Conroe ISD Considering District of Innovation Plan

CONROE, TX -- Conroe ISD is considering the possibility of becoming a District of Innovation, a trend that many school districts in Texas are considering

Community Impact News reported that Conroe ISD is considering the move, to allow for the district to have more flexibility and local
control on certain state statutes, such as start dates for the school year, class size, teacher certification and minutes of instruction, CISD Deputy Superintendent Curtis Nullsaid.

The District of Innovation plan was passed by the 84th legislative session as House Bill 1842.

Every school district that adopts a plan are typically concerned about a number of issues, which are not considered allowable exemptions.

Those include teacher certification, classroom ratio, school start dates, length of the school day, and teacher contracts.

“The challenge that we’ve had is that the state is not real forthcoming with information,” Null said. “I think for that reason … we’ve been very conservative with what we would want to include. There are some
districts that have more items on the list than what we have, [such as] different class size and really getting out there as far as teacher certification or teacher contracts and pay. Those are not areas that we
would entertain.”

The board voted to appoint members to the District Level Planning and Decision Making Committee, composed of elected parents, community members and teachers, to further investigate becoming a District of Innovation.

“I think it sounds good, [but] I think it’s a real slippery slope,” CISD trustee Jessica Powell said.
“It opens up to possible future issues when different boards, different opinions, different agendas start to come into play. I think there’s a lot of reason [for] this to still be considered a dangerous plan to
adopt.”

Other districts in Greater Houston are in in various stages of planning or approval.
Humble ISD has adopted a District of Innovation Plan, and Tomball ISD is expected to approve their plan in December.

“I’m all for the more local control the better, and I do hope that our educators will continue to, through this process, provide us with that feedback so that we can really look at this to the level that we need
to,” CISD board secretary Melanie Bush said. “What works statewide doesn’t necessarily work in every district. I like districts being able to determine more what works for them.”

Should CISD choose to instate a District of Innovation Plan, it can be changed, but the board
must go through approval process again, Null said.

“As a general rule, I’m all for local control rather than a bunch of people that I don’t know deciding
when I should start school,” CISD board president John Husbands said.

The board is expected to approve the plan in December.

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