{"id":217804,"date":"2026-03-24T08:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/217804\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T08:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:28:09","slug":"third-future-schools-will-take-over-three-san-antonio-isd-campuses-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/217804\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Future Schools will take over three San Antonio ISD campuses next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Antonio Independent School District trustees will give day-to-day control over three academically struggling campuses \u00a0 to a charter operator <\/a>with a track record of improving student outcomes.<\/p>\n

The move could help delay a potential state takeover and bring in more funding for the district. Trustees voted 5-2 on Monday to let \u00a0 Third Future Schools, a charter network based in Colorado<\/a>,\u00a0run Tafolla Middle School and Ogden and Hirsch elementaries starting next year. Trustees Stephanie Torres and Jacob Ramos opposed the decision.<\/p>\n

“I feel sad that you want to change my school and my teachers,” said 12-year old Andreez Martinez, a sixth grader at Tafolla. “It is not fair, and it makes me not want to go to school anymore.”<\/p>\n

Third Future was\u00a0founded by Mike Miles, the state-appointed superintendent of Houston ISD<\/a>.\u00a0The charter’s current superintendent previously told San Antonio ISD trustees that Third Future’s academic model reflects many of the changes Miles has made in Houston.<\/p>\n

While the partnership with Third Future is the first between the charter\u00a0and district, SAISD has more in-district charter campuses than any school system in the state.<\/a> Third Future runs 12 campuses across Texas, Colorado and Louisiana and credits its curriculum for enabling students to experience “a year and a half of growth in one year’s time.”<\/p>\n

The contract with San Antonio ISD gives Third Future full autonomy at the schools over staffing decisions, academic curriculum and instructional choices until 2029.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Texas schools should remove references to Cesar Chavez from curriculum, TEA says<\/a><\/p>\n

While the majority of trustees backed Third Future, the decision drew pushback from community members and activists.<\/p>\n

“My question is, I thought SAISD was family,” West Side parent Crystal\u00a0Villarreal said. “How are you going to give our family away to another company that’s not even from Texas?”<\/p>\n

San Antonio ISD trustees also gave control over Young Men’s Leadership Academy<\/a> to the Texas A&M San Antonio Institute for School & Community Partnerships, a higher education partner that already helps run schools in\u00a0Edgewood ISD.<\/p>\n

Third Future Schools \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Miles launched Third Future Schools in 2016 after leading Dallas ISD for several years as superintendent. There, he tested out several education reforms, including\u00a0a teacher pay-for-performance model. The Texas Education Agency later appointed Miles as Houston ISD’s superintendent after the state announced a district-wide takeover.<\/p>\n

Since TEA installed him in Houston ISD, Miles has implemented the “New Education System” model at around 130 campuses. He developed NES at Third Future, according to the Houston Chronicle<\/a>.The system uses daily quizzes in core classes, requires teachers to stick to the provided curriculum rather than develop their own and often converts libraries into “team centers” overseen by “learning coaches.”<\/p>\n

Miles took the Third Future learning model and “applied it full scale” in Houston, Third Future Superintendent Zach Craddock said at an SAISD meeting earlier this year.<\/a> Craddock succeeded Miles as the charter’s leader.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Inside the charter network that may take over San Antonio campuses<\/a><\/p>\n

Many public speakers raised concern about the extracurricular options Third Future provides. The charter operator does not offer electives courses traditionally available. Instead, it offers martial arts, video production, Mandarin Chinese, yoga, cycling and dance, among other activities. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

“We know that\u00a0extracurriculars\u00a0– whether it’s the arts, PE or sports\u00a0– provide an outlet for our youth,” said City Councilwoman\u00a0Teri Castillo, who opposed the partnership with Third Future. “Whether it’s strengthening social and emotional skills, (or) ultimately blowing off steam and finding something productive to do in a safe space, rather than finding something to do out in the street and getting into some trouble.”<\/p>\n

Superintendent Jaime\u00a0Aquino, who plans to retire next January<\/a>, said that the schools would offer sports if there was demand and that the district was working with Third Future to provide other extracurriculars already offered by\u00a0San Antonio ISD.<\/p>\n

After hearing the pushback\u00a0from SAISD families, Third Future Superintendent\u00a0Craddock said he wanted his charter to hire someone to help help quell concerns. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

“I’ve heard the concern and the anxiety, and I would like to have a full-time person here\u2026 doing community outreach,” Craddock said.<\/p>\n

He also committed that the charter schools would provide “all the athletics” that students want “provided we had enough people to field a team,”\u00a0although the schools’ focus would still mainly be on academics. Craddock later\u00a0offered to expand Third Future’s five-person board to include a San Antonio-based representative.<\/p>\n

San Antonio ISD’s partnership with Third Future is an 1882 partnership, based on\u00a0Senate Bill 1882,<\/a> which Texas lawmakers passed in 2017. The law allows public school districts to partner with third parties including higher education institutions and nonprofits to run campuses. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

The state incentivizes these 1882 partnerships by giving districts extra funding for students learning at the campuses. It also gives campuses that have struggled to perform in TEA’s A-F scoring system extra time<\/a> to improve academic outcomes before facing consequences.<\/p>\n

In Texas, campuses that score\u00a0five consecutive years of\u00a0F or D ratings can trigger a mandated campus closure or district-wide state takeover that removes elected control. Each of the three schools being taken over by Third Future received three consecutive years of unacceptable ratings.<\/p>\n

Tafolla, Ogden and Hirsch will be the first Third Future campuses in the city. A fourth might be added Tuesday night by trustees of neighboring\u00a0Edgewood ISD,\u00a0where the school board will consider an 1882 partnership with Third Future at\u00a0Brentwood Middle School.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Third Future Schools will take over three San Antonio ISD campuses next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio Independent School District trustees will give day-to-day control over three academically struggling campuses \u00a0 to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64901,84946,6544,84945,1686,2824,82,84,13503,83,11457],"class_list":["post-217804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-campuses","tag-charter-operator","tag-edgewood-isd","tag-future-schools","tag-houston-isd","tag-mike-miles","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-isd","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-superintendent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}