The Houston Independent School District board approved a series of contracts with nonprofit organizations affiliated with four of its most distinctive specialty high schools, along with a separate agreement covering pre-K centers.
Under Senate Bill 1882, school districts can partner with nonprofits or other entities to operate schools with greater flexibility over curriculum and operations. HISD leaders framed the move as a way to expand successful school models while giving them more freedom to innovate.
The vote unlocks an estimated $700-$1,500 per student in additional state funding for approved partnership schools that currently receive less per-pupil funding than state-authorized charter schools. A portion of this funding may go to HISD to cover support services.
The schools impacted are Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Energy Institute High School, Challenge Early College High School, and Houston Academy for International Studies.
These four schools have earned A ratings from the Texas Education Agency for at least the past four years, qualifying them for consideration to advance to “Level 5 Autonomy.”
HISD also factored in schools with less than 25% Black-white and Hispanic-white achievement gaps on the ELA and Math STAAR exams.
A fifth contract with Collaborative for Children, an education nonprofit, will operate pre-k partnerships with HISD beginning in the upcoming school year.
Through the partnerships, nonprofit boards– some longstanding and others newly formed – will take on a greater role in managing school operations, staffing decisions, budgeting, and academic programming.
“Level-five autonomy is a bold opportunity for Houston ISD’s most successful and innovative school leaders to enjoy a greater level of flexibility, increased resources, and the stability that comes from being managed by their own non-profit board.”
– Mike Miles, Houston ISD Superintendent
“Level-five autonomy is a bold opportunity for Houston ISD’s most successful and innovative school leaders to enjoy a greater level of flexibility, increased resources, and the stability that comes from being managed by their own non-profit board,” said Superintendent Mike Miles. “By enshrining student outcome targets, including achievement gap benchmarks in the performance management contract, HISD will ensure that these schools continue their track record of serving all students well, while ushering in an era of increased innovation for these schools.”
The approvals come just days before a critical deadline. With the Texas Education Agency requiring HISD to submit its application by March 31, the vote clears the path for the district to formally request state approval for the new partnership model.
Had the board not acted in time, the schools could have lost access to the additional funding stream entirely.
Parents and principals of the affected schools welcomed the move.
“HAIS deserves to be an 1882 partner,” said Jennifer Caprell, an HISD parent who serves on the board of the Friends of Houston Academy for International Studies. “As a board member, I bring over a decade of experience in education and nonprofit leadership, 13 years here with HISD as a teacher and administrator…This partnership will amplify what makes HAIS exceptional: its language immersion, global studies, and early college pathways.”
A last-minute push
The contracts were still under active negotiation as recently as two weeks ago, forcing the school district to delay its original timeline.
The board rescheduled the vote to a meeting that is typically set aside for employee hearings, prompted by the looming state deadline.
Kristen Hole, deputy superintendent of HISD, said the district began connecting with community members and pre-K leaders in July 2025 and opened an application call for interested partners in October. HISD evaluated the partner applications in December and January and then worked to finalize contracts by March.
“Their [Collaborative for Children] primary goal is to improve kindergarten readiness with their partners that are out in the field,” Hole said of the pre-K partnership. “They focus deeply on high-quality instruction and want to make sure every student has a strong pre-K learning experience.”
HISD did not release the contracts to the public before the final vote.
What school leaders say
For schools like Energy Institute or HSPVA, the additional resources could be transformative. While Energy has maintained an A-rating for five consecutive years and boasts a 150-student robotics program it calls its “football program,” HSPVA scored a 99 in the TEA ratings last school year and remains nationally ranked.
The school, built around project-based STEM learning with what it calls “global graduate skills,” ensures every senior earns an industry-based certification before graduation. The board approved the school’s partnership with the nonprofit Friends of Energy Institute High School.
Leaders at both Energy and HSPVA campuses have pointed to the limits of traditional school budgets as a barrier to expanding student opportunities.
“1882 partnerships were created to support innovative programs,” said Lori Lambropoulos, founding principal of Energy Institute HS, emphasizing the innovation and engineering feats of students. “They require stable, sustainable funding to maintain quality and access for all students. While some may view 1882 as a new path for HISD, Energy has approached the district for many, many years, asking for this opportunity, and we are very excited for this next step. An 1882 partnership allows energy to protect what works, plan responsibly for the future, and continue delivering an exceptional, innovative education for Houston students.”
Dr. Priscilla Rivas, principal of Kiner HSPVA, echoed Lambropoulos’ sentiments.
“SB 1882 represents a new frontier for us with untapped possibilities for innovation in how we strengthen our arts and academic programming, but also how we operate,” Rivas said. “With this autonomy, we will continue protecting the equity and diversity that define us, maintaining our status as a tuition-free public institution.”
She also vouched for the non-profit HSPVA Friends, the longest-running nonprofit among the high school-affiliated organizations, to be at the helm of the school.
“For more than 50 years, they [HSPVA Friends] have helped sustain the excellence of our campus by supporting master classes with professional artists, expanding student performance opportunities and enhancing programs in ways that traditional funding alone cannot,” Rivas added.
By contrast, two of the nonprofit organizations involved in the agreements are newly formed, having registered with the state within the last several months.
The Houston Academy for International Studies (HAIS) was founded in 2006 through a partnership between HISD, Houston City College, and the Asia Society. HISD approved its partnership with Friends of HAIS.
The school’s principal, Melissa Jacobs Thibaut, has described a vision in which every student has a mentor outside family and teachers, and in which partnerships like those with the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), which sets aside funds for 50 students to travel abroad annually, help remove financial barriers.
“Today, all of our students take college courses, 85% earn an associate’s degree, 100% complete a CTE senior internship,” Jacobs Thibaut said. “Last week in this boardroom, I heard the word ‘elite’ being used to describe our school, and I want to be clear. HAIS has not been given elite resources, but we have created elite outcomes for HISD students, the majority of whom are economically disadvantaged and almost half of whom are at risk. This partnership is not about changing who we are or who we serve. It’s about expanding what we have already proven works.”
Challenge Early College HS, which is slated to be under the Friends of Challenge Early High School, is embedded on an HCC campus and operates on a dual-credit acceleration model. Here, a student taking Algebra 2 simultaneously earns college algebra credit and high school credit. Its leaders are exploring future pathways in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence that could enable graduates to leave with an associate’s degree and a level-one certificate.
“They have so many opportunities in the areas of technology that we’re going to start working with them to continue to open those electives,” said Jose Santos, principal of the school. “It’s going to be an awesome opportunity for them.”
The board approval allows HISD to submit its applications to the TEA for final authorization. If approved, the partnerships would run for a minimum of three years and up to 10, with performance contracts outlining expectations and accountability measures.
