Everman ISD’s Baxter Junior High and Townley Elementary are the first in the metroplex operated by Third Future Schools, a Colorado-based nonprofit.

EVERMAN, Texas — Students and parents at two Everman ISD campuses will notice some differences when school starts Tuesday.

For one, Baxter Junior High and Townley Elementary are ending their summers and returning to class a week earlier than other schools in their district. But that’s just one of the changes implemented by the Colorado-based nonprofit that now runs the campuses. 

The TEA gave Townley F grades in 2023 and 2024 and a D in 2025. It gave Baxter F grades all three years. Five years of failing grades puts the district at risk of state takeover. To avoid that risk, Everman ISD opted for a little-known, but increasingly popular alternative: outsource the failing schools — in this case, Baxter and Townley.  

The district will pay millions of dollars to Third Future Schools, which comes in with its own curriculum and many of its own highly-paid teachers (An Everman ISD spokesperson said Third Future kept eight teachers at Baxter and only four at Townley). 

Third Future operates almost entirely on a pen-and-paper curriculum with an initial period of instruction followed by a short worksheet to determine whether students have learned the material. Depending on their individual performance, students either leave the classroom to advance their individual work in a central classroom, or receive additional, more personalized instruction from their classroom teacher.  

Third Future also extends the school day and adds about two weeks to a typical school year. It emphasizes subjects like math and English language arts that are measured by STAAR tests and eschews libraries, athletics and band during academic hours.  

“Our number one priority is instruction so we can change the accountability rating of the campus,” Baxter Junior High Principal Taylor Parker said. “Yes, it’s going to be a hard transition for them because they’re changing what they’re used to.” 

In return, Third Future promises to increase the students’ test scores and the school’s accountability grade. Parker said other districts run by Third Future have seen success.

“We’re looking for that extreme growth, the majority of our network has settled at 1.88 years of growth [in a single school year],” she said.