"Mr. Miles says spending $870 million, money that wasn't authorized by the board, was a good faith error. No, do you really believe that?" Michelle Williams, president of the Houston Education Association, said at Thursday's school board meeting.
HISD admits they spent $870 million, which should have been approved by the board of managers.
"I believe this was a good faith error; nevertheless, it was an error, and it must be rectified," HISD superintendent Mike Miles said.
HISD said they discovered this issue when prepping for the December 2024 board meeting.
Eyewitness News has been told that the team who reviews purchasing was mistaken in believing that purchases involving cooperative agreements, which are purchases of $1 million or more, did not need board approval.
The "mistake" went on for 16 months.
"There are many steps in the purchasing process, especially cooperative purchases, and they were completed correctly, except for the fact that they did not get board approval," Miles said.
The unauthorized spending directly violates HISD policy, but no one is facing repercussions as of now.
The district auditor, who is employed by an outside agency, is reviewing the process, and at Thursday's school board meeting, the board retroactively approved the spending.
"There was no malintent. We've identified some immediate practice changes to make sure this kind of error does not happen again," Miles said.
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