As state lawmakers consider measures to combat a “crisis” of sexual abuse by school staff, the number of Texas teachers charged with sex crimes continues to grow.
In 2023 and again in 2024, Texas Scorecard covered 100 cases of school employees—teachers, coaches, administrators, bus drivers—accused of sexual misconduct with students and other children.
Charges ranged from sexually abusing students to grooming kids for sex using social media to creating child pornography.
So far in 2025, the epidemic of abuse has not only continued but appears to be escalating, with multiple suspects arrested each week as others are allowed to quietly resign.
“We have a sexual abuse crisis in our public schools in Texas. It’s indisputable, and we can’t look away,” said State Rep Mitch Little (R–Lewisville).
Little commented ahead of a House vote to approve legislation he authored abolishing school districts’ immunity from civil liability when districts are negligent in cases of students sexually abused by educators.
House Bill 4623 and a few other measures to protect students from predatory teachers still have a shot at passing before the legislative session ends on June 2. Other parent-backed proposals to improve school accountability and student safety failed to advance or never received a hearing.
“Bad apples” represent a tiny fraction of Texas educators, yet the system is still failing to protect children from sexual predators who seek access to victims within our schools.
Since the beginning of this year, Scorecard has covered more than 80 stories of educator sex crime allegations, arrests, convictions, and sentencing.
Below are more:
Two Liberty-Eylau ISD teachers arrested in separate sexual misconduct cases last year have had multiple court appearances rescheduled this year.
Liberty-Eylau Middle School teacher Kaija Javee Muldrew, 26 at the time of her arrest, was charged with sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child by sexual contact, and improper relationship between educator and student. Muldrew reportedly contacted the victim, a student in her eighth-grade reading class, via Instagram and text before having sex with him in her car. State records show Muldrew does not hold a Texas teaching certificate. She is shown as “under investigation” on the Do Not Hire Registry of people ineligible to work in a public school.
LEISD special education teacher Raymundo Martinez Jr., 41, was charged with improper relationship with a student and two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. The alleged crimes occurred in August 2023. Martinez is a past Elementary Teacher of the Year. State records show his teaching certificate is under review by the Texas Education Agency.
In February, parents sued Fort Bend ISD, alleging the district failed to protect students from sexual abuse by a kindergarten teacher at Goodman Elementary. District officials concluded the allegations were unsubstantiated, but said the teacher would not return to the school. One parent said she had made allegations against the same teacher the previous year, accusing him of being inappropriate with her daughter.
Community ISD in-school suspension aide Bailey Marie Szarzynski was arrested in February and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony. According to Szarzynski’s resume, she worked for Community ISD from August to November 2024. Court records show the alleged offense occurred on October 29, 2024. Szarzynski was certified as an educational aide in August 2024. Her certificate is currently under review.
An unnamed Melissa ISD employee was fired in February over “inappropriate electronic communication” with a Melissa High School student. Two teachers said they faced retaliation from the district for reporting the relationship.
Also in February, an unnamed Medina Valley ISD high school teacher “resigned in lieu of termination” following allegations of “inappropriate communication” with a student.
In February, local media exposed a La Joya ISD educator, Juarez-Lincoln High School boys’ basketball coach Joseph “Kaz” Kazmierczak, who had recorded videos of himself masturbating on campus and posted them to social media. The district learned about the incidents last July. An internal investigation found the coach violated the Texas Educators’ Code of Ethics and district policy and recommended he be fired. Kazmierczak is no longer with the district, and his teaching certificate is under review.
Kazmierczak’s wife Rut was a sixth grade reading teacher at J.D. Salinas Middle School in La Joya ISD. She was reported to the TEA in 2023 for improper relations with a student, but the agency didn’t open an investigation. Progress Times reported that although the district’s investigation found she violated policy, La Joya ISD allowed Kazmierczak to resign and “promised to refrain from making negative remarks about her to prospective future employers in a separation agreement meant to be secret.” Her teaching certificate is also under review.
An unnamed Lampasas ISD high school teacher was placed on administrative leave in March over an unspecified “issue” while the district investigated. Another Lampasas ISD teacher resigned in January amid misconduct allegations.
An unnamed teacher in Canyon ISD was accused of misconduct in March and is “no longer employed” by the district. The West Plains High School employee was reportedly charged with “assault by contact” in Tulia following an “incident” that occurred off campus on a weekend.
Former Round Rock ISD teacher Nicole Soledad Gonzalez Valenzuela was arrested on April 1 after being charged in March for driving while intoxicated. The DWI charge reactivated felony charges from 2017 of enticing a child and improper relationship between educator and student, for which she received eight years of deferred adjudication in 2019. State records show no teaching certificate or Do Not Hire Registry listing under either Gonzalez or Valenzuela.
Parents sued Trinity Valley School in March, accusing the Fort Worth private school of covering up sexual abuse of at least 16 elementary and middle school girls by piano teacher Trent Austin Muse, who was charged last year with five counts of indecency with a child by exposure. School employees have also sued the school for alleged misconduct, retaliation, and misleading families about Muse’s firing. Muse has yet to go to trial and remains free on a $40,000 bond. State records show Muse was not issued a teaching certificate. He is listed as “under investigation” on the Do Not Hire Registry.
In April, Still Creek Christian Academy teacher Brooke Martinez, 30, was arrested and charged with having an “improper” sexual relationship with a student at the school, which serves at-risk boys and girls. State records show she does not hold a Texas teaching certificate. She is listed as “under investigation” on the Do Not Hire Registry.
Her father, 57-year-old John Martinez, was arrested two months earlier on three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. He was a house parent at Still Creek Ranch, where academy students reside. Several teens told police that Martinez groped them and threatened to kick them out of the facility if they didn’t comply.
A former Amarillo and Canyon ISD teacher, 57-year-old Patrick Kenneth Farmer, was arrested in April for a sixth time on charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact. Farmer pleaded guilty in 2006 to four counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact and was sentenced to six years’ probation. He was also a child care worker at a church that settled a lawsuit in 2009 over complaints about Farmer. He is listed on the Do Not Hire Registry as “not eligible for hire.”
On Thursday, La Joya ISD began investigating a report of inappropriate communication between an unnamed teacher and a student. The district stated that the student’s parents have been informed, the teacher has been placed on leave, and school officials “will take the appropriate action against the teacher even if the conduct does not rise to the level of a crime.”
An analysis by the advocacy group Texas Education 911, titled “State-Sponsored Child Abuse,” found that from September 2021 through July 2024, the state received more than 2,400 reports of educators accused of “sexual misconduct” or “improper” sexual activity with students.
The analysis includes specific legislative recommendations to address loopholes in the current misconduct reporting system and deficiencies in how the state deters, investigates, and prosecutes predatory school employees.
