A state law passed in 2015 allows Texas school districts to seek exemption from certain regulations in the Texas Education Code, including when districts can start a school year.

A District of Innovation, or DOI, designation, which Eanes ISD and other nearby school districts are exploring, would allow flexibility in the school calendar, higher class-size caps, lower mandatory attendance rates and the hiring of uncertified educators.

The DOI designation was created by Texas House Bill 1842, which state lawmakers passed in 2015.

Other states have passed similar bills in recent years, including Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Some school district staffers taking an interest in becoming a DOI say allowing industry professionals to teach certain subjects could increase students’ career and college readiness. But some classroom teachers argue the new law is too far-reaching, and it puts a teacher’s job security at risk.

Bill Bechtol, EISD’s former superintendent of curriculum and instruction and new interim Barton Creek Elementary School principal, first proposed exploring DOI status at the EISD board of trustees’ May 24 meeting. He said EISD was primarily interested in pursuing DOI status for its flexibility in school year start dates.

“[The DOI designation] gives us local control,” Bechtol said at the meeting.

Leander ISD’s board of trustees discussed exploring the DOI option in fall 2015 and authorized school administration to research DOI designation and report back to the board.

Veronica Sopher, LISD assistant superintendent of community and governmental relations, said the board has not discussed DOI designation since because it has been searching for a new superintendent.

Dan Troxell was named the new LISD superintendent in August and said DOI status would likely be “too radical” to pursue immediately in LISD. He said he would spend his first few months as superintendent learning about the district before deciding to pursue any plans or actions.

Dripping Springs ISD was designated a DOI in June, and officials chose to be exempt from a state-mandated start date, minimum minutes of instruction, class size ratio, requiring students to attend 90 percent of classes, student discipline provisions, teacher certification requirements and the teacher appraisal system.

Marco Alvarado, Lake Travis ISD’s director of communications, media and community relations, said the school district is aware of the designation but has no plans at the moment to pursue it.

District of Innovation status would give Texas school districts more flexibility in exchange for exemption from state regulations. Interested districts would create an innovation plan outlining what they would seek in terms of flexibility and exemptions. An example is El Paso ISD, which is implementing a DOI plan to focus on making students bilingual, biliterate and bicultural.[/caption]

The road to innovation

The Texas Education Agency must now adopt rules to define the process of a school district becoming a DOI. TEA Spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said public comments surrounding the proposed rules are still under review. Once the rules are adopted, they will take effect in 20 days, she said. Interested school districts are using the TEA’s proposed rules to get started on the process.

A district can become a DOI only after it develops a local innovation plan with public input and approval from an elected district-level committee and the school board.

The EISD board of trustees voted unanimously June 21 to form a committee—consisting of administrators, principals, teachers, parents and a school counselor—to develop a local innovation plan and identify the TEC provisions from which the school district could be exempt.

Jeff Arnett, the district’s deputy superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said the committee plans to meet for the first time in mid-September and will likely meet every two to three weeks until November, when it presents its findings and recommendations to trustees.

If EISD’s district-level committee and board of trustees approve the innovation plan, it would last five years and require annual updates, Bechtol said.

Texas school districts may pursue a District of Innovation, or DOI, designation, which would allow certain exemptions from the Texas Education Code. The process toward becoming a DOI starts with community input.[/caption]

Flexible start date potential

A state law passed in 2006 prohibits school districts from starting school before the fourth Monday in August. Under the DOI designation, that date can be flexible.

If EISD were to apply the law to the 2017-18 school year, students’ starting day of school would be Aug. 28. Because the state mandates 75,600 instructional minutes per school year, the district’s last day of school for students could be in June, Superintendent Tom Leonard said.

He said that would mean fewer instructional days before students took their Advanced Placement exams during the first two weeks of May.

“The more [instructional days] we can have prior [to testing] is to our advantage,” he said.

Leonard said he did not want to limit the committee in its considerations for exemption. Once the board adopts certain exemptions, he said it can amend the ordinance and adopt more later.

Arnett said the district is considering minimum instruction time and teacher certification exemptions.

Teacher contract concerns

Chapter 21 of the TEC governs teacher contracts and mandates that teachers must hold a certificate issued by the State Board for Educator Certification.

But a DOI could choose to exempt itself from teacher contracts and benefits, similar to public charter schools.

“That would mean that teachers would be at-will employees,” said Lonnie Hollingsworth, general counsel for Austin-based nonprofit Texas Classroom Teachers Association. “The district could basically let them go for any reason at all at any time.”

Hollingsworth said TCTA, which represents 50,000 educators throughout the state, opposed HB 1842 because DOI designation could infringe on the rights of both teachers and parents, such as a teacher being able to remove a disruptive student from the classroom or a parent being required to receive notice of a student’s unsatisfactory grades.

He said paid time for lesson planning and preparation could also be taken from teachers in a DOI.

Hollingsworth said many districts are interested in altering the school start date and exempting from the teacher appraisal system, which, beginning in the 2017-18 school year, will rate teachers based in part on student performance. TCTA opposes the appraisal system, but Hollingsworth argued a system change should be addressed statewide.

The DOI process also gives more authority to district-level committees, Hollingsworth said.

He said it is important for classroom teachers to get involved in the DOI process and ensure the district-level committee is an elected body that includes teacher representatives.

Both Arnett and Leonard said EISD is not interested in making certification requirements for teachers of core subjects optional.

“I believe, personally, that if we can find a certified teacher, that we can find the expertise necessary, that’s where we want to go,” Leonard said.

Arnett and Leonard said a non-certified teacher would only be used in extreme circumstances for innovative or unique courses such as Westlake High School’s new business incubator course, which allows to students to form a company and develop a business product throughout the year.

Arnett said there has also been interest in expanding the district’s culinary arts program, and an experienced chef without a teaching certification may be appropriate in such a scenario.

Exploring exemptions

Arnett said he wanted the committee and board of trustees to make sure that whatever exemptions are adopted will not jeopardize the district’s rigorous and innovative curriculum.

“Some of [the exemptions available] we feel are almost contrary to the Eanes [ISD] culture and the expectations of parents,” he said.

Involving the community is a key factor in the road to becoming a DOI, and it was essential to appoint parents to the committee tasked with exploring the designation, Arnett said.

“[Community] perspective is critical to this discussion,” he said. “We can’t consider what we might recommend to the board without the input of our community.”

Trustee Rob Hargett said during preliminary DOI discussions he wants the committee to “think big” when evaluating the exemptions.

“I want us to be bold in the way we do this. Not eccentric or crazy, but let’s do something with it and stand out in a positive way,” he said.