HISD Plans to Cut Magnet Programs for High-Wage Careers

Houston ISD Considers Ending Magnet Programs in Response to Workforce Demands

Houston Independent School District (HISD) is considering ending some of its popular magnet programs at three high schools—Heights, Northside, and Kashmere—and redirecting students to the district’s Barbara Jordan Career Center. This decision comes as part of a broader initiative to align education with workforce needs, but it has raised concerns among parents, teachers, and students about the potential loss of arts-focused programs.

In January, HISD's state-appointed Board of Managers will vote on whether to phase out its graphic design magnet program and other courses at these three campuses. If approved, new students would no longer be able to enroll in certain on-campus programs that the district claims do not lead to "high-wage, high-demand jobs." Instead, the district wants to encourage students to attend the Barbara Jordan Career Center for career-focused education.

This proposal follows a study conducted by the Education Strategy Group, which was hired by HISD and the nonprofit Contigo Ed to evaluate how well the district’s career and technical education (CTE) programs align with regional labor market data. The study came after Good Reason Houston, an influential local education nonprofit, found that less than 20% of Houston-area students earn a living wage six years after graduating from high school.

The board of managers was originally set to consider the proposal in December, but the vote was postponed until January 15 to allow for several community information sessions. Despite this delay, many parents and teachers remain concerned that beloved arts-related programs could be eliminated.

"These classes weren't chosen because they guarantee high-paying jobs. They were chosen out of genuine academic interest, creativity, and curiosity," said parent Melanie Gehman at the December 11 board meeting. "HISD is taking a successful, high-interest program and stripping it down, which will only drive enrollment down next year."

Arts Programs at Risk

According to the study, the top industries in the region are health care, government, retail, food services, and construction. Entertainment and recreation ranked as the 16th largest sector, while the arts came in as the 11th-highest growth industry for Houston.

In Texas, schools can offer dozens of programs of study under 14 career clusters. HISD currently offers programs in all 14 areas, including entrepreneurship, networking systems, engineering, graphic design, and digital communications. The study recommended that HISD end some of its arts, audio/visual, and communications courses and expand other programs to better align with economic demands.

"From a living wage perspective, (graphic design) was significantly lower than the other programs," said HISD’s chief academic officer Kristen Hole. "The number of open jobs in the Houston market also did not meet the threshold that we would want to ensure students can get a job when they leave us."

Under the proposal, at least two programs at each of the three schools would be phased out, including graphic design at all three schools, entrepreneurship at two of them, and web development and lodging and resort management. Students currently enrolled in seven other programs, like automotive and engineering, at their respective campuses would be bused to the Barbara Jordan Center for their career classes.

Popular Programs and Parent Concerns

The graphic design program alone enrolls more than 450 students across the three affected campuses. By comparison, fewer than 100 students at each school currently attend the career center. Under the proposal, programs serving nearly 1,000 students could move off campus next school year.

Ivonne Aguirre, a parent, shared how her son used his skills from Heights’ graphic design program to manage the baseball team’s social media accounts. Now a freshman at Texas A&M University, he continues to use those skills to produce graphics for several of his clubs.

"I think it should be more widely pushed, instead of eliminated," Aguirre said. Hole said HISD hopes to embed graphic design skills into some other programs of study.

CTE Plans and Community Concerns

By sunsetting certain programs, the district said it could bus more students to the Barbara Jordan Career Center. According to the study, the center will offer 15 programs under five career clusters: health, trades, human services, information technology, and engineering.

"When a program is sunset on a campus, all of those students would still be able to access all of the programs at Barbara Jordan, including many, many new ones that we'll be adding to the space," Hole said.

However, Heights parent Christina Witney worries that transporting more students off campus could disrupt their learning environment and cause fewer students to choose those programs or the schools themselves.

"It's not just the sunsetting of programs. It's also removing easy access," Witney said. "It's incredibly disheartening and disappointing to hear."

Since 2023, Superintendent Mike Miles has advocated for aligning students' education to the year 2035, including expanding career and technical education facilities. The district's failed 2024 bond included plans to build three new CTE centers, totaling $375 million. In November, the board approved a scaled-down version of that plan—more than $180 million in revenue bonds to build and equip a new career and tech training center.

"The goal was to get kids ready ... for the year 2035 environment, which requires upgraded programs of study in high school and a robust career tech ed center," Miles said. "We're behind the curve ... so we're trying to move faster."

Parent LaTrice Ferguson said she worried HISD was rushing to overhaul its programs to justify building a new career center. In 2024, HISD's appointed board made a policy change, requiring extensive community engagement, analysis, and research-backed studies before the HISD administration could make changes to magnet programs.

The latest proposed changes were part of a broader review of career and technical programming, and more programs could be sunset to "align with labor market data," according to the board agenda. HISD plans to offer community information sessions at all 10 schools that bus students to Barbara Jordan from January 6–9.

Still, Ferguson worries that community engagement is too little, too late for decisions that could bring sweeping changes.

"It is very obvious in that proposal that they plan to sunset many of these programs under the guise of them not producing high wage and high-demand occupations," Ferguson said.