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Houston ISD is cutting back on campus-level wraparound resource specialists, who essentially serve as school social workers to help students with unmet basic needs, as it continues to eliminate staff positions across the district while also overhauling the way it provides non-academic services to its most vulnerable students.
Nearly 80% of the district's 183,000-plus students are considered economically disadvantaged, while nearly 6,900 are homeless, according to HISD data. Those types of students benefit from wraparound resource specialists, dedicated professionals who historically have helped students access food, clothing and healthcare, among other services.
HISD, under the direction of state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles, shifted those staffers' focus earlier this school year to truancy and dropout prevention while also reducing the number of employees in its Homeless Services Office from 40 to 12. Texas' largest school district also opened seven new Sunrise Centers, which are resource hubs that provide the same types of wraparound services.
Starting next school year, HISD said it will coordinate student support primarily at the district level and through its eight Sunrise Centers. The district also announced Monday it is expanding a partnership with Hazel Health to offer no-cost telehealth services at every campus.
"HISD is reimagining what it means to meet students' needs in and out of the classroom," Najah Callendar, HISD's senior executive director of external engagement, said in a news release.
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That reimagining entails job losses for many of its nearly 300 wraparound resource specialists. Some of those professionals were among the roughly 170 district staffers who were told during a virtual meeting last week that their jobs would be eliminated at the end of June, according to the Houston Landing.
HISD said in a statement Monday that it is "not commenting on the specific number of impacted employees or positions," while noting that "many HISD departments are seeing a reduction in force" as part of a process that began in January. The district also said it's among many across Texas that are "being forced to make some very difficult budget decisions" because the state's per-student allotment for public schools has not increased since 2019 and federal aid tied to the COVID-19 pandemic is ending with this school year.
More specifically, HISD said its campus-level wraparound supports have in recent years been funded by the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, which will not be available starting next school year. HISD started employing wraparound resource specialists at its schools in 2017-18.
Campus-level support will continue to be provided on an "emergency" basis, HISD said.
"The district is working to keep cuts as far away from kids and classrooms as possible and is continuing to invest in our teachers and leaders," HISD said. "We have a responsibility to deliver excellent instruction for every student, every day they are in school. In addition, we must avoid the fiscal cliff predicted by previous administrations and set HISD up to be financially healthy for the long term."
HISD said staff members whose jobs are being eliminated will have the option to pursue open positions in other departments.
And while a reduction in wraparound resource specialists figures to provide financial relief to a district that has seen an enrollment decline of more than 25,000 during the last four years, HISD is still making significant expenditures on non-academic services. The district invested about $12 million to open the new collection of Sunrise Centers and said the expansion of its partnership with Hazel Health includes a $1.8 million investment.