Mandate for Change

I. HISD’s greatest strength is its human capital. The personal, face-to-face contact between teacher and child will always be the central event in education. Changes in the district’s structure, governance, and policies underscore the importance of this relationship; that is, through reform, they exist to support the relationship. In addition, HISD sets high expectations for school leadership to inspire creative thinking and innovative approaches that lead to instructional and operational excellence.

• Employees identified as high performers by using value-added data should be rewarded. HISD must establish levels of compensation and differentiated salaries driven by performance, value-added data, and accountability for all employees.
  
• Reform measures must focus on higher standards for recruitment and selection, job performance and compensation, and professional development and career planning, and provide employees viable career paths within the organization.

II. Schools must be empowered to develop and implement the methods that best achieve their unique and individual instructional goals. HISD is fully committed to a decentralized system of schools, giving principals the authority over the educational and operational systems. In such a system, the Board of Education remains accountable to the public for high-quality educational services for all children. The board provides guidance and support to schools by establishing clear, consistent districtwide goals, high standards and expectations, and effective systems of evaluation; but the individual school is held accountable for innovation and instructional results within those districtwide parameters.

• Principals are the leaders of the decision-making process affecting their schools, and their leadership is measured not only by results but also by their collaboration with teachers, parents, and the community.
  
• Recognizing that schools are where decisions should be made and that successful decentralization is a function of leadership capacity at the school level, the district will establish a tiered system of differentiated autonomy focusing on instructional competencies, budgets, and business operational systems. Schools demonstrating higher levels of student performance, innovation, and operational excellence (including school safety) are further empowered with greater autonomy and decision-making flexibility. However, other schools may need greater support and guidance; and until they reach acceptable levels of performance, the district must manage for them critical areas such as curriculum, professional development, and operational systems. When guidance over decision-making is needed, structured interventions will help develop the competencies toward greater autonomy. Annual performance monitoring of instruction, operations, and attractiveness to the community served will determine the level of principal autonomy or central-office intervention at the school.

III. School choice must remain an integral part of the HISD system. School choice ignites the spirit of competition, motivates excellence, promotes innovation, and empowers parents to match their children with the schools that best meet their children’s needs. It is important for HISD to focus more on developing, improving, and using innovative educational tools so that every child at every school has access to the instructional program that best suits his or her unique interests.

Equal access to instructional excellence requires adequate and equitable allocation of resources. That, in turn, requires fair funding formulas. For decades, HISD has been a district of choice and a system of schools rather than a school system where every campus offers the same programs.

• HISD will offer a portfolio of schools to meet the needs of its diverse community of students. All schools, whether they are specialty, Magnet, or neighborhood, will be accountable to identified educational and programmatic standards, including a common core of academic subjects, approved by the administration and the Board of Education. All students are expected to meet those standards.
  
• Achievement gaps between student groups are unacceptable. Closing achievement gaps requires unequal resources for unequal needs. Weighted funding allocations address individual differences, allowing the money to follow the child in accordance with his or her unique instructional needs and thereby ensuring access to the resources that enhance student achievement.
  
• HISD must be proactive in the early identification of schools that may have too few students enrolled to provide adequate resources. The district must be ready to provide the school with appropriate interventions.

IV. Meaningful engagement is defined as actively listening to constructive input, collecting and exchanging information, and sharing outcomes. The Board of Education understands and appreciates the need for constructive engagement with both the community and district employees and will aggressively solicit their opinions and ideas without relinquishing its responsibility as an elected body. As a publicly funded entity, HISD must maintain open and respectful relationships, both internally and externally, and be a model for a service-oriented culture. Schools belong to the people; communities will be engaged in the decision-making process.

• Everyone in HISD, including the board and the superintendent, shall be responsive to the district’s diverse communities. Consistent, meaningful two-way communication with those who support the district as well as those with differing philosophies is essential to establishing public trust and confidence. HISD shall provide parents and the public (and, where appropriate, students) with formal, structured systems for input into decision-making that sets high achievement standards for all children.
  
• All employees shall be encouraged to play a more active, visible role in representing the district to the community.