HISD plans online-only option for students next year.
Outgoing superintendent says each teacher will lead either in-person or virtual, not both
Houston ISD leaders plan to offer online-only classes to families that want them to start the 2021-22 school year — as long as state officials continue to provide funding for children enrolled in virtual instruction.
HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan, speaking Wednesday after her annual State of the Schools speech, said district leaders hope to bring as many students as possible back to classrooms by August while also remaining committed to an onlineonly option.
About 56 percent of HISD’s 197,000 students attended virtual classes as of February, largely due to health and safety concerns amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
While Lathan pushed for choice Wednesday, she also warned that HISD families should expect one big change in 2021-22: educators no longer will be required to teach students in face-to-face and virtual classes at the same time. As a result, families should not expect to retain the same teacher if they switch between formats during the school year.
“Our teachers teaching simultaneously has been extremely difficult this year, and we cannot continue to go on in that manner for the next school year,” Lathan said. “That’s what will look different. The option will be there, but we need to have teachers teaching in one mode.”
Lathan’s plans still remain subject to change, for two reasons.
The first is that HISD will have a new superintendent in the coming months, who could shift the district’s direction. Lathan announced earlier this month that she will depart in June to become superintendent of Springfield Public Schools in Missouri after an abnormally long three-year stint as HISD’s interim leader. Her decision followed the HISD school board’s vote last November to launch a nationwide superintendent search, which trustees hope
to complete by late spring.
“We’ll be monitoring these assurances when there’s a new superintendent,” said Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, whose union supports the end to simultaneous in-person and virtual instruction. “We applaud our teachers for doing the very best under the circumstances, but we definitely don’t want to see that continue in August.”
Second, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath and state legislators have not yet committed to providing full funding to districts that enroll students in online-only classes in 2021-22. State leaders, who made that pledge for the end of the 2019-20 school year and the entirety of the current school year, have not announced a timeline for a decision on the issue.
In recent months, Morath has pushed for more students to return to classrooms, arguing the benefits of in-person instruction greatly outweigh the health risks for most children.
“On-campus instruction is where kids need to be, an overwhelming majority of the time,” Morath told The Texas Tribune in February.
Still, Morath has given no indication to date that his convictions about in-person instruction will lead to cutting off funding for students in online classes in August.
Texas Education Agency officials did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday on plans for funding online learning.
In addition, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has made “expanding virtual learning options” one of his 31 priorities for the state Senate during the current legislative session.
While they await funding guidance from state officials, many Texas districts are developing plans for continuing online instruction.
Some school leaders fear families may leave their district due to safety concerns — taking state funding along with them — if forced to end virtual classes. Other administrators add that a small percentage of children, mostly in high school, are performing better while learning from home.
In Clear Creek ISD, the Houston area’s 10th-largest district, administrators said Tuesday that they intend to open the district’s first full-time virtual school for students in all grades starting in 2021-22.
“We are looking beyond COVID-19 and identifying the successful attributes of an online education,” Superintendent Eric Williams said in a statement. “Clear Connections Virtual School will be a destination for families who love Clear Creek ISD but also enjoy the flexibility an online platform offers.”
Lathan also announced Wednesday that HISD plans to form a committee that would guide the district toward its next bond program to help finance major construction projects.
HISD’s last bond passed in 2012 and totaled about $1.9 billion, much of which went toward renovating and rebuilding high schools. The state’s largest school districts typically ask voters to approve new bond packages every four to six years, but leadership upheaval and a spate of negative headlines had hurt the district’s chances of passing a proposal.
“This district is in desperate need for another bond,” Lathan said.
While Lathan said she is eyeing November 2022 for a potential bond vote, she will have little say in the timing. The committee likely will not come together until after her departure, she said.