HOUSTON – Houston Independent School District is restructuring its transportation department in the 2025-2026 school year, according to a video posted on its YouTube page.
“We’re really focused on a number of key priorities,” said HISD Chief of Operational Effectiveness Kari Feinberg. “The first is making sure we are doing everything possible to provide reliable, safe and efficient transportation to our students and to our families. We also want to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Feinberg said the district is focused on restructuring staffing at the terminal and departments.
KPRC 2 reached out to HISD to ask what this entails.
A spokesperson told us:
“HISD is not reducing its transportation staff, in fact, we will have a larger team than we do right now. We are changing the roles and responsibilities for a number of positions, so many people will have a different job than they do now. Most of these roles will give our employees more responsibility and increased compensation.”
Feinberg said 125 positions are being closed, but 155 are opening up.
“What we’re hoping is that members who are interested in staying with us for the 25-26 school year, which we hope will be the majority of the folks, will reapply for a new position,” said Feinberg.
We wanted to know more about the changes taking effect. So KPRC 2 reached out to Wretha Thomas, the president of the Houston Educational Support Personnel Union.
“It won’t affect the bus drivers and the bus attendants. It’s gonna affect from clerk all the way up to supervisor, to the top supervisor. They all have to reapply for their jobs,” said Thomas.
Thomas said the last day for 125 workers will be on June 30th and they had until this past weekend to apply for the new positions.
“I’m gonna be standing to make sure that these employees get replaced in their position with a higher pay,” said Thomas.
This current school year, the district reduced the number of school bus routes to 423 from 508 in the previous year.
Many families expressed frustration with the cuts.
Ruth Hoffman-Lach tells KPRC her two goddaughters who attend Whidby Elementary School were impacted by the cuts.
“Even though their mother works an hourly wage and is barely making ends meet, she has to pay somebody to drive them to and from school because her work hours mean that she can’t take them and she can pick them up,” said Hoffman-Lach.
The district did not comment on whether additional routes are being cut from the upcoming school year but said the changes “will allow us to build routes and oversee drivers and terminals more efficiently, and this will improve transportation service for students and families.”
Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
