Texas has placed an 80,000-student charter school network under conservatorship following investigations into multiple allegations of “financial and operational impropriety.”
The Texas Education Agency appointed two conservators to oversee and direct the charter system, IDEA Public Schools, in a settlement agreement reached with the state, according to a March 6 letter from Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath to IDEA Public Schools’ superintendent and board president, obtained and shared by local media outlets. According to the letter, TEA appointed both conservators to support the charter district’s “improvement of financial systems and controls.”
Some of the conservators’ authority includes managing actions by the charter district and its governance team, facilitating a needs assessment of the district, conducting on-site inspections, helping create a plan to address corrective action concerns, and ordering the board to remove and replace board members if misconduct occurs.
IDEA Public Schools, which operates 143 schools across Texas and its affiliates, must also pay the conservators a $125 hourly rate in addition to covering any related travel expenses. If the charter district does not make timely payments, the letter said, the costs will be deducted from its school funding.
IDEA Public Schools has been under scrutiny by TEA for several years. The agency’s investigation found top leaders in the charter district used public funds to pay for extravagant expenses, including leasing a private jet, according to the San Antonio Report.
The charter district said in a statement that it will return $28.7 million in federal grant funds to the U.S. Department of Education under the settlement, via payments made through December 2026, the San Antonio Report wrote. IDEA Public Schools also touted a range of leadership, staffing and policy changes.
“Before 2020, the priority at IDEA was rapid growth, but there lacked a parallel emphasis on ensuring that the funds fueling that growth were properly administered and documented as required by law,” the charter district’s statement said. “IDEA has since installed new board members and executive leadership, enlarged the staff responsible for grant management and compliance, and strengthened internal controls and auditing procedures.”
More charter oversight?
TEA’s takeover of IDEA Public Schools comes as federal lawmakers debate support for the charter school movement. In a House subcommittee hearing last week, congressional leaders were torn between providing additional funding for charter schools and increasing oversight of the school model.
Nationwide, charter school enrollment increased 9% from 2019 to 2023, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
Amid initial investigations into IDEA Public Schools in 2021, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a statement saying the “very serious allegations” made it a “difficult time for all involved and for the broader charter school community.” While expressing support for IDEA Public Schools, the association also acknowledged financial transparency is a crucial component of stronger charter school laws.
Opponents of charter schools have called for a pause on the “charter experiment” given the findings on IDEA Public Schools. The teachers union Texas AFT released a statement Friday criticizing the charter network.
“We hope the State Board of Education considers these IDEA scandals and the many other examples of Texas charter school mismanagement before approving even one of the 18 new charter school applicants who want to open business in Texas,” the Texas AFT statement said. “Charter schools like IDEA have demonstrated exactly what happens when the public is left out of public schools and why all students deserve schools that are accountable to their needs.”
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