{"id":249898,"date":"2026-04-14T22:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/249898\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:05:10","slug":"houston-isd-leadership-planning-to-expand-autonomy-opportunities-for-schools-in-2026-27-school-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/249898\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston ISD leadership planning to expand autonomy opportunities for schools in 2026-27 school year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn the 2026-27 school year, more Houston ISD<\/a> schools could gain freedom to customize curriculum, scheduling, budgeting, staffing and more under a new management framework that Superintendent Mike Miles presented to the district\u2019s board of managers April 9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The gist<\/p>\n

HISD has used a New Education System, or NES model, at 130 low-performing campuses<\/a> since officials appointed by the Texas Education Agency<\/a> took over the district in 2023<\/a>, as previously reported by Community Impact. While teachers at NES campuses are required to adhere to a district-approved curriculum and instructional model, they have access to additional resources, including regular coaching, teacher apprentices and support staff, Miles said in August.<\/p>\n

During the board of managers\u2019 April 9 regular meeting, Miles presented a new five-level framework for managing schools in the district, based on how well a campus performs with the TEA\u2019s A-F accountability ratings<\/a>. The new framework would allow high-scoring schools to have more control over campus operations, while still using an NES model for low-scoring schools, according to the presentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have earned autonomy, we had defined autonomy. … We\u2019re moving to an earned autonomy framework,\u201d Miles said. \u201cNow that we\u2019ve had three years of data and instructional focus, we can move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current framework at HISD includes four levels of autonomy for schools, but the new model would expand areas of autonomy that can be earned, according to the presentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s little autonomy for schools that don\u2019t do well academically for kids,\u201d Miles said.<\/p>\n

The board took no action on Miles\u2019 presentation. However, he said the plan is for the framework to be implemented in the 2026-27 school year.<\/p>\n

Diving deeper<\/p>\n

According to Miles\u2019 presentation, the new framework includes features such as:<\/p>\n

\u201cFull autonomy\u201d for Level 5 schools\u2014which include campuses that received four consecutive \u201cA\u201d ratings\u2014and Level 4 schools\u2014which would be campuses with three \u201cA\u201d ratings and one \u201cB\u201d ratingAcademic achievement gap requirements\u2014for racial minority groups and special education\u2014for schools with more autonomyRemember this?<\/p>\n

On March 26, HISD\u2019s board of managers unanimously approved Senate Bill 1882 partnerships<\/a> between five nonprofits, four high-performing high schools and a district prekindergarten program, as previously reported by Community Impact. If also approved by the TEA, the partnerships would give the schools more control over curriculum, hiring, assessments, calendars and more.<\/p>\n

On April 9, Miles said the district may eventually allow middle and elementary schools to apply for the board of managers\u2019 approval on SB 1882 partnerships. Under the new framework, Level 5 schools would also be allowed to apply for SB 1882 partnerships.<\/p>\n

Notable quote<\/p>\n

Board Vice President Angela Lemond Flowers expressed concern that granting too many schools autonomy under SB 1882 partnerships could make managing the district difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to think long-term about this and what we\u2019re saying. … So then a board would have to manage enumerable other boards, so I don\u2019t see how that\u2019s setting us up for success,\u201d Flowers said.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the 2026-27 school year, more Houston ISD schools could gain freedom to customize curriculum, scheduling, budgeting, staffing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[94861,83604,94862,83607,83605,56,83606,58,1686,41854,83603,57,2824,13504],"class_list":{"0":"post-249898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-angela-lemond-flowers","9":"tag-hisd-1882-partnerships","10":"tag-hisd-autonomy-framework","11":"tag-hisd-meetings","12":"tag-hisd-sb-1882","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-houston-1882-partnership-schools","15":"tag-houston-headlines","16":"tag-houston-isd","17":"tag-houston-isd-board-of-managers","18":"tag-houston-isd-school-autonomy","19":"tag-houston-news","20":"tag-mike-miles","21":"tag-sb-1882"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249898","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=249898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}