(Editor's note: This story has been edited since its original posting.)

Parents and community members can sound off through Oct. 30 as the Houston Independent School District tries to revamp its 113-school magnet program.

More than 40,000 students are enrolled this year in HISD magnet programs that cost about $21 million annually.

The magnet programs range from a school-within-a-school model to stand-alone magnet schools where the entire educational experience is based on a theme or subject matter, like the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice in northwest Houston. Some of the programs receive additional local funding from HISD; others do not.

With more than 100 programs and little consistency in how much funding, if any, programs receive, HISD has hired the private nonprofit Magnet Schools of America to conduct the magnet review, which could cost up to $275,000.

In an e-mail to Texas Watchdog, HISD Chief of Staff Michele Pola said, “The contract with our consultants calls for updates every two weeks. Input from all community forums, the website, etc.. will be included in the updates from the consultants.”

A total of 12 parent and community meetings have been scheduled, including an additional Saturday meeting that will be held 9 a.m. Oct. 30 at the Hattie Mae White Building in Houston.

Parents are also concerned with the timing of the possible changes to the magnet program, which could happen while students are still applying to magnet programs that could, in theory, be axed.

Jan. 8 is the deadline for parents to choose which school they want their child to attend for the 2010-11 school year. About four months later, on March 25, parents are to receive notification of where their child has been selected to attend; they have until April 8 to make a final decision on where to enroll.

“It is what it is,” HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said when asked about the timing of the audit.

Changes to the HISD magnet program could come at any time and could affect the amount of funding a magnet program receives, Grier said.

With a lot of uncertainty and possibilities, Grier said the HISD trustees have the final decision. “Our staff is not going to make rash decisions. No final decisions have been made,” Grier said. Watch his entire comments in the clip below.




HISD made the Saturday meeting addition after a parent advocacy group, Parent Visionaries, made up of parent representatives and PTO leaders from across the district, asked for Saturday meetings.

Grier said the additional meeting will allow parents and teachers with conflicting schedules to make the meetings. “We were trying to be as responsive as possible,” he said.

The remaining parent and community magnet meetings are as follows:

• 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13 at  Chavez High School (school board member: Manuel Rodriguez)
• 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 15 at Hattie Mae White (meeting open to everyone)
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26 at Madison High School (school board member: Larry Marshall)
• 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27 at Key Middle School (school board member: Carol Galloway)
• 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 at Bellaire High School (school board member: Mike Lunceford)
• 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 at Hattie Mae White (meeting open to everyone)

Do you think HISD is allowing sufficient time for parent and community feedback? Should there be more meetings? We want to hear from you! Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter: @LWalsh.

HISD Magnet program funding per school 08-09

Photo of man with megaphone sounding off by flickr user thivierr, used via a Creative Commons license.