Houston Chronicle
By Kennedy Sessions
August 11, 2023

The newly state-appointed Houston Independent School District Board of Managers approved a slew of policy changes in the district in a meeting Thursday afternoon, including one rule effectively allowing Superintendent Mike Miles to spend up to $1 million without board approval. The board's overhaul of changes came after a meeting at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, where community members held a read-in beforehand to protest HISD's leadership plans to remove librarians from 28 "New Education System" Schools and repurpose those libraries as "Team Centers"—a designated area for students with behavioral issues.

Here are the latest changes: 

• Superintendent Mike Miles now has the spending authority of $1 million, boosting the previous district's threshold of $100,000. Miles previously requested $2 million but changed the figure.
• Employee unions will meet with the HISD administration four times a year instead of their usual monthly meeting.
• Uncertified teacher candidates will be allowed to be hired by the district for the upcoming school year. HISD will seek Texas Education Agency's permission to remove teacher certification requirements. Miles reported Thursday that the district had around 63 teacher vacancies in total; he predicts 87 positions will not be certified
• HISD approved Miles' plan to alter magnet programs at NES or NES-aligned schools 
• Board members decided that HISD does not have to verify information on applications for employment 
• After three sick days, employees now need to provide a doctor's note. Previously the district required this after a week.
• HISD booster clubs donations are altered to give bigger donations without board approval 

Some of the policy change requests were outlined by Miles in a presentation to the board Tuesday. The superintendent also presented his teacher's pay-per-performance system, which includes an evaluation system. A few of Miles' points in his Tuesday presentation were outlined in his Destination 2035 plan, which was first reported by Houston Public Media. 

Last month, the district released a teacher pay scale which would recompense educators based on how "important" their subject is, regardless of experience. Across the board, English and Language Arts teachers were given a higher salary than other subjects like history or science. Miles explained that his district plans include adopting a "high-performance culture." 

"The culture here has been high autonomy, low accountability, and I think most people can understand that's a recipe for inefficiency, ineffectiveness," Miles said. "We have to be outcomes-focused versus checking the box going through the motions, or just going through the process."

Throughout the presentation, community members turned their backs to Miles and held up signs in protest as he addressed the board. Beforehand many expressed their concerns in the public hearing about the district's plans for removing libraries, adjusting magnet programs in NES schools, and cutting consultation times with employee unions. 

"He [Miles] is violating policy after policy, law after law, and the union should not be the one to hold him accountable; you hired him, you need to hold him accountable because authority without accountability equals tyranny," said Andy Dewey, Secretary-Treasurer of the Houston Federation of Teachers, to the board. 

HISD parent Melissa Yarborough also questioned the board's plan to hire uncertified teachers. After the Texas Education Agency's approval, candidates can be employed by the district without a higher education degree, any state certification, or past teaching experience. 

"I wonder how you can put so much faith in a standardized test to prove that kids can learn what they are supposed to learn; however, you are not requiring all of your teachers to pass a test to prove that they know how to teach," she said.