HOUSTON – The Houston Independent School District is no longer trying to increase class sizes for pre-kindergarten through fourth-grade students. The proposal was removed from the district’s final district of innovation plan release Friday afternoon.
The District Advisory Committee (DAC) had issue with the proposal writing, saying, “There wasn’t enough clarity around implementation and expressed concern about impacts on teachers if this exemption is included.”
Michelle Williams with the Houston Education Association had similar concerns.
“You do not improve student outcomes with increasing class sizes. Research has proven that. The smaller the class size, the better the student outcomes,” Williams said. “Also, it puts the teacher at risk if there is an emergency. A teacher cannot handle that many children.”
According to the Texas Education Agency, a District of Innovation or DOI title allows schools to bypass certain state laws for things like teacher certifications, teacher contracts, length of the school year, and the length of the school day.
If the plan is adopted, the district will begin the school year before Labor Day. The plan hopes to begin “instruction for students before the fourth Monday in August,” adding, “the sooner the district is able to update the academic calendar and distribute information to the community, the earlier families, administrators and staff will be able to plan for the coming school year.”
The DOI committee made a number of changes after getting feedback from DAC:
- They added implementation guidance that HISD should solicit community input on the revised school year calendar.
- They also clarified that SY 24-25 would not exceed 180 student-teacher contact days.
- Additional guidance was added to reiterate that a competitive compensation package reflecting the expanded duties would be implemented.
The district would also be able to hire non-certified teachers without seeking a state waiver.
State-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles said those positions would be for industry leaders to teach vocational trades.
“We’re talking about people who teach industry-approved certifications that aren’t always teacher certified but they can teach plumbing, welding, electrician, A.I. [artificial intelligence] in the workforce,” Miles said during a news conference Thursday. “Those sorts of things I think will be able to draw more people to do those type of classes if we waive their certification. That is the limited scope that we want about the teacher certification.”
Williams believes uncertified teachers are a slippery slope.
“We know once you open the door for non-certified personnel then it’s going to roll over and then the next year they’ll say, ‘Oh, we need to adjust it because we don’t have enough teachers,’” said Williams.
The District Advisory Committee is scheduled to take public comment and vote on the plan at a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14. If the District Advisory Committee approves the plan, it will be added to the agenda for the regular meeting of the HISD School Board on Dec. 14.