This seems like a good thing. They all wanted it, I don’t see any quotes from opponents in the story. Am I missing something?
Four of Houston ISD’s most prestigious magnet high schools will have new outside managers, after the district’s state-appointed Board of Managers approved outsourcing school operations.
The move will place school management in the hands of nonprofits, meeting some parents’ hope to break away from HISD’s strict reforms while sparking questions about their financial management and accountability.
“I only wish more HISD schools had this opportunity, because right now this is one of the only pathways for schools to preserve what makes them successful,” said Naomi Doyle-Madrid, whose children have attended two of the schools with new partnerships.
The district approved five-year contracts with nonprofits for the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), Energy Institute High School, Challenge Early College High School, Houston Academy for International Studies, as well as a contract with education nonprofit Collaborative for Children to help manage pre-K centers.
HSPVA Friends is the longest running nonprofit among the high school-affiliated nonprofits. Two of these nonprofit organizations are new and registered with the state in the last several months.
The contracts were still under negotiation two weeks ago, leading the district to delay the vote and schedule it for a meeting typically designated for employee hearings. The contract approvals clear the way for HISD to submit an application to the Texas Education Agency for approval by a March 31 deadline.
These contracts, which HISD did not release to the public before the final vote, will bring an estimated $1,400 per student of additional state funding. HISD will allow those high schools to receive 80% of that funding, state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles said. A portion of the money will go toward HISD students outside those schools.
[…]
These contracts are called partnerships, under the state law known as Senate Bill 1882. Since the state took over HISD, the vast majority of schools have lost the autonomy to make decisions on instructional model, procedures and practices.
Elements of Miles’ reform model — called the New Education System — are used at virtually every school in the district, including some of its highest-performing campuses.
Top-performing high schools in 2024 were promised exceptions to Miles’ “defined autonomy framework.” Schools rated “level 4” — including all four high school campuses approved for partnerships — were told they can make decisions on programs, curriculum, instructional model, time devoted to core subjects, budget, staffing, principal compensation and more. They could request their own school start times or testing calendars, opting out of districtwide standards.
But HISD says now these top-performing high schools may make their own decisions on schedules, staffing, and pay through these partnerships.
At the March 19 board meeting, Miles said HISD’s managed instruction has helped boost its school ratings, but acknowledged it “may stifle initiative and innovation.”
“The right to innovate has to be earned,” Miles said. “We call that earned autonomy. And we have several schools in this district who have earned the right to do way more innovation and autonomy.”
To earn this autonomy through outside partners, the high schools must have at least four consecutive years of “A” ratings in the state’s A-F state accountability system.
Here’s an earlier story from before the vote, which has some more background. I could swear I’d written about this before, but if so I can’t find that post. On the one hand, giving top-rated schools, especially ones with unique characteristics, a level of autonomy is good, because it allows them to flourish and innovate and just generally not be held back by Mike Miles and his bullshit. The extra funding from the state is good, and some of that benefits the rest of HISD as well.
My main concern is that this will lead to a less unified school district, where some schools are so completely separate that they may as well break off and become charters or some other non-HISD entity, which then reduces the overall value of HISD itself. I appreciate the funding from the state for this, but I don’t trust the Legislature’s motives in setting this up; there just aren’t nearly enough pro-public school Republicans left for this to be seen in anything but a skeptical light. I also have such a level of distrust for anything that happens under Mike Miles, especially things that are clearly outside his “do what needs to be done to un-ypke HISD from state bondage” remit, that I have a hard time seeing them clearly. I don’t know what to do with that, either. I’m no longer an HISD parent, so even though one of the schools on this list is my younger daughter’s alma mater, I don’t have any inside scoop on this. What do you think about it?