Houston ISD leaders granted power to consider teacher, staff cuts for 2026-27 school year

Houston ISD administrators and campus leaders were granted authority to consider cutting or reorganizing teacher and other employee positions for the 2026-27 school year during the district’s board of managers’ regular April 9 meeting.

What’s happening?

On April 9 HISD’s board of managers unanimously approved two “Reduction In Force” initiatives as part of the consent agenda, which is made up of multiple items considered with one vote. The initiatives allow district and campus leaders to work toward a budget reduction via multiple staffing avenues, according to April 9 meeting documents.

According to April 9 meeting documents, the “Reduction In Force” initiatives:

• Do not require teacher or employee positions or campus programs be changed, but allow them to be
• Could impact elementary and secondary school teachers, other campus employees and some central office positions
• Designate that the names of employees impacted will be brought to the board of managers for consideration
• Are annually brought to the board for consideration

On Feb. 26, Houston ISD’s board of managers unanimously voted to close 12 schools in June due to maintenance costs and declining enrollment, as previously reported by Community Impact.

Staff at the closing schools, which have done well in evaluations, will not lose their positions based on the closures, HISD Chief of Staff Monica Zdrojewski said Feb. 26. Staffing decisions for the closures will be made by April 17, and employees can pursue a transfer to another campus if they prefer a different position than the new one they are awarded, she said.

From the 2022-23 to the 2023-24 school year, the district lost roughly 13,200 students, or about 7% of its total population, as previously reported.

What’s next

HISD is scheduled to hold a budget workshop April 23 starting at 6 p.m., according to the district’s website. An agenda for the meeting was not yet posted as of press time April 10.

Wesley Gardner contributed to this report.