Houston ISD trustees voted Thursday to end the district’s contract with Teach For America, an organization that places high-performing college graduates from non-traditional teaching backgrounds in classrooms.

In recent years, about 35 Teach For America corps members joined the district annually, committing to a two-year program. Corps members are HISD employees and earn salaries paid by the district, though they cost HISD an additional $3,000 to $5,000 in fees related to recruitment and support.

Board members voted 4-4 on a motion to continue the contract, with a majority vote needed to support its renewal. Trustees approved the contract in 2018 by a 4-3 vote, but the outcome swung this year with Board President Diana Dávila flipping from “yes” to “no” on Thursday.

Opponents of renewing Teach For America’s contract noted corps members are less likely to remain in the district long-term than educators certified through more traditional methods. Some trustees also quibbled with the fees paid to Teach For America at a time when educators across the district are receiving modest salary increases.

“TFA is an organization that is problematic,” HISD Trustee Elizabeth Santos said. “It deprofessionalizes teaching, increases turnover and undermines union organization. We should not subsidize TFA with extra dollars. They should not have special privileges over alternative certification paths.”

Dávila, who had voted each of the past three years to renew the district’s contract with Teach For America, did not speak about her vote or respond to a request for comment Thursday. Ahead of last year’s vote, Dávila said Teach For America corps members “are making a difference” and “we need to not let these partnerships end.”

Trustees Sergio Lira and Jolanda Jones also voted against renewal.

Mika Rao, managing director of communications and public affairs at Teach For America in Houston, said the organization is “really disappointed” by the vote.

“We feel like this is a time of great uncertainty, and renewing the contract would have been a great driver toward the district’s commitment to equity,” Rao said.

The organization’s 31 corps members finishing their first year in HISD schools can remain employed by the district through 2019-2020, Rao said. She added that Teach For America officials were not notified in advance of Dávila’s vote or her reasons for it. Nearly 300 former corps members who completed their two-year term in HISD still work in the district, Rao said.

Trustees Wanda Adams, Sue Deigaard, Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca and Rhonda Skillern-Jones voted to renew the contract, while Trustee Anne Sung abstained.

“We tend to have a teacher shortage every year,” said Flynn Vilaseca, a Teach For America alumna. “This allows principals the opportunity to be able to hire through this route.”

HISD did not place Teach For America corps members in selected schools, but rather allowed principals the option of hiring the prospective teachers. The additional fees were paid out of the district’s campus-level allocation, which gives principals wide discretion over spending at their schools.

A 2016 study commissioned by Teach For America and conducted by American Institutes for Research showed about 90 percent of Texas corps members remain in their districts for two years, compared to nearly 80 percent of non-members. However, Teach For America educators are far more likely to stop teaching in Texas after their two-year commitment.

A 2019 study by the Center on Research & Evaluation at Southern Methodist University found Texas students have been fractionally more likely to pass state standardized test when taught by a Teach For America corps member.

Teach For America also partners with Aldine, Fort Bend, Klein and Spring Branch ISDs in the Greater Houston area.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

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