University of Houston Charter School

University of Houston Charter School (UCHS) was a state charter primary school located in the Melcher Gymnasium 100 at 3855 Holman Street in Houston, Texas, United States. The school was operated by the University of Houston.^[1] The university operated the school in affiliation with its Human Development Laboratory School.^[2] The Texas State Board of Education chartered the school.^[3] Circa 2002, it was the only school counted by the U.S. Census Bureau as a "dependent school system" (that is, dependent on another layer of government) in Texas.^[4]

University of Houston Charter School
Melcher Gymnasium, which housed the charter school offices
Address
3855 Holman Street Houston , Texas 77204 United States
Coordinates	29.725268°N 95.348197°W / 29.725268; -95.348197
Information
School type	Public elementary
Opened	1997
Closed	2021
Grades	K-5
Gender	Coed
Campus type	state charter school
Website	uh.edu/charter-school/

The school first opened on January 29, 1997.^[5] It was one of the nineteen schools to be granted the first school charters under Texas law. In 2007 it had almost 130 students.^[6] Historically the maximum enrollment was 138.^[3]

The education program emphasized problem solving and was known as "constructivist".^[6] The UH board annually spent $268,000 to operate the school.^[3]

In December 2020 the principal alerted parents that the board would consider whether to close the school, catching some parents off guard.^[7] That month the UH board voted to close the school due to problems with the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas and general financial problems. By December 2020 enrollment was down to 89, and the school had a shortage of employees. The charter was scheduled to expire in July 2021, when the institution would ordinarily have applied for renewal. The school was closed on July 31, 2021.^[3][8]

See also

• Texas portal
• Schools portal

• List of schools in Houston
• List of state-chartered charter schools in Greater Houston