Northwest Houston Community Impact newspaper featured a story on the expansion of charter and private schools as an alternative to public education in Texas. The article cited Harmony as an example of the charter model.
New education choices grow locally
Charter schools offer alternatives
Marie Leonard
November 18, 2011
NORTHWEST HOUSTON — More than 360,000 Texas students attend a private school or a public charter school this year, compared to the nearly 5 million students enrolled at traditional school districts in Texas. However, public charter schools and private schools are expanding and finding a niche in growing communities such as Northwest Houston.
“When you look at charter schools, they are able to be flexible and innovative, and that’s why they were created: to be more adaptive to the communities they were set out to serve,” said Josie Duckett, vice president for public and governmental relations at the Texas Charter Schools Association.
A new public charter school opened its doors Nov. 14 to serve students in grades 9–12 who are interested in gaining two years of college credit by high school graduation. Responsive Education Solutions, which runs more than 20 charter schools in the state, opened the first Houston location of iSchoolHigh, which will be permanently housed at Lone Star College–University Park in January.
“[Northwest Houston] is a growing area, but it’s an area that doesn’t have a lot of educational options,” said Thomas Terry, director of media relations for Responsive Education Solutions. “Anywhere we go, we’re trying to find opportunities to give kids more options.”
A growing need
In 1999, the year the first charter school opened in Texas, there were 66 charter schools in the state, compared to 437 today, Duckett said.
“Texas is the second fastest growing charter state in the country,” she said. “In proportion to traditional school districts, we are still small; [charter school enrollment] is pushing 3 percent of the overall school population.”
There is a cap of 215 on the number of charters that can be awarded in Texas, but multiple campuses may be opened under one charter. However, since more than 56,000 students statewide are on charter school waiting lists, raising the cap will be a major priority for the TCSA in the next legislative session, Duckett said.
“We need that [cap] lifted because there are operators who want to come into the state of Texas,” she said. “Many people have contacted the association who want to come in and fill that demand.”
There are several types of charter schools statewide that serve different purposes, such as dropout recovery, special mission and college preparatory campuses. iSchoolHigh focuses on the college preparatory aspect, which stems from a partnership with LSC–UP.
“In working with LSC, my superintendent figured out there was a need for an early college high school on this side of town,” said Michael Laird, principal of iSchoolHigh.
When iSchoolHigh moves to its permanent location at LSC–UP in January, it will be able to house 150 students. Although students from any zip code in the area may apply to attend public charter schools, Laird said he has received the most interest from students in the Cy-Fair, Klein, Tomball and Spring Independent School Districts.
Array of choices
The state’s largest charter school network, Harmony Public Schools are college preparatory charter schools that focus heavily on math and science. Harmony has more than 10 campuses in Houston, five of which are located in Northwest Houston and opened within the last six years.
“Harmony tends to attract students interested in math and science who want a rigorous curriculum, because they hold students to a high standard,” said Jenifer Sarver, public relations and community outreach coordinator for Harmony.
Draws to charter and private schools may include class size, which can range from 10–15 students, and flexible hours. The Katy location of Calvin Nelms Charter Schools, at Fry Road and Clay Road, serves approximately 300 students from 6–12 grade, and offers flexible hours for older students.
“The [traditional] school districts are doing a fine job, but sometimes a kid needs to be in a different environment where they are safer than they thought they were somewhere else,” said Ron Nelms, superintendent of Calvin Nelms Charter Schools.
Enrollment at Cypress Christian School, a private college preparatory school, has grown by 40 students to 565 total students over the past four years, said Angie Ramirez, admissions director.
“The majority [of students] are from Cy-Fair ISD, although we do reach into the Spring, Klein and Memorial areas,” she said. “Cy-Fair has a wonderful school district, but we are just an alternative. The biggest difference is that everything is taught from a Christian perspective; it’s an amazing education, and I think our end results show that.”
Growth and challenges
Houston Christian High School, which serves 500 students from 55 zip codes, has expanded its campus to include 43 acres over the last decade, and the school’s board of trustees voted in March to begin a capital campaign to build a 35,000-square-foot student center. The new space will include food service, academic and performing arts areas. Although Houston Christian High School has seen an increase in enrollment over the years, the money raised every year from tuition dollars does not cover the entire budget, said Mark Pillsbury, executive director of advancement at HCHS.
“Although, nowhere in Houston is tuition cheap, but it’s quite a sacrifice for families to send their child to private school, so we have to always be sensitive to our parents,” he said.
Harmony, which will continue to expand as long as there is a demand, Sarver said, received a $5 million federal grant in September, which will give Harmony the resources it needs to open seven new campuses in three years.
“To me, one of the most compelling statistics about Harmony is that they have 21,000 kids on a waiting list,” Sarver said. “If you step foot into a classroom there, you can see the students are attentive, very interested and they are there to learn.”
competition. The event was held at Harmony Science Innovation and included schools as far away as Odessa, Texas. Our teams took home top prizes in “Storm the Castle,” “Towers,” “Anatomy,” “Disease Detectives,” and “Mouse Trap Car.” All students received medals from almost all events. These 6th through 9th graders gained much experience working in teams, building working models, and building positive relationships with mentors. These competitions have been especially important in preparing our future engineers and future scientists of the world. We wish all of these students continued success as they apply what they have learned in these competitions to their work in class and to their character as people.
