Joe Brueggeman/Houston Public Media
Kinder High School For The Performing And Visual Arts held its grand opening in 2019.
Houston ISD’s state-appointed board of managers approved contracts Thursday night to allow four top-performing high schools as well as prekindergarten centers to be managed by outside organizations.
The move is possible under a 2017 law, Senate Bill 1882, which permits partnerships between public schools and other educational organizations, including nonprofits and charter school networks. HISD announced the district would explore the partnerships for highly rated high school campuses back in October.
The partnership also could come with additional per-student funding from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The district could use more funding after years of enrollment declines that have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in lost state funding, which is tied to enrollment and attendance.
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The district is now cleared to submit an application to the TEA for final approval of the partnerships. If approved, the schools will begin working with nonprofits to have more control over instruction, curriculum, testing, staffing, hiring, evaluations and their academic calendars.
The partnerships, which are set to begin for the 2026-2027 school year, are as follows:
Kinder High School For The Performing And Visual Arts to be operated by HSPVA Friends
Challenge Early High School to be operated by Friends Of Challenge Early High School
Houston Academy For International Studies to be operated by Friends Of The Houston Academy For International Studies
Energy Institute High School to be operated by Friends Of Energy Institute High School
Prekindergarten centers to be operated by Collaborative For Children
RELATED: Top Houston ISD high schools now eligible for partnerships for ‘more autonomy’
The proposal to enter the partnerships was met with both support and criticism from the public.
Leaders at the selected schools spoke to the board ahead of the vote, urging members to support the partnerships.
Lori Lambropoulos, the founding principal at Energy Institute High School, said the partnerships help support innovative programs.
“An 1882 partnership allows Energy to protect what works, plan responsibly for the future and continue delivering an exceptional, innovative education for Houston students,” Lambropoulos said.
Priscilla Rivas, principal of Kinder High School For The Performing And Visual Arts, told the board the partnerships equate to untapped possibilities for innovation and will strengthen the programming at her school.
“The added autonomy will help us make thoughtful, student-centered decisions,” Rivas said, “and keep us responsive to the needs of today’s students for tomorrow’s creative industries.”
She said the partnership between Kinder HSPVA and the nonprofit it’s contracting with already is “long standing and deeply trusted.”
The Houston Chronicle reported HSPVA Friends is the longest-running organization among the nonprofits that are proposed to receive the contracts. Two of the nonprofit organizations are new and registered in Texas in recent months.
Critics of the partnerships questioned how the schools would be held accountable under the contracts. At the board meeting, they expressed concerns that the changes could negatively affect the schools.
Elected trustee Maria Benzon, who does not have decision-making authority under the ongoing takeover by the TEA, sympathized with parents who want to see their school gain more control over their campus, particularly while HISD is under state control. However, she said the partnerships are not the right path to greater autonomy.
“[Senate Bill] 1882 was built for struggling schools. [Superintendent Mike] Miles is using it to placate families at high-achieving ones,” Benzon said. “That is not innovation, that is the destruction of public education dressed up as reform.”
Benzon has been a vocal critic of the state takeover and Miles, who also was installed by the TEA in June 2023, because one of HISD’s high schools received a string of failing academic ratings from the state. She was elected to the board in November and will not have voting power until at least 2027.
To be eligible for the partnerships, the high schools must have earned an A rating for the last four years. Additionally, they must maintain achievement gaps of less than 25% between Black and white students, and between Hispanic and white students, on the state’s standardized tests for math and reading.
When the district initially announced the partnerships, it was for high schools only, but said in the coming years middle and elementary schools may be added to the program.