Contracting for Success? An Analysis of Performance Contracts Under Senate Bill 1882 in Texas

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Reforming Education Governance Systems (Table 34)

Abstract

In 2017, the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 1882, which launched the Texas Partnerships initiative, allowing school districts to contract with non-profit providers to operate new charter schools. One critical element to the partnerships is the performance contracts between school districts and the operating partners (OPs) selected to run schools. Applying qualitative data analysis, we analyze the contracts to understand how they conceptualize the relationship between districts and OPs, including the distribution of authority over decision-making. Drawing on theories of education governance, we find that while the partnerships decentralize extensive autonomy over schools to OPs, districts maintain power over many domains, including monitoring and accountability. This suggests that a degree of centralization may be necessary to foster successful decentralization initiatives.

Authors

• Sara Sands Francis, University of Houston

• Fiza Mairaj, University of Houston