One of the big questions that looms over the potential state intervention in the governance structure of Houston ISD is, “What will change under a Board of Managers?” While this is a question that none of us – not even the TEA Commissioner – can answer with complete certainty, it is still worth considering. Now, […]
Houston ISD Board of Education seats for Districts II and IV are in runoff elections on December 14, 2019. Tomorrow, December 10, 2019 is the last day to early vote. You can see if you live in one of the districts up for election here. Your voice matters, so don’t miss the opportunity to cast your ballot. […]
As the Houston ISD school board moves forward with its lawsuit against the TEA, it continues to spend money that could be supporting students. From April through August, the district has spent $147,409.12* on attorney fees. This is almost the equivalent of two 20-year teacher salaries in HISD. In August alone, it spent over $80,000. […]
Houston ISD Board of Education seats for Districts II, III, IV, and VIII are up for election on November 5, 2019. Today is the last day to register to vote for these elections. To learn how you can register, visit the Harris County Clerk’s website. You can see if you live in one of the districts up […]
On Thursday, September 5, the Houston ISD school board directed the Superintendent to appeal the rating given to Phyllis Wheatley High School by the Texas Education Agency. Given the fact that trustees have not historically imposed such directives on a Superintendent and that HISD administrators were adamant that there is no current basis for an […]
The 2019-2020 school year begins in just a matter of days, and the Houston ISD School Board will hold their first official business meeting of the year on August 8, 2019. Given the continuous turmoil at the board table and the difficultly the board seems to have with focusing their public conversations on student outcome […]
The Houston ISD school board recently passed a measure to spend more meeting time discussing student outcomes. This policy measure – which has taken months to pass – is an obvious step in the right direction, but the fact that three trustees opposed it reveals how far our district still has to go. It is […]
If you’re reading this, you are probably more active in the politics of education than most Houstonians. You probably already know that this is a school board election year, and you may have plans to participate in some way, even if only as a voter. Sadly, most members of our community do not have similar […]
At Houston GPS, we continually advocate for better school board governance and for sound, transparent policies that will lead to student success. We take our role as advocates very seriously, and we continually strive to engage as much of the broader Houston community in the process as possible. The sad reality is that most citizens […]
The HISD Board of Education spent 15% of their time discussing student outcomes in the fall of 2018. Assigning individual accountability grades to Houston ISD school board trustees for the fall of 2018 was difficult. As board meetings became more divisive and less productive, it was hard to distinguish trustee actions from the overall performance […]