HISD Board of Education withdraws plans to reduce classroom overcrowding, asks for more comprehensive plan

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education on Thursday declined to consider proposals to reduce classroom overcrowding throughout the district by making adjustments to a handful of elementary school attendance boundaries.

Trustees had been set to review the proposals during the March board meeting. Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones withdrew the agenda items Thursday afternoon with the support of her fellow board members. As a result, trustees could not discuss or vote on the proposals.

Board members have since asked district administrators to bring forward a more comprehensive plan to address classroom overcrowding.

The proposals were originally drafted in an effort to relieve anticipated overcrowding in the coming years and comply with state law, which requires kindergarten through fourth-grade classes to have no more than 22 students per classroom. Classes that exceed that number must request a state waiver.

This school year, HISD had to submit nearly 1,500 class-size waiver requests to the Texas Education Agency because the district was out of compliance.

In addition to attendance boundary adjustments at select elementary schools, HISD also looked at ways to improve internal practices such as limiting the number of students each school may accept from outside its own neighborhood, adding a layer of additional scrutiny to the waiver request process and eliminating waivers for district charter schools.

Initial plans were presented to trustees in January. The district held a series of community meeting in February to explain the plans to parents and gather their feedback before finalizing the proposals.

 

One thought on “HISD Board of Education withdraws plans to reduce classroom overcrowding, asks for more comprehensive plan

  1. Mireya Bautista

    “Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones withdrew the agenda items Thursday afternoon with the support of her fellow board members. As a result, trustees could not discuss or vote on the proposals.”

    Rhonda Skillern-Jones should teach an overcrowded classroom in a low performing school for ONE DAY only, and her mind set on the matter will change.

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