District of Innovation
District of Innovation Background
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. The flexibility derives from the district’s ability 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. On January 9, 2017, recognizing the potential benefits of a District of Innovation designation, the Community Independent School District’s Board of Trustees passed a Resolution to Adopt a District of Innovation Plan to increase local control over District operations to support innovation and local initiatives.On February 21, 2017 the Board appointed a 20 member District of Innovation District Advisory Committee comprised of diverse leaders representing a cross-section of the District’s stakeholders.This DOI Committee met and developed a plan which the Board approved on April 17, 2017.
The Community For Community Committee met several times over the 2021-22 school year to adapt a revised DOI plan, which follows below. A history of the District's DOI plans is at the bottom of this page.