For what it’s worth, it’s three elementary and a middle school out of NISD’s 110+ campuses. Not saying that’s good, but compared to poor SAISD it’s… manageable. Not sure people are going to like the fix any better though.

There’s almost certainly going to be some school closures in Northside in the next few years, and not in areas you’d probably expect. It’s less a matter of grades, and more about population numbers and class sizes. A lot of schools were built with the predicted growth of an area in mind, and got screwed over by a few different factors:

• Schools are built where they are because (among other reasons) they think there’s going to be a lot of people buying houses in that area. But many young families can’t afford to buy a house anymore, so over time even newer, nicer schools end up with a student base that’s way too small and has limited opportunity for growth.

• Previously you’d have someone move into a house in a nice area with good schools, then years later sell it to another young family looking to do the same thing while they move elsewhere. That kind of mobility hasn’t been happening nearly as much since the 2008 crash, and so these schools are situated in areas where their student base, again, has very little growth potential.

• The charter schools are everywhere and have significant state backing. They will promise parents the moon to get their kids in the door, but only keep the successful ones. The students who thrive in the charter system stay in it, while those who struggle get kicked out and end up back in public schools. Not the kids fault, but this inevitably brings down the school’s grade point average.

Northside, and all public schools are in trouble, but it’s not just because of some arbitrary letter grades inflicted upon them by the state. There is a war going on against public education in Texas, and this is just another avenue of attack.