Frisco ISD has begun the process to become a District of Innovation, a designation that would allow the district to have more local control through exemptions from the Texas Education Code.

By becoming a DOI, FISD could have more flexibility on certain state regulations, such as the school year calendar, teacher certifications and minutes of instruction, FISD board President Anne McCausland said.

“Through this designation, it will give us the opportunity to better meet the needs of our students, parents and community,” she said.

The DOI designation was created when state lawmakers passed House Bill 1842 during the previous state legislative session. The bill allows a school district to adopt a local innovation plan that provides for more flexible operating models.

The road to innovation

McCausland said the board began exploring the DOI designation last spring.

There are 35 school districts designated as DOIs in Texas. Plano ISD adopted a DOI plan Nov. 15, and Lovejoy ISD and Allen ISD are going through the process.

Once the bill was passed, the Texas Education Agency adopted new rules to define the process.

“We wrote the rules around what the law required so that the districts could have a clear understanding of what they could and couldn’t do,” TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said.

A district can become a DOI only after it develops a local innovation plan with public input and approval from an elected district-level committee, which is made up of school and district leaders, and the school board.

During its Nov. 14 meeting, the FISD board of trustees unanimously voted to form a 15-member committee composed of community members to develop an innovation plan. The board-appointed committee will create an innovation plan that outlines which specific education code exemptions FISD is seeking.

The appointed committee will likely present the innovation plan to FISD’s elected district-level committee in November. According to district officials, the goal would be to bring a plan forward by the December board meeting.

By January, FISD trustees could vote on the final innovation plan. If FISD’s district-level committee and the board of trustees approve the innovation plan, it would last five years and require annual updates.

During the Nov. 14 meeting, some residents expressed concern that there would not be enough public input during this process because the timeline falls during the holidays when a lot of people may not be present.

However, McCausland said the timeline is flexible to develop and vote on the plan, and the board will take those concerns into consideration.

“This is so new, and a lot of people are not very familiar with it,” McCausland said. “But we want to at least have the committee meet once or twice and get feedback to see how long they think they need to develop the plan.”

McCausland said what works statewide does not always work for each district.

“This designation will help us determine what works best for Frisco ISD,” McCausland said.