Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the board’s Thursday evening decision.
Waco Independent School District trustees Thursday took their first step to turn over control of two struggling schools to a charter school firm founded by the state-appointed superintendent of Houston ISD.
Superintendent Tiffany Spicer proposed the measure as a way to buy time to improve the schools and avoid a state takeover of Waco ISD. The board approved Third Future Schools as a vendor, setting the stage for a contract to run South Waco and Dean Highland elementary schools.
The arrangement could exempt those schools from state interventions for two years while providing additional state funding. The board could approve the contract in late March, and the charter school could take control in the fall.
South Waco has received four consecutive F ratings under the state’s A-F accountability system, based mostly on results of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. If it fails a fifth time, based on tests in April, the Texas Education Agency would be required to intervene, as it is doing in nearby Connally ISD. The state has appointed a conservator of the district based on two failing schools and will replace the elected school board and superintendent.
Dean Highland Elementary also has three consecutive failing assessments under the state system.
“We are taking bold moves to ensure that we close the gap and we ensure our students are able to succeed and excel here in Waco ISD,” Spicer said in a video Monday on Waco ISD’s website. “We have the opportunity to intervene at our elementary levels to ensure our students have the proper foundations. We also want to make sure that we are setting ourselves up as a district for academic success and growth at not just our elementary campuses but our middle schools and our high schools.”
Texas school districts can form partnerships with open-enrollment charter schools, institutions of higher education, nonprofits or government entities to shield themselves from intervention risks under Senate Bill 1882, according to the TEA.
Waco ISD was the first to use Senate Bill 1882 to form an in-district charter school with Transformation Waco in 2018. The in-district charter school oversaw four schools: Brook Avenue Elementary, Alta Vista Elementary, J.H. Hines Elementary and G.W. Carver Middle School.
In the current school year, Third Future Schools applied after Waco ISD put out a a call for applicants to run the in-district charter system.
The district hopes the partnership will allow it to focus its resources on other campuses.
“Our district has been under significant strain for the past year and a half, we have moved around our resources to provide help to our highest need campuses and we recognize that this has not been easy on the rest of our schools,” said Waco ISD Deputy Superintendent Melissa King-Knowles in a video about the partnership. “So partnership with a charter organization changes all of that. By allowing an external partner to come in, we can be more focused, more equitable and fair as we channel our resources to move faster than we ever moved.”
If the contract moves forward, students will still have access to programs and resources from Waco ISD, according to Waco ISD’s website about the partnership.
Third Future Schools would have operational control on hiring, staffing and services. Current Waco ISD employees would have the choice to move to a different campus or apply via Third Future Schools. Spicer met with both campuses to ensure staff understood they would have a place in the district, according to Waco ISD via email to The Waco Bridge on Thursday.
Waco ISD spoke with the TEA and researched approved vendors. The district put a call out for applicants in early February. The period for submissions was Feb. 2 – Feb. 12, according to Waco ISD.
Third Future declined comment on the proposal Thursday. The firm’s website shows that it operates schools in numerous districts, including some in Austin, Wichita Falls and Midland. It was founded by Mike Miles, the former Dallas ISD superintendent who now runs Houston ISD under its state takeover.
