Mayor Sylvester Turner on Tuesday proposed the city partner with businesses and philanthropic groups to create a nonprofit that would work with Houston ISD to turn around 10 schools that face state closure due to low academic performance.

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There are two problems with the mayor’s plan, however.

First, the Texas Education Agency said Tuesday such a partnership is not allowed under existing state law.

Second, his plan may be too late to stave off potential state action against the 10 schools and HISD as a whole.

Turner’s proposal, which he announced during his annual State of the City speech, caught at least six of Houston ISD’s nine trustees by surprise, including Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones. They said his remarks and messages left by a reporter were the first they had heard of such a partnership idea.

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Skillern-Jones and Trustee Wanda Adams said they did not want to comment on the plan until they spoke with Turner and reviewed the idea. Trustee Sergio Lira said the city had considered partnering with Texas Southern University to assume control of the schools months ago, but those plans were abandoned earlier this year.

“It just didn’t pan out,” Lira said. “I don’t know if the city was prepared or had the resources to undertake this really important work.”

Turner said as much during a question-and-answer session after his address. He said he is “not interested” in running the schools, nor would he commit city dollars to the effort or undertake any efforts that would require a city council vote.

“But we do have to address those schools that remain in low-performing status for that period of time,” Turner said. “I’m committing myself to join with others, the business community and others to see about coming up with a viable model.”

The deadline for Houston ISD to enter a partnership aimed at postponing state sanctions was Monday night.

The Texas Education Agency gave school districts with chronically low performing schools until April 30 to submit plans for handing over operations of those schools to a third-party, such as a charter school operator or university. Submitting a partnership plan by Monday would have given Houston ISD and its 10 longest-struggling schools a two-year reprieve from state action, so long as the agency approved of the plan.

Chaotic board meeting

District officials had announced a plan to partner with a local charter school operator, Energized for STEM Academy Inc., but ended up not even voting on it during a raucous school board meeting last week in which parents and activists voiced strong objections to the idea. The meeting ended in chaos after Skillern-Jones ordered police to clear the room and two women were arrested for trespassing and resisting officers. Charges against the two were dropped the next day.

After Houston ISD failed to send anything to the TEA, the fate of the district and the 10 schools now lies with TEA Commissioner Mike Morath.

A state law known as HB 1842 gives Morath two options to address schools that have failed to meet Texas’ academic standards for five or more consecutive years: close each of the struggling schools or take over any district that has even one school that falls into that category.

The 10 HISD schools at risk of triggering state action are Blackshear, Dogan, Highland Heights, Mading and Wesley elementary schools; Henry Middle School; Woodson PK-8; and Kashmere, Wheatley and Worthing high schools. They serve nearly 7,000 students combined.

Turner said Tuesday he has talked with Morath weekly and has asked that Morath grant the district and the 10 schools a one-year reprieve from sanctions and accountability ratings after Hurricane Harvey swamped Texas’ largest school district, leaving the majority of students out of school for at least two weeks.

TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson confirmed the two speak on a regular basis.

“Those discussions have have included a wide range of potential options, some of which are allowed under current law and some of which would require statutory change,” Culbertson said.

The partnership proposed by Turner would require a change in state law.

Turner cited an existing partnership between the Los Angeles Unified School District and a nonprofit called the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools as an example he would like to follow. The partnership was created in 2007 as a joint effort between L.A. Unified, the city of Los Angeles, and private and public entities.

Some success in L.A.

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The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools controls 18 district schools that had foundered for years on the city’s south side. The Partnership hires the schools’ principals, who hire teachers. The teachers are L.A. Unified employees, but the principals answer to the partnership instead of the school district. It provides about $675 additional dollars per student to those schools thanks to donations to the nonprofit, including $50 million in 2007 and another $35 million in January.

Some studies have shown significant growth in the Partnership’s schools. A report by Public Impact showed 95 percent of the schools improved their statewide rankings in English Language Arts and nearly 90 percent improved their ratings in math. In 63 percent of the schools, their English and math rankings improved by 10 percentile points, the equivalent of moving ahead of 1,000 schools across California. In both English and math rankings, 47 percent of the Partnership’s schools improved by 20 or more percentile points.

Sean Gill, a research analyst for the Center for Reinventing Public Education based in the University of Washington Bothell, said a partnership between the city, the school district and nonprofits may prove more palatable to Houston ISD parents than partnering with a charter school management operator.

“If they can find a way to say we’re working together with the neighborhoods we serve to improve these schools, it doesn’t feel so disruptive,” Gill said. “Some believe in charters and like the idea of disruption, but communities care less about disruptive innovation. What they want is a quality school, and they like the idea of being able to contribute.”

HISD Trustee Jolanda Jones said she would be open to offers of help from the city and nonprofits, but said she believes the 10 schools can be improved if the district were given more time to implement the district’s Achieve 180 campus turnaround plan, which went into effect last August. If the turnaround plan had more than one year to work, she said she was confident Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan could improve their academic standings.

Trustee expresses ‘surprise’

Still, Jones said she was perplexed by Turner’s announcement Tuesday.

“I’m curious what Sylvester thought. I can’t tell you what was going through his mind,” Jones said. “I’m surprised he said he would help us now.”

Trustee Elizabeth Santos said even if the mayor’s current proposal does not work out, she welcomed his attention to the school district and hoped they could partner on other initiatives.

“I think the city and Houston ISD need to start planning ahead and having a line of open communication,” Santos said. “We’re growing and each have these huge proposals, but we’re not having conversations with each other. But I’m excited to have a mayor who is supportive of us.”

shelby.webb@chron.com

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