The board approved the appointment of a District Educational Improvement Committee to develop an Innovation Plan and authorized the superintendent to communicate the district's intent to the Texas Education Agency.
Districts of Innovation can access greater control in their local communities by seeking exemption from state legal requirements in areas including teacher certification, elementary class size, student-to-teacher ratio and the instructional calendar.
Mandy Epley, assistant superintendent of strategic initiatives and programs for Comal ISD, said the designation allows public schools the same exemptions as open-enrollment charter schools.
Additional exemptions that may be granted to Comal ISD if they become a DOI include having more influence on teacher benefits, school counselor duties and site-based decision-making than what is required by state law. The district may also be able to weigh in on decisions to enforce a 90% attendance rule, although compulsory attendance—which defines the age a child must be enrolled in an education program set by the state—still applies.
“The immediate benefit would be to have more local control, to be able to remove barriers that keep us from hitting those goals that we've established in our district,” Epley said. “And campus improvement plans. So with that local control, we would be able to have more control over our calendar.”
Of the state's 1,026 school districts, 913 are DOIs, including neighboring New Braunfels ISD. Comal ISD must complete the steps required to become a DOI before determining how to implement the exemptions.
Even with the distinction of being a DOI, Comal ISD must still elect a board of trustees, conduct criminal background checks and report educator misconduct. Additionally, Comal ISD would still be required to provide bilingual education, special education and pre-kindergarten, among other state requirements.
“There's a number of things that we're not going to change the rules, we're going to still be doing things as written in the law,” Comal ISD Superintendent John Chapman said. “But it just gives us that flexibility for additional opportunities, the pros, the benefit our kids.”
If the process is completed on schedule, the board of trustees will adopt the final version of the local innovation plan on March 30 and notify the TEA of the approval of the District of Innovation Plan on March 31.
