Houston’s Top Magnet High Schools Could Become Private Partnership Charter Schools, Raising Equity Concerns

Each year thousands of students apply for a seat at one of the top performing magnet high schools in the Houston Independent School District HISD through an open-enrollment lottery system Regardless of their background all district applicants have the same chance of being admitted to these elite schools if they meet the criteria for their specialized programs including Houston s storied Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts HSPVA But that opportunity could end under a proposal to turn seven of Houston ISD s top citizens high schools into private partnerships under Senate Bill a state law that offers districts incentives to hand over general school campuses to private operators including nonprofits charter school operators or higher training institutions On October HISD publicized that four of the district s top performing magnet high schools Challenge Early College High School Ability Institute High School Houston Academy for International Studies and HSPVA are moving forward with the district s offer for expanded flexibility and innovation opportunities by creating a SB partnership by the - school year Three other top-performing magnet high schools Carnegie Vanguard High School DeBakey High School for Wellness Professions and Eastwood Academy are still evaluating the possibility District spokesperson Lana Hill communicated the Texas Observer that these schools may not be required to participate in the lottery system They are going to be able to make their own decisions she declared If one school chooses to do one thing that doesn t mean that another school has to That has parents and teachers concerned that the district s top schools will not be equally accessible to all students Jackie Anderson president of the Houston Federation of Teachers notified the Observer that she worries these operators will pick and choose students to enroll like private schools and other charters Anderson added the teachers union is against any type of inequities that this may cause for our students Historically Houston ISD s magnet school scheme began as an effort to desegregate the district in Still critics have long complained that there were already more hurdles for students of color from lower-income neighborhoods to enter the top magnet schools Under ex-superintendent Terry Grier who ran Houston ISD from to the district created a single lottery system for students to apply to the district s more than magnets Prior to this each administered their own admissions We re allowing principals to decide who gets in and who doesn t We accuse several of our charters of skimming Well frankly we re doing particular of the same things Grier commented at a district board meeting In Millard House II who served as superintendent until the state took over HISD in and replaced him expanded efforts to inform parents about the magnet project and lengthened the application period so that more students would apply SB partnerships offer greater autonomy for the operators to control the magnet schools curriculum operations and budgets freeing them from specific of the mandates instituted since under state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles But as the Observer previously informed these partnerships fall under a law for in-district charter schools that contains far fewer financial and academic guardrails than apply to other charters or constituents schools And plenty of previous partnerships have run into academic and financial issues This concerns parents like Crystal Toussant whose daughter attends HSPVA She notified the Observer that in the past she has been able to resolve particular complaints with the school through the district She worries that If you re an individual entity the accountability may end with the principal Toussant revealed These private partnerships are largely governed by individual contracts between districts and operators Districts then apply to TEA for the state financial and accountability benefits created by SB TEA s website states that districts must submit a letter of intent for these applications by December Hill explained the Observer that the district will continue working with principals and nonprofit partners to define the specific terms of each school s performance contract and that it plans to submit the contracts to the district board of managers for a vote during a society meeting next spring The Resource Institute High School and HSPVA already have affiliated nonprofits that could serve as the schools operating partners According to Hill district leaders have not decided how they would spend the extra funding SB partnership schools could bring Current employees at the magnet schools she reported apart from the school principal would not be employees of the private operator but remain district employees with the same rights and benefits Campus leaders at the seven schools are absolutely not required to enter into SB partnerships and their schools would remain magnets if they chose not to participate Hill stated Ahead of a PTO meeting at the DeBakey High School for Vitality Professions next week parent Lorri White stated she plans to ask school leaders to take time to discuss the proposal with their schools stakeholders and to ask key questions For her this includes Are we rushing to do this Is this going to be properly considered How do we know if we ve selected the right partner or if we re just selling off our schools The post Houston s Top Magnet High Schools Could Become Private Partnership Charter Schools Raising Equity Concerns appeared first on The Texas Observer