Dive Brief:
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Houston Independent School District is asking local businesses and organizations to "adopt" its remaining low-performing schools, which could include making donations for principals to use at their discretion or for specific district-chosen initiatives like literacy and college access. Sponsorship would also cover support for events like teacher appreciation lunches, student celebrations and campus cleanup days.
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Texas' largest school district had 197 A and B-rated schools out of 273 total schools in the 2024-25 school year as a result of the state's ambitious takeover — a sharp reversal of when there were 121 D and F-rated schools at the start of the turnaround efforts in 2023. There are 64 schools that remain with a C or D rating, according to state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles.
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Alex Elizondo, spokesperson for HISD, said in a press conference last week that the sponsorships are meant to show that community organizations are "the wind in the sails of the 64 schools that have a lot of work to do this year to make sure that they can achieve that A or B rating."
Dive Insight:
School sponsorships by local organizations or businesses are not new, according to Marguerite Roza, an education finance research professor at Georgetown University and director of the Edunomics Lab.
However, what districts mean by "sponsoring" a school often changes based on the district. "There's a million varieties of this, but they're all packaged in different language," said Roza.
Schools often seek sponsorships from local sources like sports teams, hospitals, hotel franchises, banks and churches.
In another recent example, Illinois' Decatur Public Schools is hoping its Adopt A School program expands from events like luncheon sponsorships to also supporting student academics directly through initiatives like helping with reading instruction.
However, Houston's recent ask comes as a state takeover and related turnaround efforts push forward. The request for sponsors for remaining low-performing schools comes as Miles has promised that all schools in Texas’ largest district will fall into A- and B-rated categories by 2027.
"This is the biggest goal and challenge that any urban district has ever made," said Miles. "Sometimes when you're losing weight and you have to lose 50 pounds, the last eight pounds are probably the hardest. So it's going to be hard."
Elizondo added that the "main push" behind the adopt-a-school request is "following HISD, celebrating kids, being supportive about 'this big ambitious goal'" that all schools can rank as high-performing.
Although high-income districts have always had the upper hand when it comes to tapping into private sources of revenue, schools from all income levels benefit from it regardless of how big or small the payout, because it builds a sense of community, said Roza.
"It's a good thing for the school to feel like a cause, and when the school feels like the cause, you have this warm feeling for the school," said Roza. "Parents like the school, they want to do something for the cause. So maybe they're trying to create that same warm feeling with the businesses."
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