HOUSTON — Houston ISD on Thursday held its second board meeting since the appointed board of managers took over the duties of the district's elected board of trustees.
Discussion of the school district’s budget was the primary subject of the meeting.
The start of the meeting was mired by disruptions from protesters opposed to the ouster of the former board members.
At least one person was detained by police after he was asked to leave for repeated disruptions.
Some who were not allowed inside the meeting room after all the chairs had been taken tried to get into the room.
The protesters outside were eventually calmed by officers or asked to leave.
Nearly all of those who signed up to speak at the meeting voiced their opposition to the state-appointed board of managers.
One man was told to stop speaking when one member said she felt threatened after the man began to share the addresses of the board members and their places of employment – and the names of their family members.
The focus of the meeting was the school district’s $ 2.2 billion budget.
Superintendent Mike Miles presented his suggestions for where to make cuts.
He proposed reductions to staffing that fall under HISD’s central office but not schools.
Miles said the job cuts at the district office would allow for more positions at the schools.
Miles guaranteed that schools that are doing fine will not see any resources removed and he said schools that aren’t doing well will get additional resources.
He said the price to educate each HISD student has increased by 61% over the past six years.
At the same time, HISD’s enrollment has declined by 27,000 students.
Miles is also proposing reducing the $305 million the school district pays to vendors and contractors by $50 million.
Miles said he believes HISD will be able to grow its enrollment when it shows it can provide students with quality educations.