Five months later, the same unelected board voted to include Burrus on a short list of properties the district plans to potentially sell or repurpose.<\/p>\n
School board president and Houston real estate developer Ric Campos, said during an August board meeting the decision does not mean all the neighborhood schools will be sold to the highest bidder. \u201cIt means that you are going to take the next steps and then figure out maybe a community involvement that could happen,\u201d Campos said from the dais on Aug. 13<\/a>. <\/p>\n But so far, much of the district\u2019s planning has happened behind closed doors, outside public view. KPRC 2\u2019s ENOUGH team found that Houston Independent School District is also seeking to keep confidential the names of the people who helped recommend which schools should be sold or repurposed.<\/p>\n Houston ISD\u2019s Chief of Organizational Effectiveness, Kari Feinberg, said in April the district brought together 20 internal and external \u201cstakeholders\u201d \u2013 made up of school district staff and others from the City of Houston, non-profit organizations, philanthropists and the private sector to create the Facilities Usage Committee. <\/p>\n Feinberg said the committee met four times since April to come up with a recommendation for which of the closed schools should be sold or repurposed. The committee\u2019s final recommendation went to Superintendent Mike Miles in July, according to Feinberg, and the board of managers reviewed the committee\u2019s recommendation during a closed session at its Aug. 13 meeting where the public could not see or hear the discussion. <\/p>\n Video shows, after returning from closed session, the nine-member board reconvened publicly and voted unanimously to declare Burrus and 8 other newly closed schools as surplus property. The vote also authorized the superintendent to begin the sale process. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat is the reason?\u201d Is it because someone wants to tear it down and build some apartments or build some two-story homes?\u201d Johnson asked. \u201cIt\u2019s prime property. Burrus is prime property and everybody knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n KPRC 2\u2019s ENOUGH team submitted public information requests seeking the names of the Facilities Usage Committee members who made recommendations on the future of these properties and the report presented to the superintendent outlining those recommendations. Weeks later, Houston ISD\u2019s attorney asked the Texas Attorney General for permission to withhold both from public release.<\/p>\n In response to our emailed questions, Houston ISD officials told the ENOUGH team, it was keeping the members of the Facilities Usage Committee confidential because \u201c\u2026 some community members requested to keep their participation private.\u201d <\/p>\n The district said in an email, the committee provided broad input on the administration\u2019s proposals for next steps for the properties and served as \u201cpartners in ideation,\u201d but said committee members did not make any final decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know why you\u2019d want to hide who is on the committee. You would only make everything suspect when you start off that way,\u201d Texas State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, said \u201cAnytime you are dealing with the public\u2019s money, public facilities like schools, that should be a very transparent process.\u201d <\/p>\n What\u2019s happening in Houston reflects a broader trend. Across Texas, school districts are selling off taxpayer-funded campuses with little required public input and no statewide standard for how those decisions get made. <\/p>\n School board records show, just this school year, more than 80 campuses across the state have closed \u2013 many of which held A, B and C-ratings from the state when the decision to shut down the campus was made. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are no standards\u201d<\/p>\n In Austin, the school board voted to close 11 schools this year because of a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. Parents learned about one of the closures just 19 days before the first day of school. The district is also in the middle of a legal fight over the sale of school property that hasn\u2019t been utilized in more than four years. <\/p>\n Rosedale School<\/a>, located in North Austin, closed in 2022 after 83 years of serving students. The people who own homes surrounding the old Rosedale school, like Carl Reynolds, said the district initially proposed turning the land into affordable housing for educators. <\/p>\n \u201cFlash forward 435 units, six stories \u2013 that is what is being proposed. Much, much denser than anything Austin ISD talked to the neighborhood about,\u201d Reynolds said. <\/p>\n District officials said the discussion with neighbors about the Rosedale property becoming affordable housing for district employees happened when the district\u2019s financial position was different, and before the district sold the property to real estate development company OHT Partners.<\/a><\/p>\n Austin ISD has been under contract with OHT for the purchase of Rosedale since August 2025, but district officials say the sale cannot close until the city council reviews zoning and development requirements and a judge provides \u201clegal clarification\u201d on the neighborhood\u2019s deed restrictions.<\/p>\n According to the Rosedale neighbors,<\/a> the six-story multifamily residential development proposed would violate the neighborhood\u2019s deed restrictions that allow only for one single-family home and a garage apartment on each of the 27 lots that make up the Rosedale property. <\/p>\n Court records show months after entering the agreement with OHT Partners, the district sued 125 neighbors to seek \u201clegal clarification\u201d on the Rosedale deed restrictions. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing that a school district would sue its own constituents in order to ram something down their throat and this is a community that has supported the school district for decades. Whenever they have a bond issue we vote for it,\u201d Rosedale homeowner Darrell Azar said. <\/p>\n Austin ISD said, in a statement to KRPC\u2019s ENOUGH team, \u201cthe financial benefit of the sale became an important consideration as part of the district\u2019s broader strategy to improve its financial position.\u201d <\/p>\n Austin City Councilmember Mike Siegel postponed the discussion<\/a> on zoning and development requirements for the property earlier this month \u201cto allow for legal settlement discussions to take place\u201d between the district and impacted neighbors, according to Siegel\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \u201cCM Siegel very much desires for a resolution to the litigation and an agreement to build more dense housing on the property,\u201d officials with Siegel\u2019s office said in a statement to KPRC\u2019s ENOUGH team.<\/p>\n Renea Hicks, who represents 60 of the homeowners who are being sued by the district \u2013 and lives in the neighborhood, said the homeowners he represents are willing to consider a larger project if it is designed with the neighborhood in mind.<\/p>\n \u201cThe neighbors believe in public schools and they believe in affordability. They believe in the community,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cYou can do more. We are OK with that. Just make it reasonable. Treat the neighborhood well. Treat it decently.\u201d<\/p>\n Hicks told our team on Monday settlement negotiations over the future of the property had broken down. OHT Partners has not answered any questions related to the Rosedale property.<\/p>\n The dispute in Rosedale raises broader questions about what happens when school districts sell neighborhood campuses. Hicks said Texas law does not establish clear standards for community involvement in those sales.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first problem is there are no standards \u2014 no standards for what you do when you sell the property. There is no requirement for public involvement,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cThey will let the public come to an open meeting where they say they are doing the deal, but that is it – that is all the legislature has required.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGive us the opportunity\u201d <\/p>\n Houston ISD officials said the district has already received interest in the newly closed schools the board authorized the superintendent to sell or repurpose. At the September board meeting, the executive director of the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council, Tonia Wells, urged the district to sell Burrus Elementary School to their organization. <\/p>\n \u201cGive us the opportunity to keep the Burrus legacy alive,\u201d Wells said during public comment on Sept. 10. <\/p>\n Records show, outside of the nine recently closed schools that have been declared surplus property, the district already entered into sales agreements for six other properties \u2013 including three school buildings that closed years ago.<\/p>\n Sales records obtained by KPRC\u2019s ENOUGH team show Habitat for Humanity<\/a> purchased the old Chatham Elementary building, that closed in 2005. Records also show the former Fonwood Elementary School was sold to Enclave Properties, and in June, the century old Historic Harper building that educated Black students during segregation, was sold to a company called BKR Real Estate Management.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LM23OL3GT5F43BKOSKO6JSUADQ.png\"\/)
Natasha Johnson standing in front of Burrus Elementary School (KPRC Photo\/Beth Peak) (KPRC 2026)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4X56XH4TEFHPPIPQ6IUBHNZK5E.png\"\/)
Houston Independent School District School Board Meeting (KPRC Photo\/Rayan Graham) (KPRC 2026)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/EYJOSYSUWNGTVPSQSH73MBCRKY.png\"\/)
The old Rosedale School in Austin, TX. (KPRC Photo\/Wladimir Moquete) (KPRC 2026)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5XY5YF3AEBCLXGKLU7VPXF4O4I.png\"\/)
Harper School on Center Street in Houston, TX (KPRC Photo\/Wladamir Moquete) (KPRC 2026)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/XQ65EYFHNVBINEFR3LYQRQBBZU.png\"\/)
Houston ISD grandparent and alum Natasha Johnson stands outside Burrus Elementary School in Independence Heights. (KPRC Photo\/Beth Peak) (KPRC 2026)<\/p>\n