Mineola school trustees voted their intent for the district to seek a renewal of the District of Innovation (DOI) status for MISD last week.

The program was put into place by the Texas Education Agency to give public school districts more flexibility to help level the playing field with charter schools, Superintendent Cody Mize explained.

He said about 80% of school districts in the state have DOI plans in place. Mineola was among the first to join after the program was started, beginning with the 2016-17 school year. The plan is good for five years and must be renewed.

By voting to approve the intent, the board gave district leaders the go-ahead to continue working on a new plan, which they will review at the May 17 board meeting and consider for final approval at the June meeting.

As board President John Abbott said, the district got off track with its plan. There is a lot of reworking that needs to be done, he said.

Among the benefits to becoming a DOI is the ability to set the school start date. Otherwise districts cannot start before the fourth Monday in August. (Mineola plans to start Aug. 11, 2021.)

It also gives districts the ability to locally certify instructors, which is helpful for career and technical education (CTE) courses where the instructor may be an industry professional who does not hold a teaching certificate, and finding someone certified in that field can be difficult. Mineola has a couple of those teachers.

It also allows districts to forego annual appraisals for veteran teachers whose abilities don’t need to be reviewed each year.

And for transfer students, districts that are not in the program must retain transfer students for the rest of the school year once they are accepted, which could be an issue if the student becomes a discipline problem. Under DOI those transfers can be rescinded at any time.

Mize said there are also some financial matters that districts can look at.

The state agency requires districts to jump through a lot of hoops to become a district of innovation, Mize said, and it is a lengthy process. But it is not a qualification process. Districts just have to send in their plans.

The original plan can be viewed on the district’s website.