School districts in San Antonio were quick to embrace partnerships with outside groups under Senate Bill 1882, passed nearly a decade ago to formalize and incentivize these deals.
But those partnerships can change with different leadership, shifting priorities and school choice trends.
The San Antonio region alone holds nearly a third of the state’s 115 schools under 1882 partnerships, which means outside groups like nonprofits, universities and charter networks are running those schools as part of traditional public school districts.
San Antonio Independent School District and Edgewood ISD were the first in the area to take the plunge after SB 1882 went into effect in 2018.
Now, SAISD operates 26 Texas Partnership schools — more than any district in Texas — and Edgewood ISD has five. Harlandale ISD and East Central ISD also have 1882 partnerships. Meanwhile, the area’s nearly dozen other districts have rejected or avoided the option.
Some of those partnerships are brand new, only going into effect this school year, but some of those have stood for nearly a decade. The point of them is to stand up innovative models, potentially attracting students from outside the traditional school boundaries.
San Antonio ISD
On top of pulling in additional state funding, 1882s have the incentive of pausing the effect of low school accountability ratings. School districts often pursue these partnerships as Hail Marys to avoid state intervention if a campus has been academically failing for years.
This year, SAISD and Edgewood took advantage of this workaround and entered into 1882 contracts with Third Future Schools, a nonprofit education network known for quickly turning failing schools around.
During a board meeting on Monday, SAISD’s administration plans to make recommendations on whether to continue or end partnerships at 11 of its campuses, including schools under San Antonio-based CAST Network, the Texas Council for International Studies, Young Women’s Preparatory Network, the University of Texas at San Antonio and Public Montessori in Action International.
Some of those campuses were put on probation last year after getting a failed academic rating. District officials have said they would factor community input into whether to continue.
“The district is taking into consideration what parents want for their children, and then we’re working in collaboration with the partner to keep them in good standing with TEA and the achievement piece,” said Melissa Alcala, an instructional superintendent at SAISD who oversees 1882s.
SAISD also has one autonomous in-district charter school, Cotton Academy, that’s not partnered with an outside group.
Last year officials decided to revoke autonomous in-district charter status from Poe Middle School, opting instead to turn it into a “resource campus,” a turnaround school model that draws down extra funding from the state to hire master teachers, add school days and implement a new curriculum. Unlike a Texas Partnership, this model does not pause accountability and school districts don’t often use it.
Other than Third Future Schools, SAISD entered into a partnership this year with Texas A&M University-San Antonio to operate Young Men’s Leadership Academy, an in-district charter that went without a partner for several years.
The district’s longest-standing 1882 partnership, at Stewart — also one of the state’s first academic turnaround partnerships — went through a name change and rebrand (to Unity Prep at Stewart) going into the 2026-27 school year, but the contract and benefits remained.
SAISD puts out a call each year for more partnerships, and more than a third of its schools have an 1882 partner, specializing in everything from academic turnaround to dual language and college prep.
Edgewood ISD
Edgewood ISD, a smaller school district that has also operated a high concentration of partners, is slowly cooling off 1882s.
Last year, the district mutually ended its partnership with A&M-San Antonio at Gus Garcia Middle School. Officials also ended contracts with the Texas Council for International Studies at Las Palmas Leadership School for Girls and Roy Cisneros Leadership School.
The previous year, Edgewood terminated its contract with Friends of P-TECH at Brentwood Middle School, which is now under Third Future Schools.
“We have hit the pause button because we need to ensure that we’re going to be ready as a district with the autonomy, the authority, to be able to do what we need to in terms of what the community needs and what the district needs to be whole,” said Theresa Salinas, assistant superintendent of academic services.
Salinas said Edgewood’s partners have helped the district increase its own skills and capacity to support unique learning models on its own, so while partnerships might end, the focus on offering something unique stays.
Edgewood has a different partnership with A&M-San Antonio with Burleson School of Innovation, a campus for young adults with learning disabilities.
The district also maintains two partnerships with Pre-K 4 SA at its Gardendale campus and a Learn4Life campus, operated by a California-based network that specializes in flexible education for high schoolers who might need more support than a traditional high school offers.
Edgewood does not publicly review its 1882 partners like SAISD does. Officials say in-district charters are formally reviewed every year.
San Antonio partners
Most of the 1882 partnerships in San Antonio are operated by local groups and universities.
These include higher education institutions like UT San Antonio, which specializes in dual language models, San Antonio College and St. Phillip’s College, which provides early college credit, and A&M-San Antonio, which operates a number of different models.
Texas A&M-University got its 1882 start with Edgewood ISD and recently expanded to Harlandale ISD, running an alternative education program at the Frank M. Tejeda Academy. The university is also operating Young Men’s Leadership Academy in SAISD, an all-boys college preparatory school.
Other San Antonio-based partners include PreK 4 SA, the city-funded early childcare and education program, and CAST Schools, a nonprofit that operates career-themed schools.
Pre-K 4 SA’s only 1882 partnership is with Edgewood, while CAST operates five partnership campuses. CAST also operates a magnet program out of a high school at Northside ISD called CAST Teach and helped open a new school with Southwest ISD called CAST STEM.
Future of school choice
While the recent midterm election shifted state control to Democrats who have vowed to undo Texas’ severe school accountability system and end a trend of state takeovers, the changes could take a while to take effect, and the state Senate is still under GOP control.
Judson ISD recently adopted a policy that would set up a pathway for 1882 schools — but only because the district has a school that’s gotten four failing ratings in a year.
Judson’s interim superintendent Ann Dixon said it gave her “heartburn” to make the recommendation, but it was better than a potential state takeover triggered by the failing school.
While SB 1882 often gets criticized by pro-public education and progressive groups, newly elected Democrats haven’t mentioned it as one of the education laws they want to go after, instead focusing on school vouchers, public education funding and standardized testing.
As districts beef up choice programs in the hopes of attracting more students, districts have also found ways to offer unique models without handing full control to outside groups, especially when it comes to early college high schools and pathways in technical education.
School districts fund these programs with Learning Acceleration Support Opportunities, grants from the Texas Education Agency for innovative school model curriculum, recruitment and extended school days.
Most districts take advantage of these grants to launch student programs, even those that have embraced 1882, but other districts only use LASO grants with less formal partnerships with local community colleges and industry leaders.
Texas can offers thousands in additional funding per student for 1882 partnership campuses, and LASO grants generally offer less. But 1882 contracts require that partners fully take over a campus, putting them in control of lesson planning, hiring and learning focus.
That’s why some school districts have avoided going the 1882 route, even as they try to attract more students with magnet programs and school choice offerings.
Northside ISD’s board briefly considered turning its CAST Teach magnet program into an 1882 partnership last year, but the idea was quickly struck down because it would relegate more control to the partner.
“I believe it is important that we maintain local oversight and accountability for our schools,” said Sonia Jasso, board president at Northside ISD, the region’s largest school district. “While SB 1882 partnerships can provide additional funding, we also have to consider what it means to give up certain operational responsibilities to an outside organization.”
Continued declining student enrollment could also shape how school districts approach partnerships.
That’s also why Edgewood, one of the first in Texas to enter in 1882 contracts, is reevaluating its approach. Like most school districts in the area, Edgewood’s student enrollment has been on the decline for years, which Salinas said is affecting how the district is handling partnership contracts.
“As we continue to look at where we are today, we can’t be in a position where we have to negotiate everything and that’s what happens with partnerships,” she said.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.