Katy ISD high school students will officially see an uptick in their class offerings for the 2017-18 school year after trustees approved 18 new classes during the Nov. 21 board meeting.

Ten of the classes are in the area of career and technical education. CTE classes will include digital audio technology, computer programming for cybersecurity and manufacturing engineering. Personal financial literacy will be added in the spring 2017 semester. Non-CTE offerings include several Advanced Placement—also known as AP—classes.

District officials said they are excited to see how these additions, especially the CTE offerings, could benefit KISD should it be given a District of Innovation designation. The board voted Oct. 24 to officially pursue a DOI designation, which could allow industry professionals to teach classes at the district without an alternative teacher certification.

“Some of the courses that we have [added], they’re very specific,” KISD board President Rebecca Fox said. “Provided we become a District of Innovation, we’ll be able to get some of the great experts in their field who want to come and teach other people about it. And so those are the very courses that we’re asking for the [alternative certification program] exemption for.”