TEA ruling hurts HISD plans
Control over ‘partner’ schools now in question
Houston ISD must surrender control over hiring and governance at any low-performing schools where it forms management “partnerships” with outside organizations, a route the district is considering to stave off potentially major sanctions, the Texas Education Agency said Tuesday.
The ruling is a blow to Houston ISD leaders, who hoped they could maintain much more control over several of the district's most challenging schools, while also receiving the benefits of forming partnerships.
Houston ISD is seeking partnerships to help avoid penalties tied to its failure to improve chronically under-performing schools. Under a law passed in 2015, the Texas Education Agency must close campuses or take control of Houston ISD's school board if any of the district's 10 longest-failing schools do not meet state academic standards this year.
To prevent those sanctions, Houston ISD has considered two options at each of the 10 campuses: form a partnership with outside organizations or close and immediately reopen the school with entirely new staff and programming. Both options would take effect in the 2018-19 school year.
The district's most recent proposal calls for forming partnerships at six campuses: Dogan and Mading elementary schools; Henry Middle School; and Kashmere, Wheatley and Worthing high schools. The remaining four schools — Blackshear, Highland Heights
and Wesley elementary schools, and Woodson PK-8 — would close and immediately re-open.
Houston ISD leaders have identified two potential partners for the six campuses, but it is unclear if either organization is willing to assume full control over campuses.
In a statement Tuesday, Houston ISD spokesman Tracy Clemons said, “We are still exploring options and talking with potential partners, hence our continued community meetings. If we pursue partnerships, we will abide by the rules outlined by the state.”
Texas Education Agency officials still are creating the framework for how partnerships must work. State legislators last year passed a law that gave districts the option to form partnerships in exchange for a two-year reprieve from accountability ratings.
Based on the law’s wording, it long has been expected that districts would have to surrender significant control over partnership campuses to a nonprofit governing board, similar to a charter school model.
Under Houston ISD’s most recent proposal, the Baltimorebased nonprofit Talent Development Secondary would partner at three high schools and Henry Middle School. The two remaining campuses would partner with the Children's Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
However, Talent Development Secondary officials said they do not want to run the campus, preferring to focus on academics. Children’s Learning Institute officials have not commented on their potential involvement.
As a result, it is not immediately clear who is willing to take near-total control over potential partnership schools. Houston ISD leaders have said they do not plan to partner with charter school networks, which have the most experience operating campuses.
The district could partner with higher education institutions or nonprofits, but they have little to no experience running primary and secondary schools.
The district also faces a time crunch. Any partnerships must be approved by the Houston ISD school board and submitted to the Texas Education Agency by April 30. Partners must assume control of campuses ahead of the 2018-19 school year.
Some community members have been skeptical of potential partnerships, arguing there is no evidence that students will benefit. They also have criticized Houston ISD for its lack of concrete plans.
To date, the district has not named any potential partners who have publicly committed to assuming control of hiring and governance.
“The issue we’ve had with HISD from the beginning is this: if you’re proposing partnerships, who are these partners?” said Durrel Douglas, founder and president of the Houston Justice Coalition. “They need to lay out a plan in layman’s terms and propose it to the community, and then let the community decide which are going to cut it.”
Eddie Orum III, a former principal at Wheatley High School who remains active in the campus community, said he is more supportive of Houston ISD surrendering control after it allowed Wheatley to falter.
“The system we have in place currently is not working for Wheatley,” said Orum, who served as principal from 1989 to 1992. “At this point, it really doesn’t matter to me who manages Wheatley, as long as we deem them interested and qualified.”