RSIZ: An innovative partnership for education in rural Texas

What is the RSIZ?

The Rural Schools Innovation Zone (RSIZ) is a nonprofit organization that oversees a regional partnership begun among three school districts in South Texas: Freer Independent School District (ISD), Premont ISD, and Brooks County ISD. In 2023, the RSIZ expanded to include two new school districts: Agua Dulce ISD and Benavides ISD.

Due to the success of this innovative partnership model, Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023 signed bipartisan legislation, House Bill 2209, that established the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program. The legislation aims to help catalyze and fund the further adoption of the model across the state.

What sets the RSIZ apart?

Rural schools seldom have the resources on their own to offer a variety of career and technical education (CTE) and college and career pathways. However, the districts within the RSIZ partnership agree to pool their resources to enhance the college and career pathways available to their students through the operation of five CTE academies spread across all the participating districts. Students residing in any of the districts may participate in college and career pathways hosted by any of the academies. The RSIZ facilitates this cross-district collaboration by creating special schedules for participating students and busing them to neighboring school districts to complete their required coursework.

Additionally, the RSIZ serves as a successful case study for braided funding. By combining resources — including federal and state funds — the school districts have been able to take advantage of economies of scale to increase the number and diversity of offerings available to students, many of which were previously out of reach for each district independently.

Today, due to its success, the R-PEP model has expanded to include two additional innovation zones beyond the original confines of the RSIZ: the Permian Basin Innovation Zone (PBIZ), launched in 2023, and the Falls County Rural Collaborative, launched in 2024 (see map below).

Map of School Districts Participating in R-PEP Programs in Texas

This is the third, and final, installment in this blog series; you can read the first installment here and second installment here.