In violation of district rules and to the annoyance of several board members, the administration of Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles approved over $870 million in spending during the previous 16 months without the necessary school board consent.
HISD administrators skipped a step intended to offer control and transparency by not bringing the about 130 purchase agreements—all of which were made using a method that permits HISD to forego asking suppliers for bids before the district’s state-appointed board for monthly approval. While a small number of purchase agreements were for consultants, the majority were with district operations, such as equipment rental and school grounds maintenance.
According to a Houston Landing analysis, the purchase agreements’ total potential value for the 16-month period was around $55 million per month, which is almost twice as much as the $30 million monthly average that was approved during the two years prior.
Don’t miss the next big story
To receive the stories you need about the city you love every weekday morning, sign up for The Launchpad.
Miles claimed that HISD administrators did not purposefully conceal any agreements in a video that was uploaded on YouTube on Monday morning. According to Miles, district employees misinterpreted district policy and have now fixed the problem.
We found that we weren’t adhering to all of the procurement review process policies before winter break, Miles said. Board clearance is a crucial step that was overlooked.
In preparation for publishing a report early this week, the Landing sent HISD a list of specific questions regarding the matter on Friday. District administrators were supposed to respond by 4 p.m., but they hadn’t done so yet. Because HISD uploaded the video of Miles’ comments on Monday morning, The Landing was able to publish this piece ahead of schedule.
From Buffalo Bayou Partnership, a message
Visit Cistern Illuminated in Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern this holiday season to experience peace and quiet. Kelly O. Brien, a Houston-based artist and engineer, created a calming sequence of light and sound that transforms 221 concrete pillars above sparkling water.
To learn more about this special Houston holiday event, go to buffalobayou.org.
Houston Landing is grateful for its sponsors.Become one now.
Adam Rivon and Rolando Martinez, two board members, stated that while they were concerned about the policy violation, none of the contracts immediately caught their attention as being excessive.
Rivon, a member of the district’s Audit Committee, said in a statement, “I’m not satisfied because these mistakes make it harder for parents and the community to trust that things are being handled correctly, even though I appreciate efforts to address the issue retroactively.”
According to Miles, the district’s internal auditor examined every unapproved purchase deal and discovered no legal infractions. Going forward, he said, such audits will be carried out on a quarterly basis.
At their December board meeting, HISD administration gave board members a complete list of purchase agreements completed between mid-August 2023 and mid-December 2024 for retroactive approval. The topic was brought up at the meeting without much discussion, and after three hours of being out of the public eye, the board members decided to delay the vote.
Board president Audrey Momanaee stated in December that she had brought the matter on the board’s agenda because she had discovered through staff communications that the board had not seen all expenditures made under HISD’s buying policy.
On Thursday, board members are anticipated to reevaluate their approval of the vendor awards. Since the purchase agreements specify the maximum amount that district officials can spend on a particular expenditure, actual spending has probably been less than $870 million.
A matter of oversight
The problem stems from more than a year of community opposition to Miles, who quickly restructured HISD after being appointed by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath in June 2023.
Miles’ initiatives have typically been accepted by the state-appointed school board of HISD, which Morath established as part of the sanctions against the district and its elected trustees. However, because he failed to obtain the necessary board permission, Miles had to twice rescind proposals involving staff evaluation systems.
All of the unauthorized contracts were carried out through cooperative agreements, which give HISD the authority to choose suppliers from lists compiled by other groups like the Houston-Galveston Area Council and the Texas Education Agency. For numerous projects and significant costs, HISD normally goes through a months-long bidding procedure; nevertheless, cooperative agreements can enable the district to proceed more quickly when necessary.
In the past, board members have routinely and quietly authorized the majority of these contracts every month. But occasionally, they lowered the amount of authorized spending after closely examining the purchase agreements. For instance, before accepting the legislation in February 2020, board members reduced the maximum amount for a cooperative agreement purchase of metal detectors from $3 million to $100,000.
Before the TEA selected a new board, HISD elected trustee Dani Hernandez said, “We definitely talked about certain contracts and asked questions about them.” Ninety percent or more of them would pass in the end. However, we did talk about them.
About two months after Miles was appointed, in August 2023, HISD established a policy increasing the amount that the Miles administration can spend on contracts that are granted through the bidding process without board approval from $100,000 to $1 million. The modification did not, however, affect vendor awards granted under cooperative agreements, which were remained subject to board approval regardless of their value.
However, HISD ceased presenting purchasing cooperative-negotiated spending agreements to the board in September 2023. With the exception of a $1 million contract for education consultant Kitamba MGT in February 2024, they did not present any more to the board for approval until December 2024.
A big or small mistake?
Martinez admitted that he could have examined that policy more thoroughly and realized sooner that purchase agreements were no longer being presented to the board. However, Martinez claimed he was unaware of the problem and that no one in Miles’ administration told him that the contracts were no longer being presented.
It doesn’t seem like a board problem to me. The superintendent has acknowledged the error and accepted responsibility. Martinez stated that it truly falls on them. This presents an operating difficulty. I’m hoping they’ll return to us and say, “This is how we’re going to fix it.”
According to HISD, its procurement team and legal department will collaborate moving forward to prevent future occurrences of the same mistakes.
“We’re taking these actions, and we hope that this error doesn’t occur again,” Miles stated. Our financial situation and budget are unaffected. It has no impact on the classroom.
A member of the District Advisory Committee that advises the management of HISD, Eileen Hairel, expressed her profound worry over the miscalculation. She saw it as a potential setback in HISD’s attempts to withdraw from TEA involvement and as an illustration of bad governance.
According to a statement from Hairel, HISD will only be released from the state takeover if the district and board fulfill the departure requirements outlined by the TEA, which include better board governance. Good administration is based on sound policies and district adherence to them.
Rivon is now concentrating on fixing the problem, strengthening operational difficulties, and rebuilding confidence.
The main concern, in my opinion, is ensuring that our board, workers, and superintendent all abide by the regulations. Then, according to Rivon’s comments, we can continue to concentrate on assisting students in achieving success. Accountability entails repairing issues and informing the public.
Jos Luis Martnez, a data reporter, helped with this report.
The Landing’s Houston ISD is covered by Asher Lehrer-Small. You can contact him directly [email protected] or follow him on Instagram at @by_ash_lson and @small_asheron X.
Republish this narrative
Our stories can be republished in print or online for free.
Republish this article
The Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License governs this work.
