And good luck. You’re going to need it.
More than 160,000 Houston ISD students will return to school Monday for the district’s fourth year under a state takeover. Many will attend schools that are significantly different from those they left in June.
This year, the state’s largest school district closed or co-located 14 campuses, reassigned 5,000 students in special education and expanded its controversial reform model to nine new campuses. Nine other schools will debut a new AI-focused instructional model this school year, dubbed “Future 2,” while outside managers will oversee four top-performing high schools.
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Some families of students with disabilities are bracing for an uncertain first week after the district reassigned around 5,000 students to new campuses this school year.
The new program, called the Student Success Program, has prompted parent complaints and state and federal investigations. The Texas Education Agency has ordered HISD to meet individually with affected families before the school year begins.
Several families told the Chronicle they’d received conflicting information about which school they’d attend, while others said they still didn’t know their student’s new teacher or transportation route.
The district has said the overhaul will provide smaller class sizes, more resources and better staffing.
In a welcome event for teachers, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles said last week that the overhaul would ensure no more than two grade levels are in special education classrooms.< "How do you teach like that? I mean, teachers complain when they have two preps in just one grade level," Miles said. "That's hard enough." Nearly 3,000 students are assigned to 13 new schools this year, after the state-appointed board of managers approved closing or co-locating 12 campuses last February.
HISD also closed Las Americas, a campus serving students new to the U.S., and the Harper Disciplinary Alternative Education Program during the 2025-26 school year.
Five of the 13 receiving schools are part of Miles’ New Education System, which is expanding with nine new schools. That will bring the reform program to around half of HISD campuses.
See here and here for other stories referenced in this one. Will the TEA follow through on its threats to HISD over its new special ed policies? How much will enrollment decline? When will the first dumb AI thing get reported from a “Future 2” school? Tune in to see if we get any answers to these and other questions on “HISD Takeover Year 4: Oh My God We Still Have Three Years Of This Shit To Go”.