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Houston school district trying to woo parents while losing students amid school choice competition

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Houston school district trying to woo parents while losing students amid school choice competition

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Houston Independent School District (HISD) has to win back parents as more appear to be turning away from large urban school districts across the country.

“If you’ve been looking at the national statistics, a lot of places have experienced enrollment loss. In Houston, right after COVID, this district lost 15,000 kids that didn’t come back,” HISD Superintendent Mike Miles told Fox News Digital.

“A lot of districts lost a lot of kids, and they never came back,” Miles added.

HISD presides over 274 schools and 184,109 students. Historically the largest school district in Texas, despite some fluctuations in recent years after COVID, the district touted academic progress across all grades and subjects and “more than doubled the number of A and B rated schools in just two years.”

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ARIZONA SCHOOL DISTRICT TAKES HUGE BLOW TO ENROLLMENT AS PARENTS CHOOSE OTHER OPTIONS

HISD reported a significant drop last week. Houston Public Media obtained a document from the district confirming that their enrollment declined more significantly last year than officials expected. (Houston Independent School District)

“Additionally, the District is retaining its best and most effective teachers. Last year, more than 84% of teachers rated Proficient I or above and 89% of teachers rated Exemplary I returned for the 2025-2026 school year,” a district spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

However, despite its success, the rise of school choice policies has forced public school districts to compete. Charter schools have intensified that competition because they aren’t regulated the same way as traditional public schools. Most states restrict parents to schools within their ZIP code or district, but charter schools give families alternatives. Additionally, more parents are choosing to homeschool their children since the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re looking forward to capturing some of the kids who may have gone to charter schools and getting them back,” Miles told Fox News Digital. “I think we’re getting to a point where we will be competing well with any other school, charter, voucher, virtual, private, and that’s we’re trying to do,” he added.

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HISD reported a significant drop last week. Houston Public Media obtained a document from the district confirming that their enrollment declined more significantly last year than officials expected. Houston Independent School District lost 8,300 students this year, totaling more than 16,000 students leaving the state’s largest school district over the past two years, according to the Houston Chronicle.

TRUMP ADMIN TO MAKE HISTORIC INVESTMENT IN CHARTER SCHOOLS AMID NATIONWIDE DECLINE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL ENROLLMENT

HISD presides over 274 schools and 184,109 students. Historically the largest school district in Texas, despite some fluctuations in recent years after COVID, the district touted academic progress across all grades and subjects and “more than doubled the number of A and B rated schools in just two years.” (Houston Independent School District)

“What we do know aligns with larger national and statewide patterns. Large urban non-charter districts across Texas are experiencing enrollment drops, while suburban and rural districts are seeing increases,” a district spokesperson told Fox News Digital

School districts across the country — especially in urban areas — have experienced enrollment declines. Texas is among several states enacting universal school choice legislation in response to parents seeking alternatives to traditional public schools. The state created an Education Savings Account program with an initial $1 billion investment.

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The legislation introduces new competition into the education landscape, giving parents options outside the neighborhood school their child is zoned for — posing challenges for districts struggling to retain students.

HISD told Fox News Digital that “there is no single cause for enrollment decline.” Miles echoed that point, citing multiple issues driving the drop, including challenges facing large metropolitan areas — rising housing costs, poverty, and declining birth rates.

NATION’S REPORT CARD GIVES PUBLIC SCHOOLS A FAILING GRADE. PARENTS ARE DEMANDING BETTER

“The biggest loss in enrollment was pre-K, first and second grade. And you already know that in the United States, but also in Texas and in Houston, demographics are changing. In other words, we don’t have as many kids born here. That’s one, so the birth rate has declined, and you can see that in our earlier grades having an impact,” Miles said.

“Houston is one of the poorest cities in the nation,” he continued. “The poverty rate is high and people move because of changes in the market. People who have fewer resources often are more impacted by increases in inflation or just property … What’s different in Houston is that we are now experiencing such good academic growth.”

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Teachers unions often criticize school choice policies, saying they siphon per-pupil funding from traditional public schools by allowing parents to opt out of their neighborhood campuses. Critics argue that money taken away from those schools could instead be used to raise teacher pay, improve facilities and recruit more educators.

Houston skyline. (iStock)

The Trump administration has made strides in expanding school choice nationwide. Among them is instituting a federal tax credit scholarship, giving individuals across the country an opportunity to support school choice programs within their states, circumventing anti-school choice measures.

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Man arrested on misdemeanor DUI charges outside Nancy Guthrie’s home after sobriety test

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Man arrested on misdemeanor DUI charges outside Nancy Guthrie’s home after sobriety test

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TUCSON, Ariz. — A 34-year-old man was arrested late Thursday night outside the Arizona home where Nancy Guthrie went missing earlier this month, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told Fox News Digital.

Shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, deputies arrested 34-year-old Antonio De Jesus Pena-Campos in front of Guthrie’s home on misdemeanor DUI charges, the department said. 

The arrest is not related to the Guthrie investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department added.

Pima County sheriff’s deputies stopped a blue Chevrolet Equinox compact SUV near Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. A man was later taken into custody after what appeared to be field sobriety testing. (Fox News)

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Footage shows Pima County sheriff’s deputies shining a flashlight into the driver’s side of what appeared to be a blue Chevrolet Equinox compact SUV parked near the home where Guthrie was last seen Feb. 1.

Moments later, deputies spoke with Pena-Campos near a white canopy tent set up along the roadside as a deputy shined a flashlight toward the man’s face.

In another sequence, Pena-Campos walks in a straight line in what appears to be part of a field sobriety test. In subsequent footage, he is placed in the back of a sheriff’s pickup truck.

The man was detained as investigators continue searching for Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, who was reported missing Feb. 1 after authorities said she was taken during a home invasion. Investigators have said her pacemaker last synced with her iPhone around 2:30 a.m. that morning.

Her family has since offered a $1 million reward for information leading to her safe return as authorities continue to pursue leads.

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NANCY GUTHRIE’S NEIGHBOR SAW SUSPICIOUS MAN WALKING NEARBY 2 WEEKS BEFORE SUSPECTED ABDUCTION

A deputy shines a flashlight toward a man’s face during what appears to be field sobriety testing outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. The man was later taken into custody. (Fox News)

The development comes after a Catalina Foothills resident’s street-facing Ring camera captured 12 vehicles passing by between midnight and 6 a.m. on Feb. 1, the morning Guthrie is believed to have been abducted.

Some of the activity occurred around the 2:30 a.m. mark, roughly when authorities said the 84-year-old’s pacemaker last synced with her iPhone.

A man walks in a straight line under the direction of deputies during what appears to be field sobriety testing outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. (Fox News)

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Homeowners Elias and Danielle Stratigouleas told Fox News Digital that police had not canvassed their neighborhood in the 25 days since Guthrie was allegedly taken from her bed in what authorities have described as a home invasion kidnapping.

The couple said they alerted both the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to the footage. It was not immediately clear whether the video would prove useful to investigators or whether any of the vehicles had traveled on Guthrie’s street.

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Pima County sheriff’s deputies speak with a man near a white canopy tent set up along the roadside outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. (Fox News)

The Stratigouleas home sits on a back road that leads out of Guthrie’s neighborhood and avoids major intersections. The property is approximately 2½ miles — or about a seven-minute drive — from the crime scene, according to Google Maps.

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One of the videos was recorded at approximately 2:36 a.m., roughly eight minutes after Guthrie’s pacemaker last synced with her iPhone, based on the sheriff’s timeline.

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Olivia Palombo contributed to this report. 

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Trump introduces Cornyn, Paxton but stays mum on endorsement in heated GOP primary

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Trump introduces Cornyn, Paxton but stays mum on endorsement in heated GOP primary

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The Texas Senate primary for Republicans is a bloodbath, and President Donald Trump isn’t wading in.

Trump, who appeared in Corpus Christi, Texas, to tout his energy agenda Friday, had the opportunity to stake his claim in the contentious race and endorse a candidate. 

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the longtime incumbent fending off seven challengers.

But the real race is between Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.

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President Donald Trump stops to speak to the media as he departs from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House Feb. 27, 2026, in Washington, D.C.  ( Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

All three were in attendance at Trump’s rally, reminiscent of the made-for-TV spectacles that dominated his successful 2024 election campaign. Yet Trump didn’t endorse any of them as Election Day in the primary fast approaches.

Trump acknowledged all three — he paired Cornyn and Paxton and mentioned Hunt later in his remarks. He noted that they were all engaged in an “interesting election.”

“They’re in a little race together,” Trump said of Cornyn and Paxton. “You know that, right? A little bit of a race. It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people, too.”

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and John Cornyn, R-Texas (Getty Images)

Cornyn is running for a fifth term in the Senate and fighting for his political life in a nasty primary election that Trump has time and again refused to weigh in on. He’s got the full weight of Senate Republican leadership behind him, too.

Paxton, who has faced headwinds with scandals over the years, has strongly aligned himself with the president and built a coalition of conservative backers in the House, including Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who brought him to Trump’s State of the Union earlier this week.

And while the trio duke it out, money is being burned at a record pace. So far, a whopping $110 million has been spent on the Senate primaries, and $88 million of that has been dumped into the GOP contest, according to data from AdImpact.

CORNYN WARNS PAXTON WOULD BE ‘KISS OF DEATH’ FOR GOP AS BLOODY PRIMARY RACE RAMPS UP

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Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, walks up the House steps for a vote on the budget resolution in the U.S. Capitol April 10, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Given the crowded field, it’s likely the race will head to a runoff, which will turn into a brutal sprint until late May. Paxton believes he could come out on top with at least 50% of the vote come March 3, while Cornyn is eying the long game.

The coveted Trump endorsement could put either over the top in ruby red Texas. And he may be close to picking his favorite.

Ahead of the event, Trump was asked if he had decided who to endorse.

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“Pretty much,” he told reporters.

But when asked if he would say who, he said, “No.”

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Jasmine Crockett reveals Colbert hasn’t invited her on show since furor over Talarico interview

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Jasmine Crockett reveals Colbert hasn’t invited her on show since furor over Talarico interview

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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, revealed Friday she’s still not been asked to appear on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” days after the host claimed pressure from the Federal Communications Commission effectively censored an interview with her Senate primary political opponent, James Talarico.

Earlier this week, Colbert said CBS prevented the broadcast of Talarico’s appearance due to guidance from the FCC requiring shows to provide “equal time” to opposing candidates.

In response, the late-night host criticized the FCC and his own network. The Talarico interview was posted online, where it has garnered more than 8 million views on YouTube alone. The tumult and extra attention to the interview helped raise more than $2.5 million for Talarico’s campaign.

“No, I’ve not been invited on Colbert prior to his interview nor post his interview,” Crockett said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” Friday.

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Rep. Jasmine Crockett speaks to members of the media following a House Oversight and Accountability Committee deposition in New Albany, Ohio, on Wednesday, Feb. 18. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Crockett explained that while she has appeared on Colbert’s show twice before, she has not been invited since she launched her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

“The only information that I got was after this debacle took place, I did receive a phone call from the parent company,” Crockett said.

She said that CBS representatives told her they did not tell Colbert he couldn’t air the Talarico segment. Instead, they said that if he had Talarico on, he had to offer the same time to Crockett.

COLBERT FUMES AT CBS, SAYS IT BARRED HIM FROM INTERVIEWING TEXAS DEM AMID FCC CRACKDOWN

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Texas state Rep. James Talarico, left, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, both Democrats and U.S. Senate candidates, participate in a debate during the 2026 Texas AFL-CIO COPE Convention in Georgetown, Texas, on Jan. 24. (Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“They just said, if you air it, just make sure that you offer the representative equal time. Now, obviously, I wasn’t engaged in that conversation, so I cannot confirm the veracity of any statements,” she said. 

“But I can confirm that I had never been asked to go on as it relates to kind of talking about the Senate race,” Crockett added.

CBS released a statement denying it censored Colbert, insisting the show chose to share the interview on YouTube instead to avoid the equal-time requirement.

‘THE VIEW’ PANEL ERUPTS AS GUEST DEFENDS TRUMP AGAINST RACISM CLAIMS

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Texas state Rep. James Talarico appears with Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” in New York on Feb. 16. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)

However, during Monday night’s broadcast, Colbert insisted he and his guest were being censored, telling his audience, “[Talarico] was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.”

The media attention and Colbert’s multiple segments this week about the controversy provided a boon to Talarico’s campaign. On Tuesday, Colbert crumpled up the CBS statement denying it had forced the comedian not to air the interview and put it into a dog waste bag before throwing it away.

On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr dismissed the controversy as a “hoax,” stating that Talarico “took advantage of all of your sort of prior conceptions to run the hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks. And the news media played right into it.”

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A spokesperson for Colbert’s show didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

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