In an unexpected move, the board of the Harris County Department of Education voted to end a taxpayer-funded lobbying contract with HillCo, the departmentâs longtime lobbyists. Colleen Vera with Texas Trash Talk first reported the news, as she has long covered the...
A Houston-area school district spent millions in tax dollars to fund and fully staff a high school campus that had no students in the last school year. This wouldâve slipped under the radar, but for a retired teacherâs keen eye on local government. Colleen Vera is a...
Ten failing campuses, a potential state takeover, a budget shortfall topping $115 million, and a superintendent who chose to jump ship rather than ride the wave accurately describes the current state of Texasâ largest school district. Currently at hand is a 2015 law...
An unnecessary layer of school administration should be abolished to make more dollars available to the classroom says a Metroplex-area state senator. State Sen. Don Huffines (D-Dallas) is pushing to close the Dallas County Schools district (DCS), in Dallas County. In...
James Colbert, Jr., the superintendent who delivered a âbattle planâ against legislative attempts to abolish a redundant education agency, secured his own financial protection in recent contract negotiations. Harris County Department of Education Board of Trustees...
A district superintendent is on record saying he plans to employ the tactics he learned during a visit to the Army War College in his effort to stop accountability and protect wasteful spending. In a video posted by Harris County Department of Education Trustee Mike...
âWe must raise taxes so the public education system can survive! Itâs for the children!â is an all-too-common rationale heard screeching from government entities across the nation, lately. Last year, San Antonio mayor Julian Castro proposed a plan to create a new...
Since the Harris County Department of Education hasnât been in charge of managing public schools for over 90 years, itâs had to find another way to spend its taxpayer funds: investing in for-profit businesses. Apparently, venture capitalism is one of the many...
How much did you spend on food and drinks in a four-month span? The Harris County Department of Education spent about $72,000 in taxpayer funded âRestaurant/Refreshmentâ purchases from August to December last year, a microcosm of waste so bad that many would consider...
The Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) represents exactly the kind of obsolete and financially inefficient government entity that has plagued our public education system for years. Itâs one of only two departments of its kind left in Texas, providing only...
Harris County taxpayers have been unwittingly paying for the same service from different governmental entities for years. On top of paying taxes for their local school district, theyâve been funding $16 million in taxes to the Harris County Department of Education...
