88R15742 TBO-F
By: Thompson of Harris H.R. No. 486
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The Houston Independent School District was
established 100 years ago, in 1923, in an official act of the Texas
Legislature; and
WHEREAS, The Houston Independent School District, now
enrolling nearly 190,000 students, is the largest school district
in Texas and the eighth largest school district in the United
States; and
WHEREAS, The Houston Independent School District has a long
tradition of taking in and educating all students, including
students displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and students
attending the North Forest Independent School District, which the
Texas Education Agency closed in 2013; and
WHEREAS, The Houston Independent School District won the
Broad Prize in 2002 and 2013 and is the first two-time winner of the
award, which recognizes the public school system with the most
substantial gains in student achievement; and
WHEREAS, The Houston Independent School District, from 2007
to 2020, saw a 30 percent increase in graduation rates and a 125
percent increase in students taking the SAT; and
WHEREAS, The Houston Independent School District, which
created one of its first magnet programs 50 years ago with the first
high school for health professions in the nation, today proudly
offers a robust portfolio of 128 magnet programs at 119 schools,
with programs focused on science, college and careers readiness,
early college, fine arts, International Baccalaureate, language
immersion, and more; and
WHEREAS, The Houston Independent School District in 1927
founded community colleges which later became the University of
Houston and Texas Southern University, and in 1971 the Houston
Independent School District founded the Houston Community College;
and
WHEREAS, The Houston Independent School District's
superintendent, Dr. Rod Paige, in 2001 was appointed by President
George W. Bush to serve as the seventh United States Secretary of
Education and was the first African American to be selected for the
post; and
WHEREAS, With more than 27,000 employees, the Houston
Independent School District is one of the largest employers in
Houston; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas
Legislature hereby commemorate the Houston Independent School
District on the occasion of its 100th year anniversary and extend to
the district's students, educators, and staff sincere best wishes
for continued success; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for the district as an expression of high regard by the
Texas House of Representatives.