Eight individuals spoke at Monday's Katy ISD public hearing regarding a District of Innovation designation.[/caption]

The Katy ISD board of trustees held a public hearing Monday night regarding a District of Innovation designation. The board, which passed a resolution at its Sept. 26 meeting to initiate the process of exploring the designation, will vote at its Oct. 24 meeting whether to further pursue becoming a DOI.

KISD Superintendent Lance Hindt began the public hearing with a presentation on the specific facets of a DOI in which the district is interested. In the presentation, Hindt laid out a flexible school calendar, eliminating the position of Campus Behavior Coordinator and removing the certification requirement for instructors in certain areas of study as KISD's three proposed exemptions from state law were the district to become a DOI.

Following Hindt's presentation, eight individuals—seven of whom are Katy residents—were allotted three minutes each to provide Hindt and the board with input. Five speakers supported KISD potentially becoming a DOI, while three opposed the designation or cautioned the board about further pursuing it.

"I thought speakers from both sides did a great job of presenting," Hindt said. "Naturally, we always like to have as much input as we can. We're also providing the avenue for them to send us emails and additional documentation up until the board makes a decision next Monday."

Those in favor of a DOI designation for KISD spoke about the benefits of a flexible start date and school calendar as well as industry professionals being allowed to teach vocational- and technical-oriented classes. Those against the notion of a DOI expressed concern about other affects the designation could have on the district, such as raising class sizes, altering teachers' contracts and impinging on planning periods.

Hindt and KISD Board President Rebecca Fox said these types of exemptions would undermine KISD's goals. They both agreed that, while there are some other exemptions under a DOI designation that could also produce positive results, they believe the three for which they are asking would be the most beneficial to the district.

"We could have asked for [other exemptions], and we did not; that's the point," Fox said. "We didn't ask [to be exempt from] things that mattered to our community. Our community cares about class size—small class sizes—and the teacher planning times, to protect those, and to keep site-based decisions."

If the board votes next Monday to continue pursuing a DOI designation, it must then approve an Innovation Plan Committee that would be tasked with creating KISD's Local Innovation Plan. State law requires that a district's LIP be posted on its website for at least 30 days prior to a board approving it to allow for further community feedback. In order for a district to become a DOI, a LIP must receive a majority vote from a District Improvement Council—after it conducts a public meeting—and an ensuing two-thirds vote from a board.

Hindt said that, although his proposed exemptions could be altered or expounded upon by the IPC during the LIP drafting process, only exemptions appearing in the final LIP would be applicable to KISD's DOI designation per state law.

State law also requires for any amendments to a LIP to go through the entire DOI designation process from the beginning. A particular LIP is valid for up to five years, after which it can be renewed upon again going through the the whole DOI designation process.

"If those three items are the three items that this board so chooses and the committee so chooses to pursue, they're etched in stone," Hindt said.