A Harris County judge issued a temporary restraining order against Houston ISD on Aug. 31, blocking the district from implementing HISD Superintendent Mike Miles' new teacher evaluation system until a Sept. 11 hearing regarding a temporary injunction is held.

In a nutshell

The Texas Education Agency ousted former HISD Superintendent Millard House II and its elected board of trustees in June, replacing them with a board of managers and Miles in an effort to help improve the district’s accountability ratings and board governance.

The Houston Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit Aug. 31 against Miles and the board of managers over a new evaluation system approved earlier this month that will eventually be used to determine teachers’ employment status and salaries.

According to the lawsuit, HISD violated Texas Education Code requirements because the district allegedly did not ask for teachers’ and other staff members’ opinions as they developed the new teacher evaluation system.

Texas Education Code stipulates district boards that adopt their own appraisal processes must “consult with the campus planning and decision-making committee on each campus in the school district.”

The lawsuit also contends the criteria used to evaluate teachers has not yet been made clear.

What they’re saying

In an Aug. 30 news release, Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson said Miles has exceeded the reach of his power.

“[Superintendent Mike Miles] is refusing to follow the law by shutting out the voices of teachers, parents, students and other community members and punishing educators in the name of streamlining the district,” Anderson said. “This is autocratic, not democratic or even legal."

HISD officials sent the following response to the lawsuit in an Aug. 31 email to Community Impact: “The Houston Independent School District cannot comment on a pending legal matter. The Superintendent and the School Board remain focused on the critical work of ensuring HISD prepares all its students for the world and workplace of Destination 2035 and allow the legal process to run its course. We will not answer any additional questions until the matter has concluded.”

A closer look

Miles outlined the components of the new evaluation system during an Aug. 10 board meeting. Officials have previously said the new teacher evaluation system will not affect teacher pay raises and salaries until the 2025-26 school year, though the new evaluation system was set to be implemented at the start of the 2023-24 school year.

HISD officials said teacher performance would be measured by several factors, including:

• 40% determined by campus principals during classroom observations
• 10% determined by student results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness
• 25% determined by additional student performance outcomes
• 15% determined by a group performance metric based on a campus’s accomplishment of specific and measurable goals
• 10% determined by the results of a student survey for teachers

Miles noted an additional five points can be awarded to teachers in four categories—including quality of instruction, leadership, lifelong learning and contributions to the profession—bringing the highest score a teacher can achieve to 120 points.

After evaluations are complete, officials said the scores would then be used to rank individual teachers into the following categories:

• A teacher with a score of 10-18 would be designated “Unsatisfactory.”
• A teacher with a score of 19-29 would be designated “Progressing I.”
• A teacher with a score of 30-42 would be designated “Progressing II.”
• A teacher with a score of 43-57 would be designated “Proficient I.”
• A teacher with a score of 58-71 would be designated “Proficient II.”
• A teacher with a score of 72-85 would be designated “Exemplary I.”
• A teacher with a score of 86-120 would be designated “Exemplary II.”

Miles noted the district would employ a forced-distribution method for each category, meaning a certain percentage of teachers would receive each designation.

According to the proposed evaluation rules:

• 3% of teachers would be designated Unsatisfactory.
• 12% of teachers would be designated Progressing I.
• 25% of teachers would be designated Progressing II.
• 40% of teachers would be designated Proficient I.
• 12% of teachers would be designated Proficient II.
• 5% of teachers would be designated Exemplary I.
• 3% of teachers would be designated Exemplary II.

“This is probably the most controversial part of the teacher evaluation system,” Miles said during the Aug. 10 meeting. “Out of the 11,000 teachers, we will force this distribution to prevent inflation. ... This is what keeps the evaluation rigorous, and we’re going to know who our best teachers are.”

Once completed, Miles said the evaluations would then be used to determine teacher’s base salaries for the following school year. According to the new evaluation rules:

• Teachers with an Unsatisfactory rating would be paid $65,000 annually.
• Teachers with a Progressing I rating would be paid $70,000 annually.
• Teachers with a Progressing II rating would be paid $75,000 annually.
• Teachers with a Proficient I rating would be paid $80,000 annually.
• Teachers with a Proficient II rating would be paid $88,000 annually.
• Teachers with an Exemplary I rating would be paid $96,000 annually.
• Teachers with an Exemplary II rating would be paid $104,000 annually.

What’s next

Under the temporary restraining order, the new evaluation system will be halted until at least Sept. 11, when a hearing for a temporary injunction will be held.

If the temporary injunction is granted, the lawsuit will move to trial, and the district will be barred from implementing its evaluation system until a final decision is made.