Mike Miles has announced plans to further divide HISD by pushing for Senate Bill 1882 partnerships, starting with up to seven “boutique campuses” like HSPVA, Energy, and Carnegie Vanguard. No one asked for this, and it appears schools that aren’t interested are being pressured into uncharted territory. Expect more announcements in the spring after he closes schools, freeing up taxpayer-funded properties for charter expansion.
HISD says some of its highest-performing schools could become “Innovation Partnership Schools” under Senate Bill 1882, allowing nonprofits, charter schools, or organizations of higher learning to manage campuses under a performance contract."
This is the first step toward selling off HISD for parts, turning the largest school district in Texas into another New Orleans–style debacle.
Why is Miles doing this?
This isn’t about helping students; it’s about creating new charter-managed schools and moving public resources into private hands. It doesn't even seem Mile-esque. Someone else must be pulling the strings on this one.
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FAQ: 1. Biggest myth is that an 1882 partnership brings more money to kids. It adds about $800–$1,100 per student per year, but most of the funds get swallowed up by the new bureaucracy and management costs, and never gets to the classroom. 2. What are some of these costs? An 1882 partnership functions like a private equity “pay-for-services” model. The partner must pay for transportation, nutrition services, special education evaluations, HVAC, and more. And you can be sure Miles will require partners to buy all of these services from the district ensuring the district ultimately keeps the extra funding to pay for his pet projects. 3. What are 1882 partnerships? There are two types of 1882 partnerships, established by law in 2018: turnarounds for “failing” schools and innovation partnerships to introduce new education models. They were not intended for long-established, high-performing schools. Using them this way is a clear misuse of the law. 4. Who is eligible in HISD? HISD high schools with four years of “A” ratings who also have less than 25% disparity among scores by racial group. 5. No experience required: The partner organization does not need any prior experience in running a school. Yet, they will have full authority over every single facet of school operations- curriculum, hiring, management, master schedule, technology, school maintenance, HVAC, etc. 6. Furthermore, the school district retains all the liabilities regarding state and federal compliance like FERPA and Special Education violations. This could cause problems meeting takeover exit criteria. Just look at previous in-district charters like Energized for Excellence and the many that were closed after discovering wholesale violations. 7. Will the partnership charter schools still be counted for enrollment and ratings?: An in-district charter would still be included in ratings and enrollment, just like Energized for Excellence and Texas Connections are. 8. The partner organization can write its own policies into the contract, and they may be very different from what HISD or other districts follow. They must still comply with federal laws like FERPA and IDEA, but beyond that, they can do whatever they want. They can set their own grievance process for parents and teachers, set teacher pay schedules, etc. 9. The partner’s unelected board would have final authority over policy and decisions. We have seen how poorly that has played out with the unelected board of managers. Careful what you wish for. This is one of the core problems with charter schools: they operate under a separate rulebook. There is zero reason for these schools to be partnered off and a great plethora of reasons to be skeptical.
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