On July 8, 2011, the TEA announced that North Forest High School and North Forest ISD would receive an "Academically Unacceptable" rating and the district would be assigned a "Non-Accredited-Revoked" accreditation for the school year 2011-2012 and was to be closed by July 1, 2012. The state said that the Houston Independent School District would absorb the NFISD territory. Paula Harris, president of the HISD board, said that HISD did not advocate for the outcome, but that it would be willing to accommodate the students. Paul Bettencourt, the Harris County tax assessor-collector and later a member of the Texas State Senate, said that a handover to HISD would be beneficial for the NFISD students. An editorial in the "Houston Chronicle" argued that the district ought to be shut down, and that parents in the NFISD region should try to enroll their children in HISD schools, as HISD allows children living in neighboring districts to attend HISD schools tuition-free. The editorial stated that once HISD absorbs the NFISD territory, it ought to begin offering school bus services between the NFISD area and the current HISD territory.