Houston ISD is recommending the closure of 12 schools starting in the 2026-27 school year, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles said Thursday.
He said on YouTube that the closures would impact 11 facilities total, but he didn’t name the campuses in the video. The district will hold meetings at «impacted campuses» and «opportunities to visit new schools and meet staff.»
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HISD has lost 7,900 students — including nearly 4,000 immigrant students — compared to the previous academic year, according to data obtained by the Chronicle. State data shows that the rate of enrollment declines in HISD has accelerated in the first two years of the state takeover, particularly in schools under the New Education System that follow Miles’ targeted reforms.
Several Houston-area districts, including Aldine, Fort Bend and Spring ISDs, are considering — or have already approved — school closures or consolidations for the 2026-27 school year, as schools across the region deal with declining enrollment, lower birth rates, more competition from other school options and tight budgets.
Miles told the board in January that HISD was on track to lose $50 to $60 million every year in state funding due to the enrollment declines «unless things drastically change.»
He then said that the district «was going to have to» look at school consolidations, which could save the district anywhere from $1 to $1.5 million per campus.
HISD has already consolidated Las Americas Newcomer School with Jane Long Academy in October, citing plummeting enrollment at the campus which served new immigrants and refugees.
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HISD has been grappling with how address campuses with low enrollment. In its November 2024 bond proposal, it proposed «co-locating» students at eight schools to seven existing campuses, but the measure failed.
In February 2025, Miles said that school closures «must be considered» because the district had lost 30,000 students in the past decade. In November, HISD abruptly changed course, saying publicly that it would not close schools in the 2026-27 academic year but that some future «consolidations» could be considered.