Three Charter School Heads, which are one of the highest paid in Texas, oversees some of the lowest areas in the state recently published records. One of them risks closing by the end of the school year.
As also Investigation PROPUBLICA and Texas Tribune Earlier, they showed that the members of the Council in state schools paid the head of Salvador Kavazo up to $ 870,000 annually in recent years, about three times, which reported publicly in the state and on their website. The two other areas covered by the editorial boards, the Academy of the Faith and the Gateway, also substantially underestimated the compensation paid by their top leader.
The state has determined that all three of these areas have been unsuccessful or almost reducing the level of work in recent years. The rating, published last month by the Texas Agency for Education, also shows that the statutory schools are most of the areas that have repeatedly had “unacceptable” results, although they make up a small part of public schools across Texas. The agency has published two -year ratings accountable for state and statutory schools, which were previously understood from the trials.
Family Academy of Faith, Dallas District with two campuses, was one of the eight charter The third consecutive rating “F”. The Council members paid the Molly Molly Molo Peak Moly Molly 560,000 compensation in recent years to manage the county with about 3,000 students.
Education experts said they were worried that low charter networks that have been discovered in the editorial staff will invest such great funds in compensation for the chief, not in areas with more direct influence on students’ achievements.
“I do not know what indicators the advice is to say that this is a productivity that guarantees such a payroll,” said Tony Templeton, a research associate of Houston. “What we know from academic literature is when you are giving resources closer to students, students are most beneficial. And the head’s position is important, but it is quite far from children.”
The law on the “three strokes” provides for the state education agency to automatically close the charter school district, which has not repeatedly meet the efficiency standards.
Heads of schools have a 30-day window to challenge ratings with the State Education Agency when they believe there were mistakes. Then the state will release the final results in December, which will determine whether the campus will be closed.
Carrie Bikestaf sent four of five children to school at the Faith Family Academy, but pulled most of them after kindness. She said she was shocked and upset when she learned about the payments of the Perselle Moshli area with PROPULICA and The Tribune. At her Children’s School in Waxachach, south of Dallas, Bikestaf noticed crowded classes and considered that the teacher lacked experience and left the school with a high rate. She was surprised that the chief was paid so high.
“I had the impression that funding was a problem,” Bikstaf said in an interview.
Perselle Moseli and Family Academy Vera responded to repeated requests for comment, and in August 14th letter For parents and staff, posted on the school website, she stated that the district planned to appeal the state rating. “While this rating is disappointing on the face,” Persella wrote, “we want our community to know that we conducted a thorough review of our performance data – and we firmly believe that our true score for 2025 reflects a solid C.”
Another small statutory area in Dallas, Academy -Charter, has two blows on it after receiving The combination of “F” and “D” ratings Over the last three school years. If another low score will receive another low score next year, it will also be forced to close two of its campuses serving about 600 students.
State education records show that the gateway was suffered from trade, and 62% of its teachers have left the area in recent years. The district paid $ 10,000 to teachers less than average across the country, paying Robbie Moore in 2023, more than $ 426,000, reports Tax documents – Almost double the base salary of $ 215,000.
Gateway and Moore did not respond to comment requests. Once he originally addressed the editorial offices about previously undisclosed compensation, the county posted a New document On its site, which lists the 75,000 dollars bonus.
Although there are no state rules that limit how many school districts can pay their leaders, state legislators have tried to change it for years. Legislators submitted at least eight proposals during the last regular legislative session that would restrict the payment and the release of administrators in state and statutory schools, but no one has passed. This included a bill, which was the author of Senator Adam Hinhos, a Republican from the corps of Christie, who would limit the income of the chief twice as high as the higher teacher in the county.
Hinojosa submitted another bill during a special session, which began in July, which would allow the manager to earn three times more than the teachers of higher payments if their county received a “A” rating. But if the county received the rating “D” or “F”, the profits of the chief may not exceed the profits of higher teachers. The measure was unable to get to the Committee for discussion.
“If the teachers are held accountable for the results of the students, the administrators should also be,” – said in the statement of Hinoos.
Although Valere got Rating “D” over the past two yearsHis Council offered Cavazos hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on the top of his basic salary, making it one of the highest paid heads of state schools in the country, an investigation into Popublica and Tribune.
A few weeks after the editorial staff published their findings, the state legislators and the propaganda group, which provides the statutory schools, strongly criticized the compensation of Kavazas, urging the area to reduce the remuneration and tie it to certain indicators. The State Education Agency opened the investigation into each of the three statutory schools mentioned in history that are “open and continue,” the agency’s press secretary said.
In a written answer to questions on this story, state schools said that it did not intend to appeal the last rating of the district and continued to defend the high salary of Kavaz, stating that it was justified by his “experience, fulfillment and participation in the fundraising.”
The council said he did not feel that the coffee press compensate for other priorities of the area and did not agree that Valere was one of the lowest districts in the state. His response cited the speed of graduates who are slightly higher than the average but did not affect the low test points that transferred the “D” rating.
Council members did not say whether the payment would be on one level in the future but pointed to it contract For the current academic year, which lists the basic salary of $ 285 887, as well as a “scholarship” of $ 20,000 a month, after taxes, which probably doubles its basic salary. The scholarship, which was revealed this year earlier this year, has not appeared in the annual Kavazos employment letters before.
Bringing charter schools to justice
Texas’s rating system was created in 2017 and uses metrics such as standardized test scores to evaluate each area and campus on students’ achievements, progress at school and success with the closure of socio -economic gaps in achievements.
New ratings come after a long legal battle between the Texas State School and Tea on changes in the educational agency’s rating system. Districts Twice Sued Mike Morath, The Tea Commissioner, To Stop The Release of Scores After the Agency Announced Plans to Revamp The System in 2023. The Lawsuits Succsive Kept the Score This spring, when a state appeals Court Overturned a ruling in favor of the districts, setting the Stage for the release of Performance Ratings for the 2022-23 School years AUGUST AFTER A SEPATION DECISION BY THE SAME APPLATION COURT.
Ratings are affecting the statutory schools and traditional state schools. The traditional state school district may potentially face the state intervention after one of its campus receives five years of unsuccessful ratings. New tea records show that there are five such areas. For comparison, the state is obliged to automatically close the entire charter area, which receives three years of unsuccessful points.
Proponents often indicate the “three strikes” law as evidence that statutory schools adhere to a higher level of efficiency standards than public schools.
The regulation, which was introduced in 2013, is one of the many fences that has been created since the 1990s allowed statutory schools with much less state supervision than public schools. For example, charter schools were initially protected by counters and laws on conflicts, while reports of self -government and income were gradually pushing the legislators to act.
Brian Witley, a press secretary of the Texas State School Association, said in Texas there are statutory schools “more accountable, faster” if they do not meet performance expectations, including through automatic closure.
Private schools plan to get a similar level of protection against laws regulating how traditional public schools spend their money: according to a landmark bill on vouchers at the legislation school, the state plans to send at least $ 1 billion to private education in the coming years. Previously this month Investigation PROPUBLICA and The Tribune More than 60 cases of kumov, self -government and conflicts of interest in Texas’s private schools have been identified, which would probably violate public laws if schools were publicly available.
Such types of conflicts of interests and family business were distributed at least two of the three charter areas that made payments to their leaders.
Records show that the Academy -Charter hired staff associated with administrators, including walls. According to Gateway 2017 financial audit, Moore also married a “training coach” this year. The records show that the coach’s compensation increased from $ 75,000 to $ 221,000 during the 2022-23 academic year, after she received the post of curriculum development director. She did not respond to comment requests.
According to the bond documents, at the Faith Faith Family Academy Academy, Jin Lewis, one of the members of the founder who hired the percelum of Moshli and examines her performance, also her uncle. Lewis’s wife also sits in the Council of a separate subject who oversees the area, reports the tax filing of the Faither Academy Academy.
Lewis and his wife did not answer the requests for comment.
Whitley said his group supported a number of legislation for more responsibility for the statutes.
“We are firmly convinced that all public schools, including state statutory schools, should be transparent and good steward with taxpayers,” he said in a statement.
