Report: HISD’s Mike Miles funneled tax money from Texas to Colorado

HOUSTON — Texas state lawmakers, local leaders and others want answers, following a new report claiming millions of taxpayer dollars were diverted from Texas to help balance the books of Colorado charter schools founded by Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles.

The money does not involve Houston Independent School District money. The report focuses on the man handpicked to lead the state’s largest district – Mike Miles.

Miles was appointed to lead Houston schools by the Texas Education Agency in 2023. He founded Colorado Charter Schools and other charter schools in Texas under the name Third Future Schools between 2015 and 2020.

RELATED: These are the 9 people named to the HISD board

A recent investigative report from Spectrum News Texas raised questions about how these charter schools were funded. The report said Colorado charter schools were in the red, facing millions of dollars in debt. The report also claims that Texas charters received millions of dollars in taxpayer funding and that Colorado’s Third Future Schools’ debts were offset by Texas money.

The report highlights two checks for more than $1 million sent from Texas schools to Colorado.

KHOU 11 reached out to HISD for a response from Miles. We have not yet received a response.

RELATED: Houston ISD superintendent defends job cuts, blames end of COVID funding, performance reviews

We also requested a response from the TEA, since that is the organization that appointed Miles as HISD superintendent. We are still waiting for a response.

Community Voices for Education has called for a federal criminal investigation into the allegations against Miles. CVPE also called for Miles’ resignation and the cancellation of TEA’s takeover of HISD.

“The results of this explosive investigation should serve as a wake-up call to parents, students and teachers who are not already outraged by Greg Abbott’s takeover of our school system,” said former teacher Ruth Kravetz. in HISD Chemistry and co-founder of the Community for Voices in Public Education. “Greg Abbott opened the door to this type of fraud by installing an unelected board of trustees and putting Mike Miles in charge of our schools. We’ve warned for years that laundering taxpayer dollars and giving it to private schools was part of their plan, and now we have the receipts to prove it. This scheme goes beyond bad policy or governance, it is corruption and we demand a federal investigation into this scheme as well as the immediate resignation of Miles. Houston deserves a public education system led by competent, democratically elected officials who share our values ​​and are in it for the right reasons. We won’t stop fighting until that happens.

In a statement, CVPE called on the community to contact their elected representatives and ask them to request a federal investigation into how Texas public education funds are used. He encouraged community members to speak at the upcoming HISD board meeting on Thursday.

The president of the Houston Federation of Teachers echoed calls for a federal investigation and demanded Miles’ resignation.

“Just days after learning that Mike Miles was laying off hundreds of custodians and librarians and firing popular principals from our schools, we now learn that he is treating our public school system like his own personal piggy bank,” said Jackie Anderson. “Texas’s misappropriation of public funds to consolidate its private charter school company in Colorado constitutes an outrageous betrayal of trust and requires a federal criminal investigation. The corruption in this deal is not limited to Mike Miles: the board of directors is also complicit in this dark scheme by failing to provide oversight and transparency. Greg Abbott’s takeover of our schools has failed. Teachers, students and their families deserve better and in response, we demand the immediate resignation of Mike Miles and the immediate removal of the TEA from HISD.

Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis also shared a statement that read in part:

“It also calls into question every dollar he spent as superintendent. As teacher benefits are cut, libraries are closed, and support staff are laid off, parents and HISD taxpayers deserve a thorough and timely investigation to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used appropriately and ethics.

State Reps. Jarvis Johnson and Gene Wu are also critical of Miles.

Wu posted X: “The level of corruption is truly impressive. »

KHOU 11 spoke with Johnson on Tuesday. He spoke about the Houston Federation of Teachers calling for Miles’ resignation and a federal criminal investigation.

KHOU 11 on social networks: Facebook | X | Instagram | Youtube