[6] In the 1920s, at the time Edison Oberholtzer was superintendent, Hubert L. Mills, the business manager of the district, had immense political power in HISD.

[12] The racial integration efforts in HISD, beginning in 1960, were characterized by a lack of violence and turmoil as business leaders sought not to cause disruption.

Local African-American leaders believed the pace was too slow, and William Lawson, a youth minister, asked Wheatley students to boycott school.

During the protests MAEC demanded twenty issues to be resolved and HISD began rezoning school areas within its jurisdiction in response.

[17] At first the district used forced busing, but later switched to a voluntary magnet school program in order to discourage "white flight".

[20] In 1992, the district, under superintendent Frank Petruzielo, massively rezoned Houston schools, moving students from overcrowded ones to underutilized ones.

[27] Nearby Paul Revere Middle School, located in the Westchase district, gained 137 Katrina victims.

Frankie Wong, former president of Micro Systems, and two Dallas Independent School District administrators received criminal charges.

[30] In 2011 the Texas Education Agency ordered the North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) to close, pending approval from the U.S. Justice Department.

[31] On June 13, 2013, the HISD board voted unanimously to absorb the North Forest Independent School District (NFISD).

[36] By 2019 the Texas Education Agency (TEA) had opened an investigation against the school board and ordered a halt to any efforts to recruit a permanent superintendent.

[46] In 2023 the Texas Education Agency announced that it will remove the superintendent and the board of trustees, and therefore begin to directly control HISD.

[47] The Houston Independent School District takeover formally began on June 1, 2023 with the appointment of a new superintendent and board of managers.

[49] HISD focuses on bilingual education of its predominantly Hispanic student body, including recruiting about 330 teachers from Mexico, Spain, Central and South America, Puerto Rico, China, and the Philippines from 1998 to 2007.

[51] Bilingual educational services, as of 2014, are available for Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, Nepali, Urdu, and Swahili speakers.

[90] Governance authority has been shifted to the state-appointed board of managers that primarily resides on the wealthier west side of the school district.

Kaye Stripling took over when Rod Paige headed to Washington, D.C. as part of United States President George W. Bush's administration cabinet.

Terry Grier became the district's superintendent 2009, followed by Richard A. Carranza in 2016 before standing down in order to become Chancellor of the New York City Schools.

[104] The Houston Press published a story about accounting irregularities regarding a program; the State of Texas announced it would investigate the program.[when?]

[108] The district covers territory in nine municipalities and some unincorporated areas in Greater Houston,[109] including:[110] all of the cities of Bellaire,[111] West University Place.

[123] Houston ISD grants school bus transportation to any Houston ISD resident attending his or her zoned school or attending a magnet program who lives 2 miles (3.2 km) or more away from the campus (as measured by the nearest public roads) or must cross treacherous obstacles in order to reach the campus.

HISD has many alternative programs and transfer options available to students who want a specialized education and/or dislike their home schools.

[126] In the 1980s and 1990s increased enrollment of poor, non-English speaking Central American students at some HISD neighborhood schools made them unattractive to White parents.

[130] The current administration building, the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, is in northwest Houston.

[132] It is named after Hattie Mae White, the first African American HISD board member and the first African-American public official in the State of Texas elected since Reconstruction.

[136] The facility was labeled the "Taj Mahal" due to the counter-clockwise circular layout and the split-level floor pattern.

When the district considered cutting a popular kindergarten program for financial reasons, taxpayers voted many board members out of office.

The district sold the former complex for $38 million to a company that demolished the site and developed a mixed-use commercial property; demolition began on September 14, 2006.

[137] Early HISD athletic facilities included West End Park (purchased in 1928) and Robertson Stadium (opened in 1942).

HISD moved several scheduled events to the Mark Anthony Wilkins Pavilion at Forest Brook Middle School.