Sanctions still on the radar if HISD schools meet standard

D grades would push back penalties but not end streak

For months, Houston ISD officials have said four of the district’s longest-struggling schools must earn at least a D grade this year under the state’s accountability system to avoid triggering major state sanctions, including replacement of the elected school board.

Left unsaid: Simply earning a D staves off punishment for only one more year, potentially keeping the threat of sanctions hanging over HISD into 2019-2020.

A little-known state law, which has not been widely discussed in public by district officials, dictates that any of the four schools still would trigger sanctions in 2020 if they receive a D this year and a D or F next year. To date, many HISD observers have believed the district could avoid sanctions for multiple years if all four campuses earned at least a D in 2019, regardless of performance in 2020.

Early standardized test data show at least three of the four campuses — Highland Heights Elementary School, Henry

Middle School and Wheatley High School — likely will earn a D or F rating this year. District officials have all but confirmed the fourth campus, Kashmere High School, will meet standard, though it is unclear whether it will earn a C or D.

All four campuses have been labeled “improvement required” — the equivalent of an F — for at least four consecutive years. If any receives an F this year, state law requires the closure of stillfailing campuses or replacement of HISD’s locally elected school board. Texas Education Agency officials strongly have hinted they would prefer to replace HISD trustees with a board of managers appointed by Education Commissioner Mike Morath rather than shut down neighborhood schools.

Accountability ratings will be released on Aug. 15.

While HISD officials repeatedly have highlighted the potential for state sanctions tied to an F rating at the four schools this year, they have not discussed the impact of D’s during public presentations, school board meetings or conversations about turning over control of campuses to outside organizations.

Ken Williams, who leads the Kashmere Feeder Pattern Community Council and regularly communicates with top education and political officials about his neighborhood high school, said nobody has told him that Kashmere still could trigger state sanctions by earning D’s in 2019 and 2020.

“Definitely, that’s something we would like to know and would like to have discussed,” Williams said. “We’ve been trying to keep this stuff on our radar so we can always be a relevant part of the conversation, and this piece right here is something nobody has discussed.”

HISD administrators did not respond to requests for an interview or written questions submitted by the Houston Chronicle this week. HISD Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones, whose district includes all four of the long-struggling schools, said “people are concerned about what happens from year to year” and called it “a reach” to suggest HISD leaders should have disclosed the impact of D’s. She declined further comment.

Since 2015, school districts have faced the possibility of campus closures or replacement of board members if any campus receives five straight “unacceptable” or F ratings. Legislators implemented the law as a method of pushing districts to address their longest-struggling campuses.

Two years later, legislators created another law that said schools receiving consecutive “improvement required” or F’s cannot stave off sanctions simply by earning a D, the minimum needed to meet standard. Lawmakers determined that any school receiving six straight D’s or F’s also must incur sanctions.

State Sen. Larry Taylor, a Friendswood Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee and authored the 2017 provision, said he did not want districts “squeaking by, just barely making it.”

“If you’ve had F’s for five, six years in a row, and then you get two D’s, those kids are suffering in that school,” Taylor said. “We need to get attention put on those campuses and those kids’ educational needs taken care of.”

HISD administrators have dedicated extensive resources and shuffled staff at the four longstruggling schools over the past two years. However, preliminary standardized test scores do not show major, immediate improvement at Highland Heights, Henry and Wheatley, particularly in students’ reading abilities.

In an interview last month, HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said educators have seen student growth at the three schools on district-issued internal assessments, even if standardized test scores have not jumped.

“We’re waiting to see how everything balances out with the state’s accountability system,” Lathan said. “But even those three campuses, I’m pleased with the progress they’re making.”