NISD begins District of Innovation process

NISD begins District of Innovation process

NISD intends to seek the District of Innovation (DOI) designation, which is a designation shared with the vast majority of Texas school districts. The District of Innovation concept, passed during the 84th Legislative Session in House Bill 1842, gives traditional independent school districts most of the flexibilities available to Texas’ open-enrollment charter schools. This flexibility allows districts to exempt itself from state mandates that may limit its ability to implement innovative ideas. The potential benefits of becoming a District of Innovation include increased local control to decide which flexibilities best suit local needs, freedom in customizing an innovation plan, and autonomy in that the innovation plan does not require state approval. 

In preparation for seeking this designation, a draft of the District of Innovation plan has been created by a board-appointed committee of parents, community members, business leaders and educators.  For NISD, areas of potential innovation include calendar start date, educator certification and probationary contract requirements, and behavior coordinator provisions. 

The District seeks input from the community regarding its proposed plan which is posted on our DOI website. Feedback can be provided by visiting the linked Google Form.

To learn more about the DOI planning process, go to the DOI webpage here.