It’s been less than a month since the Texas Education Agency announced a two-year extension of the Houston ISD takeover by Commissioner Mike Morath’s appointed board of managers and Superintendent Mike Miles. If readers were hoping that was the exclamation point on the 2024-2025 school year, think again.
Mike Miles Gets a Raise
This first insult of the extension came in the form an $82,000 annual salary increase and a five-year extension increase to Miles’s contract (yes, that does exceed the takeover extension). The increase — from $380,000 to $462,000 — was voted on by the board of managers, four of nine of which were replaced by Morath as part of the takeover extension. This 21% increase in his base pay also includes the opportunity to earn an additional $231,000 per year using an evaluation system adopted by the board. The increase put Miles high up the list of Texas’s most richly compensated superintendents and is particularly galling as the sound defeat of the $4.4 billion bond last November was a proxy referendum on community confidence in Miles’s leadership.
Undercutting HB 2 Raises
On June 26, Miles announced the 2025-2026 compensation plan for the district. The plan includes a new salary schedule with raises determined by teacher performance rather than years of experience. Retaining experienced teachers was the rhetoric throughout negotiations on Senate Bill 26, which later was folded into House Bill 2 before passage. The new plan is epically unfair to veteran teachers and may not be consistent with published guidance from TEA. As they have since the takeover, our Houston Federation of Teachers members will be battling the district for fair compensation for educators.
Artificially Inflated STAAR Scores
But wait, there’s more. It was reported last week that the “incredible” gains made at some Houston ISD schools on the most recent Algebra I and Biology STAAR may have had more to do with holding back students at lower-performing school than Miles’s controversial New Education System (NES). There is a widespread practice at NES schools of not offering more advanced math and science courses, such as Alegra I at eighth grade, despite some students being prepared for that course. This artificially inflates the number of advanced students taking grade 8 STAAR; a practice that will show improved test scores for the campus and district but does not serve students.
It is clear the next two years will be as tumultuous as the first two were. Our members will continue to show up and be loud because the students, teachers, and staff of HISD deserve no less.