Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\nAmong those changes is a controversial restructuring to the way special education services are delivered to students in the district and a new $4.5 million education program called “Future 2,” which is being implemented at and aims to prepare students for a world with artificial intelligence (AI).<\/p>\n
Many of the plans were met with backlash from the public. Over the course of several public school board meetings, dozens spoke out against the changes and how quickly they were being implemented. The district announced it would be in May, just a month before school let out and summer vacation started. The change prompted an ongoing by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) found the district in violation of the rights of students with disabilities in its own separate investigation.<\/p>\n
The list of “Future 2” schools were announced in April. Two of those campuses also will this year. <\/p>\n
Miles says HISD has the right environment to launch innovative programs.<\/p>\n
“That\u2019s why a lot of different programs succeed here where they won\u2019t in other places,” Miles said. <\/p>\n
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Bianca Seward\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n
“Over and above what is legally required”<\/p>\n
When the district announced it would consolidate special education programs to select campuses for the 2026-27 school year, the overhaul was expected to affect an initial estimate of 5,000 students. A core concern from parents was the changes required families to transfer from their current campuses listed in their students\u2019 Individualized Education Plan (IEP) to different schools.<\/p>\n
Several parents filed formal complaints about the changes with the TEA, which after its own investigation each student\u2019s IEP for \u201cpotential harmful effects of any proposed placement or service delivery change\u201d and ensure the district holds meetings with families to review and revise IEPs before students are moved to a new campus.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, Miles told Houston Public Media the district was “almost done” with the TEA-mandated meetings. However, not every affected family may be given a meeting. The district says a location change without a program placement change would not warrant a meeting, a position many families in the special education community dispute. <\/p>\n
The special education department of Houston ISD has been under a state conservatorship for nearly six years, which requires state conservators to directly oversee the program and its changes and progress. When asked if the sweeping changes the district made to special education services were done in consultation with their state conservators, Miles said the district works “closely” with their conservators and the TEA.<\/p>\n
“I think you\u2019ll see that we\u2019re meeting compliance, and we\u2019re actually, what we\u2019ve done this summer, and it\u2019s been a huge effort, is we\u2019re going over and above what is legally required,” Miles said. <\/p>\n
He added when parents raise concerns and grieve, the TEA will investigate.<\/p>\n
“But you see, the program is still going,” Miles said. “That means it\u2019s legally OK to [continue], and we\u2019re going over and above to help our parents with the changes that are happening.”<\/p>\n
However, the TEA has set an October deadline for HISD to comply with the corrective orders it issued before considering more serious action against the district. Meanwhile, the federal investigation remains ongoing. The Office of Civil Rights has not yet released its findings or any potential orders for the district.<\/p>\n
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Bianca Seward\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n
Students arrive to Whidby Elementary for the first day of school on August 10, 2026.<\/p>\n
Future 2 schools <\/p>\n
In the spring, the district announced with limited details a new educational program to be piloted by nine schools called Future 2. The schools spend the mornings on traditional core classes \u2013 math, language arts, science \u2013 and then shift focus in the afternoon to teaching students to build skills for a world with AI. <\/p>\n
Miles pushed back on some public criticism that the schools would add more screen time for students as well as concerns from parents the district was embracing AI too quickly. In a recent interview with Craig Cohen on , Miles said the afternoon at Future 2 schools would be devoted to \u201cexperience and activities.\u201d He added the district plans to send Future 2 school students on field trips every three weeks.<\/p>\n
“All of those experiences and their activities are not on a screen \u2013 they\u2019re not using AI,” Miles said. “They\u2019re developing skills to get ready for an AI-enabled world.”<\/p>\n
At the end of July, Houston ISD announced two of the Future 2 schools \u2013 Clemente Martinez and Gregg elementaries \u2014 would add yet another AI element to the classroom for some children. Students with high test scores on reading and math assessments will be allowed to use the AI-powered program “TimeBack” from Alpha School. <\/p>\n
On its website, Alpha School describes the \u201cTimeBack\u201d program as a way to \u2013 quite literally \u2013 give time back to students. The two-hour learning model, formally known as \u201c2 Hour Learning,\u201d was rebranded in 2025 as a $100 million project to build an AI platform that helps students learn \u201c10x faster than traditional classrooms,\u201d the company states.<\/p>\n
However, the TimeBack program has received criticism for overstating its effectiveness.<\/p>\n
When Unbound Academy and Unbound Academic, that use its two-hour learning model, applied for charter applications in and , respectively, the proposals were rejected for lack of evidence the program is effective. <\/p>\n
Miles said the district had analyzed the program and thinks it “might be promising.”<\/p>\n
The program is an expansion of AI use in the district. <\/p>\n
“We already use AI-enabled platforms like Zearn and Amira and most districts do,” Miles said. “This is more. This is a different program that\u2019s supposed to push kids who are already proficient, and give them just personalized learning. So we want to experiment with that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bianca Seward\/Houston Public Media State-appointed Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles visits Whidby Elementary on the first day of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[43474,2919,163,1182,70419,4045,56,58,1686,57,66,2824,223,91,3621],"class_list":["post-404808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-back-to-school","tag-civil-rights","tag-education","tag-education-news","tag-future-2-schools","tag-hisd","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-isd","tag-houston-news","tag-local","tag-mike-miles","tag-news","tag-special-education","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404808","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=404808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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