On October 15, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) released a Special Investigation Report of Findings stating that controversial Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles and others associated with the Colorado-based nonprofit charter school network Third Future Schools (TFS) and Third Future Schools-Texas (TFS-Texas) committed no wrongdoing during the three years when $49 million in state and federal education dollars granted to TFS-Texas were managed by, transferred to, or extracted as fees by the Colorado nonprofit.
The TEA report was prompted by investigative stories published by Spectrum News and the Texas Observer earlier this year, in addition to a letter sent to TEA by state Representative Ana Hernandez following the Spectrum story. The TEA report concluded: “No violations of applicable laws have occurred by either the Partnering Districts or Third Future Schools – Texas.”
But the TEA report did not address some issues raised in the news outlets’ investigations, including: the reasons for a financial deficit run by TFS-Texas, which may have run afoul of agreements with Texas school districts; whether the nonprofits had complied with federal tax reporting requirements meant to ensure transparency and proper spending of public dollars; and whether TFS-Texas had complied with provisions of the Texas Business Organization Code.
