Letter to the editor: Des Moines district ripe for takeover?

By Anita Fleming-Rife

President, Black Child Development Institute-Iowa, BCDI-Iowa.org

The Des Moines School District, the largest in Iowa, has eight priority schools as of 2023. This designation is a cause for immediate concern, as it indicates that these schools’ student achievement in reading and math has fallen within the lowest-performing five percent of Title I schools for the past three years. This is a pressing issue that we cannot afford to ignore. The Arkansas State Board of Education took over the Little Rock School district in 2015 due to low test scores at just six schools. The result? Corporations took control, and when the district was finally returned to local hands, there were 28 failing schools. This is a stark warning of what could happen in Des Moines. The consequences of such takeovers are dire.

It’s crucial that we learn from these past takeovers to prevent a similar fate for Des Moines. By studying cases like the Houston Independent School District, which was taken over by the state due to its failure to meet state standards for five years, we could identify the warning signs and take proactive measures. Raynard Sanders’ book, “The Coup D’état of the New Orleans Public Schools: Money, Power, and the Illegal Takeover of a Public School System” provides valuable insights into how such takeovers occur. Iowa is one of 24 states that can take over control of schools. Since 1989, more than 100 school districts have lost local control to their states. However, we have the power to change this. With community involvement and a collective effort, we can prevent Des Moines from becoming the next district to lose local control.