HISD’s Bond Failure: The Value of Customer Value

Opinion by Vikas Mittal

On Tuesday, November 5, voters defeated the $4.4 billion bond proposal for Houston ISD by a 58% to 42% margin. The bond would have ostensibly enabled HISD to renovate and upgrade schools and improve technological capability.

Since the State-appointed leader, Superintendent Mike Miles, implemented the New Education System (NES) at more than 100 HISD campuses, test scores in reading and math have improved, the number of D- and F-rated NES schools has declined from 63 in 2023 to 14 in 2024, and the number of A- and B-rated schools has increased from 93 to in 2023 to 170 in 2024. Citing these gains, well-funded advocacy groups like Good Reason Houston, Environment Texas, and Greater Houston Partnership vigorously supported the bond.

It should have been an easy sell to residents and taxpayers. Except it wasn’t. And for good reason.

At board meetings, parents and teachers were—at best—torn in their support of the bond. Public voices like the Harris Country Democratic and Republican parties, the Houston Chronicle, and the Houston Federation of Teachers denounced the bond citing a lack of trust in management and a need for better engagement, transparency and accountability with the public.

My research on customer value in educational institutions points to two reasons why the bond might have failed.

First, organizations with long-standing histories of dissatisfying customers period after period cannot expect to win customer confidence with one or two instances of success. As an example, if an airline’s flights have been almost always late in arrival time for multiple quarters, it cannot expect customers to be very satisfied if some of its flights arrived on time one quarter. To convince customers that it is serious about creating value, the airline will have to show a consistent and sustained record of on-time arrival over multiple quarters. It’s the same with HISD’s customers, i.e., the parents and guardians of children.

Without question, the turnaround results are laudable. Yet, the long-standing history of underperforming schools and mismanagement at HISD does not inspire customer confidence with one round of good performance. HISD needs to develop a consistent and sustained record of academic achievement to earn its customers’ confidence and demonstrate its intent and ability to create long-term value for them.

Second, my research with 10,000 parents nationwide, shows that customer value in K-12 contexts is multifaceted. While 29% of value for customers comes from teaching, academics and learning, 39% comes from administration and staff, as well as family and community engagement, with another 15% coming from safety. Districts that excel on all three drivers have highly satisfied customers who re-enroll in—and recommend—the schools, in addition to children having higher test scores. Currently, HISD’s gains in teaching, academics and learning addresses only 29% of customer value, with 54% of the work left undone.

In summary, a school district that addresses less than one-third of value for its customers and does not have a sustained history of doing so, is not going to inspire customer confidence.

The path forward for HISD is multipronged. First, it must build on and embed its gains in student achievement for multiple periods. Families need to be assured the current gains are sustained, not transitory. Second, as its leaders and advocacy organizations celebrate HISD’s gain, they should have the patience and humility to foster engagement and trust with families.

Third, and most critically, HISD should focus on family and community engagement. This is not about public speeches, school tours or distributing donuts and tchotchkes. Rather, my research provides specific execution levers for excellence: administration being easy to contact, going the extra mile to help parents, keeping parents informed about important issues, providing parents avenues to give input in important school policies, encouraging parents to attend student classrooms, the administration’s respect of families’ opinions and clear explanations of how children are assessed.

If HISD’s customers are cautious about giving billions of dollars to an institution that is not creating long-term value for them, the outcome is not “unfortunate or wrong.” These same customers approved a $1.89 billion bond in 2012 with a two-third margin. Organizations cannot succeed by rebuking their customers.

Only after a sustained track record of academic success and positive community and family engagement in safe schools will HISD earn its customers’ confidence. We all want the best for HISD, a treasured organization for Greater Houston. Under Superintendent Miles, HISD’s journey to successfully serve its community is only starting and we are grateful for his leadership.

Author Bio

Dr. Vikas Mittal is the J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Management and the faculty director of Rice’s Center for Customer-Based Strategy and Execution. He enabled senior executives at more than 200 organizations develop and implement strategy. He is the co-author: FOCUS: How to Plan Strategy and Improve Execution to Achieve Growth (2021) and the Strategic Decision Making: Learnings & Reflections (2024).