Katy ISD's budget reduced by $513K because of payment to former superintendent
KATY, Texas (KTRK) -- When Katy ISD parted ways with its outgoing superintendent last year, the school district paid Lance Hindt about $513,000 more than it should have under state law, according to the Texas Education Agency.
For this, the TEA reduced the school district's budget heading into the 2019-2020 school year, the governing body told ABC13.
Hindt, who resigned in 2018 in the face of various accusations that include bullying during his youth and plagiarism of his dissertation at University of Houston, reached a severance settlement with the Katy ISD Board of Trustees at the tune of $955,795.
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According to TEA, Hindt was supposed to be paid his annual salary of $442,041.
Texas law states if a school district pays a superintendent more than his or her annual salary in the event of an early termination, the difference will come from the school's overall budget. That reduction was already in effect for this school year after TEA notified Katy ISD last May.
ABC13 reached out to the school district for comment regarding the budget reduction, including how it affects its near 80,000 students. As of Friday evening, Katy ISD has not answered back.
EDITOR'S NOTE: In our original reporting of this story, we mistakenly said the former Katy ISD Superintendent was "illegally" overpaid. We have since corrected the information.
We are still waiting for comment from Katy ISD about the payment and if it will have any impact on the district's students.
The video above is from a previous story.
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