[Ads /]
It was the first time he had formally met with them since announcing in March that the agency would be taking over the Houston Independent School District.
Morath now has sole authority to appoint a superintendent and board of directors.
SEE ALSO: TEA Commissioner Mike Morath has yet to answer HISD teachers since takeover announcement
He has said he will have a new superintendent in place on or after June 1 but won't reveal who that will be until then.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has said he believes the new superintendent will be Mike Miles, the former superintendent of Dallas ISD, but the TEA has not confirmed that, and Miles has not returned ABC13's calls.
[Ads /]
"People were asking about charter schools. People were asking about teacher pay. People were asking about what interventions were going to take place from the state, and most of the questions weren't answered," Stephen Wright, a Lamar High School teacher, said. "It was going to be up to the board of managers."
SEE ALSO: Action 13: What happens over the course of state's takeover of Houston ISD?
"We got the typical, 'It's up to the board of managers. It's up to the superintendent.' (When asked) Who is the superintendent? (Morath said) 'I haven't decided.' I asked him, point blank, if it was Mike Miles because he's been in HISD interviewing with the cabinet, and then they all leave after they talk to him," the president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, Jackie Anderson, said. "He's said that he would not confirm. The announcement would be made June 1."
"My message to parents: Ask more. Demand more," Daniel Santos, a Navarro Middle School teacher, said. "Let this not be a preview of the next two, three, four years."
For more on this story, follow Pooja Lodhia on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.
WATCH: TEA announces extension of applications for board of managers until April 20 at HISD board meeting
TEA announces extension of applications for board of managers until April 20 at HISD board meeting