HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Calls for Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles to resign are growing louder amid scathing allegations.
The latest controversy involves a Spectrum News report that accuses Miles of funneling money to out-of-state charter schools. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is committed to investigating.
TEA Commissioner Mike Morath appointed Miles to his current position.
Miles said he welcomes the investigation and hopes it brings clarity to the HISD community.
“Right now, I’m so excited for people to wake up in Houston,” said Jessica Campos, a HISD parent.
Campos added that alarms are sounding everywhere to warn the community of unrest in the district.
One of his children attends Pugh Elementary School and the other attends DeBakey High School.
“The moms are angry. We’re done. We’re finally out there screaming and saying, ‘We’re done with this. This guy needs to go,'” Campos said.
The calls for Miles to be shown the door came just a year after he walked through it.
Various issues led to this upheaval.
THE Spectrum News Report alleges that Miles sent Texas public school tax money out of state to his Colorado charter school network.
Miles forcefully denied the allegations Wednesday, calling the report irresponsibly inaccurate.
The TEA said it would investigate the allegations, but also appeared to defend Miles in a lengthy statement.
“The limited information included in the report does not in itself constitute evidence of embezzlement,” Morath wrote.
However, parents and students interviewed by ABC13 on Wednesday said they were more concerned about budget cuts, layoffs and school restructuring.
“There has been a complete overhaul of the way teachers are allowed to teach, it is completely ineffective in my opinion. They are forced to use specific strategies that do not actually facilitate learning”, Helen Repass, who attends a HISD school in Midtown, said.
Repass is one of dozens of students planning to walk out of school Friday as part of the “Students Against Mike Miles” movement.
“I’m proud of our children because our children are starting to express their opinions about what adults are doing for their future because we are destroying their future,” Campos said.
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