HOUSTON – Natasha Johnson remembers her grandfather walking her to Burrus Elementary School on the north side of Houston every morning. The daily drop-off is a tradition she repeated at Burrus with her daughter, grandchildren and – until this year – her great grandson.
For the first time since Burrus opened in 1928, its doors remained closed this school year. In February, the state-appointed school board that replaced Houston’s elected trustees voted to close the school and 11 other campuses. Burrus had an A-rating from the state at the time.
Five months later, the same unelected board voted to include Burrus on a short list of properties the district plans to potentially sell or repurpose.
School board president and Houston real estate developer Ric Campos, said during an August board meeting the decision does not mean all the neighborhood schools will be sold to the highest bidder. “It means that you are going to take the next steps and then figure out maybe a community involvement that could happen,” Campos said from the dais on Aug. 13.
But so far, much of the district’s planning has happened behind closed doors, outside public view. KPRC 2’s ENOUGH team found that Houston Independent School District is also seeking to keep confidential the names of the people who helped recommend which schools should be sold or repurposed.
Natasha Johnson standing in front of Burrus Elementary School (KPRC Photo/Beth Peak) (KPRC 2026)
Houston ISD’s Chief of Organizational Effectiveness, Kari Feinberg, said in April the district brought together 20 internal and external “stakeholders” – made up of school district staff and others from the City of Houston, non-profit organizations, philanthropists and the private sector to create the Facilities Usage Committee.
Feinberg said the committee met four times since April to come up with a recommendation for which of the closed schools should be sold or repurposed. The committee’s final recommendation went to Superintendent Mike Miles in July, according to Feinberg, and the board of managers reviewed the committee’s recommendation during a closed session at its Aug. 13 meeting where the public could not see or hear the discussion.
Video shows, after returning from closed session, the nine-member board reconvened publicly and voted unanimously to declare Burrus and 8 other newly closed schools as surplus property. The vote also authorized the superintendent to begin the sale process.
Houston Independent School District School Board Meeting (KPRC Photo/Rayan Graham) (KPRC 2026)
“What is the reason?” Is it because someone wants to tear it down and build some apartments or build some two-story homes?” Johnson asked. “It’s prime property. Burrus is prime property and everybody knows that.”
KPRC 2’s ENOUGH team submitted public information requests seeking the names of the Facilities Usage Committee members who made recommendations on the future of these properties and the report presented to the superintendent outlining those recommendations. Weeks later, Houston ISD’s attorney asked the Texas Attorney General for permission to withhold both from public release.
In response to our emailed questions, Houston ISD officials told the ENOUGH team, it was keeping the members of the Facilities Usage Committee confidential because “… some community members requested to keep their participation private.”
The district said in an email, the committee provided broad input on the administration’s proposals for next steps for the properties and served as “partners in ideation,” but said committee members did not make any final decisions.
“I don’t know why you’d want to hide who is on the committee. You would only make everything suspect when you start off that way,” Texas State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, said “Anytime you are dealing with the public’s money, public facilities like schools, that should be a very transparent process.”
What’s happening in Houston reflects a broader trend. Across Texas, school districts are selling off taxpayer-funded campuses with little required public input and no statewide standard for how those decisions get made.
School board records show, just this school year, more than 80 campuses across the state have closed – many of which held A, B and C-ratings from the state when the decision to shut down the campus was made.
“There are no standards”
In Austin, the school board voted to close 11 schools this year because of a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. Parents learned about one of the closures just 19 days before the first day of school. The district is also in the middle of a legal fight over the sale of school property that hasn’t been utilized in more than four years.
Rosedale School, located in North Austin, closed in 2022 after 83 years of serving students. The people who own homes surrounding the old Rosedale school, like Carl Reynolds, said the district initially proposed turning the land into affordable housing for educators.
“Flash forward 435 units, six stories – that is what is being proposed. Much, much denser than anything Austin ISD talked to the neighborhood about,” Reynolds said.
The old Rosedale School in Austin, TX. (KPRC Photo/Wladimir Moquete) (KPRC 2026)
District officials said the discussion with neighbors about the Rosedale property becoming affordable housing for district employees happened when the district’s financial position was different, and before the district sold the property to real estate development company OHT Partners.
Austin ISD has been under contract with OHT for the purchase of Rosedale since August 2025, but district officials say the sale cannot close until the city council reviews zoning and development requirements and a judge provides “legal clarification” on the neighborhood’s deed restrictions.
According to the Rosedale neighbors, the six-story multifamily residential development proposed would violate the neighborhood’s deed restrictions that allow only for one single-family home and a garage apartment on each of the 27 lots that make up the Rosedale property.
Court records show months after entering the agreement with OHT Partners, the district sued 125 neighbors to seek “legal clarification” on the Rosedale deed restrictions.
“It’s amazing that a school district would sue its own constituents in order to ram something down their throat and this is a community that has supported the school district for decades. Whenever they have a bond issue we vote for it,” Rosedale homeowner Darrell Azar said.
Austin ISD said, in a statement to KRPC’s ENOUGH team, “the financial benefit of the sale became an important consideration as part of the district’s broader strategy to improve its financial position.”
Austin City Councilmember Mike Siegel postponed the discussion on zoning and development requirements for the property earlier this month “to allow for legal settlement discussions to take place” between the district and impacted neighbors, according to Siegel’s office.
“CM Siegel very much desires for a resolution to the litigation and an agreement to build more dense housing on the property,” officials with Siegel’s office said in a statement to KPRC’s ENOUGH team.
Renea Hicks, who represents 60 of the homeowners who are being sued by the district – and lives in the neighborhood, said the homeowners he represents are willing to consider a larger project if it is designed with the neighborhood in mind.
“The neighbors believe in public schools and they believe in affordability. They believe in the community,” Hicks said. “You can do more. We are OK with that. Just make it reasonable. Treat the neighborhood well. Treat it decently.”
Hicks told our team on Monday settlement negotiations over the future of the property had broken down. OHT Partners has not answered any questions related to the Rosedale property.
The dispute in Rosedale raises broader questions about what happens when school districts sell neighborhood campuses. Hicks said Texas law does not establish clear standards for community involvement in those sales.
“The first problem is there are no standards — no standards for what you do when you sell the property. There is no requirement for public involvement,” Hicks said. “They will let the public come to an open meeting where they say they are doing the deal, but that is it – that is all the legislature has required.”
“Give us the opportunity”
Houston ISD officials said the district has already received interest in the newly closed schools the board authorized the superintendent to sell or repurpose. At the September board meeting, the executive director of the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council, Tonia Wells, urged the district to sell Burrus Elementary School to their organization.
“Give us the opportunity to keep the Burrus legacy alive,” Wells said during public comment on Sept. 10.
Records show, outside of the nine recently closed schools that have been declared surplus property, the district already entered into sales agreements for six other properties – including three school buildings that closed years ago.
Sales records obtained by KPRC’s ENOUGH team show Habitat for Humanity purchased the old Chatham Elementary building, that closed in 2005. Records also show the former Fonwood Elementary School was sold to Enclave Properties, and in June, the century old Historic Harper building that educated Black students during segregation, was sold to a company called BKR Real Estate Management.
Harper School on Center Street in Houston, TX (KPRC Photo/Wladamir Moquete) (KPRC 2026)
Officials with Habitat for Humanity told us they partnered with the Northeast Houston Redevelopment Council to turn the former Chatham Elementary property into a community-focused center.
“This is a great example of what can happen when organizations come together with a shared vision for neighborhood revitalization so that community spaces, like these HISD school properties, can continue to serve used neighborhoods as they did in the past,” Habitat for Humanity CEO Allison Hay said in a statement to KPRC’s ENOUGH team.
Enclave Properties has not responded to our questions about its plans for the former Fonwood school.
BKR Management has also not responded to KPRC’s questions about its intentions for the property. The company’s website shows its developed properties across Houston, including the Buffalo Heights mixed-use district where it developed a five-story luxury multifamily apartment complex.
After a fire at Harper school this summer, Mayor John Whitmire posted a video to social media where he said he would attempt to “salvage” the Harper School building as an important part of Houston’s history. The mayor’s office has not yet responded to questions about how or if it is working with the new owners to preserve the building.
The district answered several written questions from our team but did not respond to multiple requests to interview Superintendent Mike Miles, Board President Campo or Feinberg about the process and intention for the properties being sold.
In response to an email to HISD’s Press Office, sharing what we planned to report, district officials said the board’s decision to declare the closed schools as surplus and authorize the superintendent to initiate sales procedures, does not mean all of the properties will be sold.
“Once property is determined surplus to the district’s operational needs, HISD can evaluate potential future uses, and administration must go through a set of legally mandated steps before public [or] private entities can secure any of these properties,” the district said in an emailed statement.
Houston ISD grandparent and alum Natasha Johnson stands outside Burrus Elementary School in Independence Heights. (KPRC Photo/Beth Peak) (KPRC 2026)
Johnson said she hopes the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council can purchase the Burrus property and keep it open as a community resource. The Texas Historical Commission said the historic marker that sits in front of Burrus won’t protect it from sale or alteration if a new owner wants to build something new in its place.
“We’re hoping that the school’s not tore down,” Johnson said. “It’ll be really interesting to see what they really decide and is it in the best interest of the community or the best interests of HISD.”
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