A new report from Rice University’s Baker Institute found Houston Independent School District is operating 51 schools at under 50 percent capacity. An additional 81 campuses had enrollment under 75 percent capacity.
The report concluded that while many schools are operating below capacity, another 60 HISD campuses exceed 100 percent capacity. An additional 22 schools are above 120 percent.
This imbalance, paired with a $250 million budget deficit and shrinking enrollment, has pushed district officials to consider closing some schools in the summer of 2026.
Districtwide capacity exceeds 200,000 students, yet HISD currently serves only 177,000. According to a plan released by the district, officials are budgeting for a drop of an additional 8,000 students next year.
Over the past five years, enrollment has plummeted by 30,000 students, reducing taxpayer funding tied to student enrollment.
“We have not closed schools in quite a while in this district,” Superintendent Mike Miles told Houston Landing. “Any school that has fewer than 300 students, we are subsidizing. You can’t run that school and break even. We’re losing money.”
Miles’ administration has leaned on reserves, raising questions about the long-term financial health of the district.
The district is also not planning to add any additional schools to the New Education System model in the coming school year, holding the number of NES schools at 130.
NES is part of the strategy to end state intervention at HISD, which is currently in a conservatorship by the Texas Education Agency.
According to the district, the NES model allows for “a centralized team [to] create[s] the daily lessons, which can be customized as necessary, so teachers do not have to spend a great deal of time outside school hours building lessons from scratch.”
Employees at NES campuses are paid more than their colleagues at government schools outside the model.
While plans for shutting down some schools are being considered, the district has not yet released a firm list of schools slated for closure.
