Houston ISD superintendent didn’t illegally funnel state money to out-of-state schools, TEA says

The Texas Education Agency found that checks mailed to Miles’ charter school network in Colorado were eventually deposited into the network’s Texas account. By Jaden Edison Mike Miles, the state-appointed superintendent of the Houston school district, discusses public education at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 23, 2023. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune The Texas Education Agency has cleared Houston school district Superintendent Mike Miles of wrongdoing after he was accused of improperly diverting millions of dollars in state funds to his Colorado charter school system. After reporting from Spectrum News and The Texas Observer prompted calls for an investigation earlier this year, the education agency concluded on Tuesday that neither Miles — who the agency picked to lead the state’s largest school district last year — nor his charter school network, Third Future Schools, “violated any applicable Texas laws,” according to the 29-page investigation report. The investigation found, in part, that checks directed from a partnering Texas school district to Third Future Schools’ Colorado address went there because the Colorado location handles accounting services for the network’s Texas branch, which is run independently. But, the checks were eventually deposited in the Texas branch’s bank account. “Based on...