one campus racks up five consecutive failing accountability ratings. That trigger has been used to install state-appointed managers and sideline or replace elected school boards. In recent years, the pattern of interventions has widened, with districts such as Houston, Fort Worth, and Beaumont coming under state control, and critics argue the policy falls hardest on high-poverty campuses, according to The Texas Tribune. Hinojosa and other Democrats contend that the takeover tool is being used too broadly and say it has become a way to centralize power over contracts and vendors.
Austin under pressure
Hinojosa’s home district, Austin ISD, illustrates the squeeze. The district is preparing to close 10 campuses and an international high school program this summer while staring down a projected $181 million budget shortfall, pressure Hinojosa cited as evidence that the state should be helping districts rather than threatening to take them over. District officials have called the planned closures and staff reductions painful but necessary steps to balance the books, according to the Houston Chronicle. Hinojosa argues that takeovers and the state’s new voucher program pull focus and dollars away from the classrooms that are already struggling.
Politics and money
Gov. Greg Abbott has championed a sweeping Education Freedom Account voucher program, which became law in 2025, and has promoted market-style reforms as a route to better student outcomes. At the same time, lawmakers approved roughly $8.5 billion in new public school funding last year. Both the voucher law and the one-time funding bump have raised the stakes for Texas school districts, critics say, with vouchers threatening to drain potential enrollment while new state money arrives with strings attached, according to reporting by the AP. Hinojosa maintains that the state should use that money to shore up local classrooms instead of expanding its control over districts.
According to campaign materials, Hinojosa’s Team Texas Public Schools effort will train volunteers to keep an eye on district budget moves, organize around potential school closures, and advocate for teacher pay, all with a stated “regardless of party” approach. Launching the program at Pease, a downtown campus closed in 2020, was meant to highlight her local roots and record in school board politics, per Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor. Campaign officials did not immediately offer further details on how the program will be staffed or funded.
Legal note
State law known as HB 1842 gives the Texas education commissioner authority to close a campus or appoint a board of managers after a campus has received five straight failing ratings, a mechanism that underlies recent TEA interventions. The full statutory language and legislative history are available on the Texas Legislature’s website at capitol.texas.gov, and any change to how takeovers are triggered would require action by lawmakers or the agency.
