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Significant changes are underway within the Houston Independent School District including a reduction in the workforce that will lead to hundreds of jobs in the district’s central office being cut.
Superintendent Mike Miles recently announced the job cuts and said, “Reorganizations are hard,” according to a report from KTRK, an ABC affiliate.
The slashing of positions at the largest public school district in Texas is one of the many changes being made by state-appointed leadership since they took over in March.
“This by no means, means that people have not been working hard, or that people aren't doing the job they were assigned to do,” Miles said in a KHOU report. “This is about making sure we 'right-size' central office and also work most efficiently. You've seen in other presentations that the central office numbers and expenditures have increased 61% in six years.”
The cuts will affect the human resources (HR) department and the Chief Academic Office (CAO), KTRK reported. According to the report, 40 HR jobs will be lost while the CAO could lose 600 employees. Vacancies account for approximately 30% of the jobs headed to the chopping block.
Department chiefs are now reviewing organizational charts to see if more positions need to be eliminated, Miles told KHOU, a CBS affiliate. The deadline for the district to meet its employment number goals was July 17, but Miles said reorganization efforts would continue after that date. He said the finance and chief operations offices would be considered next for potential cuts.
Along with reviewing positions to cut, Miles has also introduced a New Education System (NES) reform program since becoming the HISD superintendent after a stint as the Dallas Independent School District superintendent, according to KTRK. The program was initially expected to feature 28 schools but by July 6 60 schools signed up to participate in the program. The deadline for schools to sign up was July 10.