State lambastes Houston district as poorly organized and mired in bureaucracy
The Houston school district has an inefficient, poorly organized and unwieldy bureaucracy that is shortchanging the district’s 209,000 students and city taxpayers, a report by the Texas Legislative Budget Board says.
The Houston Chronicle reports that the 325-page performance review by the budget board says the district needs structural changes across virtually all areas.
The budget board, a permanent joint committee of the Texas Legislature, identified extensive operational shortcomings and issued 94 recommendations aimed at improving operations in the state’s largest public school district.
The report took particular aim at the Houston's decentralized power structure, finding the model delivers inconsistent resources to students and poor monitoring of spending. It also criticized the school board for eroding public trust and district morale.
The budget board proposed several potentially controversial measures, including the formation of a “campus closure and boundary advisory committee” and suggested the district could save $26 million by shuttering as many as 40 underused campuses. The report also called for various consolidations that could cost hundreds of jobs.
Budget board officials say their recommendations could save the district $237 million over the next five years and streamline the delivery of academic services.
In a statement, Houston district administrator say they are evaluating the report.
The report comes at the same time Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has announced plans to replace the district’s elected school board and choose its superintendent.
School board member Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, who supported the performance review, says the findings send “a clear message to administration” that changes are needed.
The budget board broke down its recommendations into five categories:
•Strengthening spending practices and improving fiscal monitoring
•Reorganizing and realigning staff structures
•Standardizing programs and services
•Improving communication, planning and procedures
•Improving school board operations
“The recommendations serve as a road map a school district can use to make improvements,” budget board officials said in a statement. “Once a (school performance review) is released, we are available to provide any further assistance a district may request.”’
One of the bigger shifts recommended by the budget board involves centralizing more district operations to ensure consistent, uniform practices. Currently, the district delegates extensive autonomy over campus-level finances, staffing and programming to principals.
Supporters of the decentralized system argue campus leaders are best positioned to know their students’ needs and craft innovative plans for raising student achievement. Opponents claim the setup leads to inconsistent student outcomes, particularly for children in the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods. The LBB largely sided with critics of the structure.
“Independent campus decisions result in a student experience that differs across the district, and students may not be served consistently,” the report says.
