A state lawmaker and Houston lecturers are calling for Houston Unbiased College District Superintendent Mike Miles to be investigated after a Spectrum News report revealed that tens of millions in Texas public college tax {dollars} could have been funneled to a failing college in his Colorado constitution college system.
These findings come lower than two weeks after the state-appointed administrator introduced a $450 million hole in funding at HISD — leading to districtwide layoffs for the upcoming college 12 months.
A Texas Training Company spokesperson stated company officers are “conscious of the report and are reviewing the matter.”
Miles didn’t reply to a request from The Texas Tribune for touch upon Tuesday.
In March 2023, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath took over the district with a short lived board of trustees. The said rationale was due to misconduct by the HISD board of trustees and the poor efficiency score of Phyllis Wheatley Excessive College. Three months later, Morath appointed Miles, the previous superintendent of Dallas ISD, as HISD’s superintendent.
Spectrum Information reported on Monday that the Third Future Colleges constitution college community, primarily based in Colorado and based by Miles, was utilizing funds from the community’s Odessa college to offset losses at its Aurora, Colorado college. Miles’ sister now runs Third Future Colleges.
Spectrum additionally reported that Miles obtained $40,000 final 12 months consulting for Third Future Colleges, which was coping with deep monetary setbacks resulting in the closure of a Colorado college and $5 million in unpaid debt.
Third Future Colleges was created in 2016 after Miles left the superintendent’s job at Dallas ISD. The constitution college chain expanded into Texas in 2020, opening three colleges in Odessa, Midland and Austin. The Texas enlargement, in line with Spectrum Information, occurred concerning the time the Colorado colleges had been exhibiting indicators of economic misery.
By the top of 2023, the Texas colleges had already amassed greater than $2.5 million {dollars} in debt, Spectrum News reported in its monthslong investigation.
The information outlet reported that the three Texas colleges obtained $25 million in taxpayer {dollars}. About $15 million went to lecturers and workers. However one other $10 million was listed by Third Future Colleges as unspecified administrative prices. Subsequent public paperwork obtained by Spectrum Information revealed that greater than $2 million went from Third Future Colleges’ Texas operation to assist cowl losses at a Colorado college.
In a letter addressed to Morath, State Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, urged the state company to conduct an investigation to make clear whether or not Texas public college tax {dollars} had been despatched out of state.
“These alleged actions forged doubt on his means to guide HISD and his dedication to offering the perfect schooling for our college students,” Hernandez instructed The Tribune. “Texans deserve transparency, accountability, and responsiveness.”
Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Lecturers, accused Miles of utilizing the tax {dollars} as his personal “private piggy financial institution,” echoing Hernandez’s request for an instantaneous investigation.
“The corruption of this deal stretches past simply Mike Miles – the board of managers can be complicit on this shadowy scheme by failing to offer oversight and transparency,” she stated. “Greg Abbott’s takeover of our colleges has failed. Lecturers, college students and their households deserve higher and in response we’re demanding the rapid resignation of Mike Miles and the rapid exit of the TEA from HISD.”
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