Districts of Innovation (DOI) are traditional Texas public school districts that adopt a locally developed “innovation plan” to operate with some of the flexibilities available to open-enrollment charter schools while remaining under local board control. These districts keep their status as public school districts but may claim exemptions from certain sections of the Texas Education Code that they believe inhibit their locally defined goals.
- DOIs were created in 2015 by House Bill 1842, which added Chapter 12A to the Texas Education Code.
- To qualify, a district must generally have an acceptable accountability rating and follow specific statutory procedures to adopt a local innovation plan.
The 89th Legislation (2025) made some changes to DOIs. If your District is a DOI and you have not checked out the updates, or your District is considering checking out the requirements, TxSP has just added a DOI protocol in our District Operational Section.
