Denton ISD wants to keep most of the state-law exemptions it has used since 2022, trim one and drop two that new legislation no longer allows, under a District of Innovation renewal plan going to trustees in a workshop Tuesday.
The district's current plan was renewed on Jan. 11, 2022, and a presentation prepared for the Oct. 27 meeting sets a goal of finishing board action before Jan. 11, 2027. Denton ISD has school resource officer agreements with the town of Little Elm, among other agencies, for its campuses that sit inside the town's jurisdiction, according to a separate item on the same agenda.
What the committee recommended
The district's Educational Improvement Council reviewed the plan on Sept. 28 and voted to recommend renewal with changes, according to the workshop summary. Its recommendations break down this way:
- Seven exemptions renewed without change. They cover setting the district's own first day of school instead of waiting for the fourth Monday in August, letting the district design its own site-based committees and improvement plans, granting course credit based on mastery rather than strictly on seat time, using locally chosen employee appraisal tools, allowing a second probationary year for some experienced teachers and unpaid suspension during serious misconduct cases, negotiating the length of the district's bank depository contract, and keeping the option to evaluate employee health plans.
- One exemption revised. The district would keep flexibility to hire professionals from industry and other fields to teach courses such as career and technical education, STEM, American Sign Language and dual credit using local criteria. The revision removes a parent notification exemption and applies limits from House Bill 2 that take foundation curriculum subjects out of the exemption.
- Two exemptions removed. Both fall under Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code, which House Bill 6 made entirely nonexemptible, the presentation says.
The presentation notes that renewing the plan keeps the authority in place but does not require the district to use any exemption, and that an exemption applies only as far as current law permits.
