Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media
Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles speaks during an event on Jan. 17, 2024.
Houston ISD announced its top-performing high schools are eligible to become “Innovation Partnership Schools.” The partnership allows certain high schools the opportunity to work with a variety of organizations, including non-profits, for increased principal autonomy over instruction, operations, hiring, evaluations and more.
“Level five autonomy is a bold opportunity for Houston ISD’s most successful and innovative school leaders to enjoy a greater level of flexibility, increased resources and stability that comes from being managed by their own non-profit board,” State-Appointed Superintendent Mike Miles said via a press release.
HISD Director of Communications Lana Hill said no final decisions have been made on which schools will move to level five.
In June 2024, HISD announced its Defined Autonomy framework, which gave high-performing schools more autonomy and lower-rated schools less. Level four was previously the highest level for HISD schools.
According to the press release, the contract outlines performance outcomes the school must maintain to keep its autonomy.
These partnerships will allow the eligible schools more control over instruction, curriculum, testing, staffing, hiring, evaluations, and the academic calendar, as well as possibly additional per-pupil funding allocations from TEA.
This additional autonomy is possible under the law SB 1882, which allows district partnerships to manage schools. The district wrote that eligible schools “will have the opportunity to form or engage an existing school non-profit board.” The partnerships must be approved by the HISD board and the Texas Education Agency, and they would operate under a performance contract with HISD.
According to the press release, the schools would “still be HISD schools,” and the performance contract outlines which services the district will still provide to the school, like “transportation, food services and other back-office functions.”
The eligible High Schools must have an excellent academic track record, including an A rating for the past four years, as well as less than 25% Black to White and Hispanic to White achievement gaps on the ELA and Math STAAR exams. The partnerships are not currently open to Middle and Elementary schools, but HISD said this may be offered to them in the future.
The announcement comes as the district announced last week the community partners for its initiative “Houston Promise,” which partners its lower-rated campuses with non-profits and businesses to sponsor the campuses with the goal of elevating the school’s rating. The list of partners included local sports teams like the Astros, Rockets, and Texans, and 13 groups with religious affiliations.