Texas officials on Wednesday seized control of Houston’s public school district, marking the next step in a years-long legal scrap between progressives and conservatives over the state’s largest school district, responsible for educating some 200,000 children. “Ultimately, this intervention is necessary,” Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath said, according to ABC 13. In a letter to the district’s trustees, Morath explained the takeover would see the appointment of a new superintendent and board. He told The Washington Post that the move was motivated by “campuses that for years have lacked the necessary structural support from the district such that they see chronic low performance.” But Wednesday’s events have been met with consternation and outrage from liberal lawmakers and the state teachers’ union, who have labeled them politically motivated. “It’s going to be very damaging to children, to families, to the city, to business,” state Rep. Jarvic Johnson (D) told the Post.