9 HISD elementary schools are joining NES next year. See the list.

Nine Houston ISD elementary schools will join the New Education System next school year, a district spokesperson said Friday afternoon.

State-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles introduced the system as a reform model to boost historically under-performing schools, giving them more resources, stricter instruction, standardized curriculum and less autonomy. 

With the new additions, around 130 schools will be under NES next year — roughly half the district’s campuses. 

District spokesperson Trey Serna said on HISD Now, the district’s daily YouTube show, that nine elementary campuses would join next school year. They are:

Introduced after HISD’s state takeover, NES includes a district-mandated curriculum, timed lessons and longer hours. The model comes with both additional staffing and resources and limited school and teacher autonomy.

Serna said the additional support, resources and “consistency” have motivated other campuses to join. He previously said principals were considering joining next year.

“This decision reflects the strong work happening across our campuses and the shared focus on what will best support students every day,” Serna said. 

NES schools in HISD have seen rapid gains in the Texas Education Agency’s A-F accountability ratings since the state takeover. In 2025, only seven NES schools were D-rated, down from 108 D- and F-rated schools in 2023.

Principals “see what’s happening at other NES campuses across the district, the gains, and while everyone’s making gains … they know that the NES model comes with a strategic amount of resources that principals and teachers want to benefit from,” Kasey Bailey, chief of HISD’s west and central division, said April 2 on the district’s YouTube channel.

HISD launched the NES program at 85 schools in the 2023-24 school year, and 45 additional campuses joined the following year after they saw lower accountability ratings. The district did not expand NES for the 2025-26 school year.

The NES expansion comes after the district decided to close 12 campuses next school year, including 10 under NES. Two schools set to receive students from closing NES campuses  — Mading and Pleasantville Elementary schools — will also become NES next year, the district said. 

Miles previously said that maintaining the number of NES schools would help in the budget process because NES is “more expensive” and the district wouldn’t be growing those expenses “much at all.”

The base funding per student is $8,566 per student at NES schools, compared to $6,133 at non-NES campuses, according to a May 2025 budget presentation. NES campuses get additional funding for higher teacher salaries, as well as learning coaches and teacher apprentices, who are supposed to help classroom preparation and management.

Staff writer Megan Menchaca contributed to this story.