Bianca Seward/Houston Public Media
Houston community members listen to Daniel Gray, Houston ISD’s deputy chief over college, career and military readiness, speak about a proposal to shutter some on-campus magnet programs during a meeting Jan. 6, 2026, at Heights High School.
Dozens of parents gathered in a Heights High School performance hall Tuesday night to ask questions and voice their concerns over Houston ISD’s proposal to sunset several magnet programs across 10 different high schools in the district.
“This plan has not had any community input and this meeting was only added when we made an uproar,” said Latrice Ferguson, president of the Heights High School PTO.
In December, HISD’s state-appointed board of managers first introduced the idea to close several on-campus magnet programs, including graphic design, entrepreneurship and automotive courses, and instead shuttle affected students to the Barbara Jordan Career Center.
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Parents first read about the proposal online in the December board meeting agenda, just days before the board was scheduled to discuss and vote on the closures. During the public comment portion of that meeting, several parents, students and teachers spoke out against shuttering the magnet programs, which offer specialized instruction and career training.
“This isn’t improving access. It’s taking away opportunities and destabilizing schools,” Micah Gabay said at the board meeting. “When these programs disappear, success becomes harder not because students are trying less but because the tools that help us succeed are gone.”
The board ultimately postponed a vote until Jan. 15 while expanding the proposed list of on-campus magnet program closures from three to 10. HISD also added a week of community information sessions aimed at addressing concerns and getting feedback.
At the information session Tuesday night, the first of several scheduled throughout this week, parents raised questions about the logistics of shuttling students to and from the Barbara Jordan Career Center. They also expressed worries about the district potentially underestimating the impact Houston traffic would have on students’ ability to move back and forth from their campuses without missing instructional time.
Jenna Taylor is the parent of a sophomore at Heights High School and a seventh-grader at Frank Black Middle School. At the meeting, she said she’s not against the district investing in the Barbara Jordan Career Center, but says closing the on-campus programs is shortsighted.
“[It] does not make sense for our current auto technology students who can walk across a courtyard to access those classes, to miss 15 to 20 minutes of instructional time, two to three times a week, to bus to Barbara Jordan for the same program that we have here on campus,” Taylor said.
If passed, the magnet program closures would not impact current high school students. The programs would close slowly over the course of three years.
Focus on high-paying jobs
At the board meeting in December and again at Tuesday’s information session, HISD leaders cited labor market data as the reason behind shuttering the programs.
Gillian Quinn, the district’s executive director of career and technical education, led the session alongside Daniel Gray, HISD’s deputy chief over college, career and military readiness.
“We want to make sure that every student when they leave our high schools has choices, and that means that every [career and technical education] program should lead to a living wage job if a student wants to go to college,” Quinn said.
Bianca Seward/Houston Public Media
Gillian Quinn, Houston ISD’s executive director of career and technical education, speaks to community members during a meeting Jan. 6, 2026, at Heights High School. At left is Daniel Gray, Houston ISD’s deputy chief over college, career and military readiness.
While planning for next year’s programs, the district conducted a study in the fall of 2025 using Houston labor market data to determine which career and technical education programs lead to high-wage, high-demand jobs. The study indicated the Houston area supports in-demand and high-paying jobs in the following fields: healthcare, IT, trades, engineering and business. It also showed the current programs for arts and communications did not lead to jobs that met the minimum wage threshold to continue the programs.
Ferguson questioned the rationale behind using the study to justify the programs’ closure, arguing it overlooks the broader purpose of these courses.
“It’s just not well thought out when the only research you’re showing us is what programs are getting the best paying jobs,” she said. “That’s not the only focus of these programs in high school.”
RELATED: Houston ISD is accepting ‘school choice’ applications for 2026-27
The Barbara Jordan Career Center is undergoing an expansion and will soon serve nine schools – all of the schools currently recommended for magnet program closures except for Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy for Young Men. HISD says the transformation will turn the career center into a “modern, future focused hub for innovation and workforce readiness.”
The programs offered include diagnostics and therapeutics, health informatics, pharmacy, automotive, construction management, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, welding, culinary, teaching and training, cybersecurity, networking and manufacturing. New programs set to be offered in the 2027-2028 school year include drone and robotics.
Houston ISD did not provide further comment on the closures. The district plans to send answers to all questions submitted by parents by next Monday.
Enrollment impact?
Christina Witney, the mother of a freshman at Heights High School and a seventh-grader at Hogg Middle School, said she’s frustrated by the proposed closures, particularly the planned elimination of the graphic design program. She says her daughter is passionate about the field and had hoped to pursue it through the on-campus program.
Witney raised concerns about potential enrollment dips. She says bussing students to the Barbara Jordan Career Center will act as a deterrent for families considering coming to Heights High School.
“Families are going to utilize the resources that they have when they don’t have to have their children bussed every day,” Witney said. “If people choose not to come to Heights [then] our per pupil drops, funding drops. That is how it affects my students. That’s my concern.”
During the presentation, Witney called out to the presenters over the crowd to urge them to delay the vote. She said she believes the proposal lacks foresight.
“I hope they surprise me, and I hope they do take this feedback, and I hope they push back this ridiculous rollout that they’re pushing out right now to at least get their ducks in a row and figure out their stuff,” Witney said.
Taylor agreed the planned vote will come too quickly after this week’s information sessions.
“Tonight was a corporate presentation that had a very specific goal, and it was not to listen to the parents,” Taylor said. “It was to tell us what they were doing, which is not community engagement.”