Texas Education Agency officials on Tuesday denied Houston ISD’s appeal of the failing grade given to long-struggling Wheatley High School, an expected development that moves the district another step closer to state sanctions.

The denial, finalized on the day voters headed to the polls to elect four HISD trustees, means Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath must close Wheatley or temporarily strip power from the district’s elected school board. The punishments, mandated under a state law passed in 2015, result from the near-northeast side school receiving its seventh consecutive failing grade for poor academic performance in August.

Morath widely is expected to replace HISD trustees with a state-appointed board in the coming months instead of closing Wheatley, a 92-year-old campus that has produced some of the city’s most prominent black alumni. If Morath orders the appointment of a new school board, TEA leaders are expected to offer a formal review opportunity to HISD leaders before finalizing the move. State officials have not announced when Morath will issue his decision.

HISD trustees directed Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan to file an appeal of Wheatley’s rating in early October, despite administrators’ warnings that no grounds existed for a successful appeal. Lathan filed a minimalist appeal, repeating HISD trustees’ pleas for leniency due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey and unfair accountability rules.

State rules allow the district to file an appeal for any reason, though successful appeals typically are limited to errors by TEA officials or testing vendors. In a letter sent to HISD officials Tuesday, Morath determined HISD’s claims are not valid reasons for overturning Wheatley’s failing grade, noting that such accommodations would be unfair to other districts.

HISD administrators were not immediately available for comment. In a written statement, HISD Trustee Anne Sung said HISD would have had better odds of success if the district lobbied state officials to grant leniency through the rulemaking process, rather than after ratings were released.

“Commissioner Morath still would have been within his authority to consider and grant the appeal, but I would expect us to have a worse chance since we missed the first deadline for a rule-based appeal,” Sung said.

The announcement comes as members of Wheatley’s alumni association said they have collected more than 400 signatures from parents of the school’s students, demanding that Morath oust HISD’s school board instead of closing the campus. Under state law, Morath must follow the demand if half of the parents to Wheatley’s nearly 800 students signed a valid petition.

“We just really wanted to bring this to parents’ attention and listen to what they wanted,” said Janice Thomas, president of the Phillis Wheatley Metropolitan Alumni and Ex-Students Association. “I’m very confident that Wheatley will stay open in the future. I have no doubt about that.”

Lawyers for HISD’s school board are seeking a preliminary federal injunction to stop Morath from implementing sanctions tied to Wheatley’s rating, arguing the school has not triggered punishment. To date, no HISD administrators, state legislators, education advocates or TEA officials have made such a claim.

State law mandates that Morath close campuses or replace the elected board in any district where a school receives its third straight failing grade after filing a “targeted improvement plan.” Wheatley filed a plan in 2015, then received failing grades in 2016, 2017 and 2019. The campus did not receive a rating in 2018 due to Hurricane Harvey, which did not break the chain of consecutive failing grades.

Even if HISD avoids a state-appointed board due to Wheatley’s continued low performance, Morath could replace the district’s trustees after TEA investigators concluded last week that multiple trustees violated the Texas Open Meetings Act and engaged in several other instances of misconduct. Lawyers for HISD trustees say state officials conducted a biased, incomplete investigation.

Barring legal intervention by a federal judge, a state-appointed board likely would take control in early 2020. Replacement trustees likely would remain in power for two to five years.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com