The Lake Travis ISD board of trustees initiated a process Sept. 20 to become designated as a District of Innovation, a school district option adopted during the 2015 state legislative session that allows districts more flexibility for start and end dates, teacher certification requirements, class-size ratios and attendance requirements.

“DOIs give districts local control to decide what [requirements] fit [a] district,” said Superintendent Brad Lancaster, who likened the DOI concept to the flexibility charter schools have in the state.

He said LTISD would not, under a DOI, move class-size ratios up to 30 students per teacher but may increase the class size to 24 students from the state-mandated 22 students maximum per teacher for kindergarten through fourth grade.

As far as changing teacher certification requirements, Lancaster said the district would not accept uncertified instructors for subjects such as math or English, but it may approve hiring a welding teacher who is not certified but has spent years in the job.

However, the change allowed by a DOI in class sizes and teacher certifications has been met with some resistance from instructors, he said.

“We are only looking at hard-to-fill courses [for hiring uncertified teachers] and not kindergarten or first grade,” Lancaster said.

An extended probation period for new staff acceptable under a DOI will not apply to existing staff, he said.

An innovation plan, which is required before a district becomes a DOI, cannot exempt a school district from open enrollment; state requirements for curriculum or graduation, such as the 75,600 instructional minutes required by the state per school year; and academic and financial accountability, Lancaster said.

A public hearing was held during the meeting to discuss whether the district should develop its own local innovation plan, but no speakers came forward.

The board convened an Innovation Plan Committee, which is composed of parents, staff, civic leaders, and board Secretary Alex Alexander and President Lisa Johnson, to develop a local plan for select changes from the state school mandate LTISD would seek in its DOI pursuit. Alexander and Johnson serve the committee in ex-officio, or nonvoting, capacities.

If all goes according to the above draft timetable for the project, a proposed DOI plan will be presented Nov. 11, and its first reading before the board will be Nov. 15, Lancaster said. A public meeting to consider the final version of the plan as well as a board vote on the plan is set for Dec. 13, he said.