Houston ISD superintendent gets OK to approve contracts up to $1M without board permission
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Board members on Thursday approved giving HISD Superintendent Mike Miles the authority to approve contracts of up to $1 million without their permission. The previous cap was $100,000.
Miles will be required to report contracts over $250,000 to the board on a quarterly basis for review.
"Sometimes we have to move very quickly. Sometimes the contracts that approach us are time-sensitive. We'll be transparent about it, of course," Miles said during the board meeting.
Community members voiced opposition at the meeting.
"To give the responsibility to one person to say, 'Let's just take that money and its tax dollars.' I could see if that was a CEO, but this is state-mandated money," Paula Kobina said.
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Other community members, including students and teachers, protested Miles' decision to turn libraries into team centers at some schools prior to the meeting.
"What about the kids whose families don't have money to buy books?" 7th-grade student Nova Uribe asked. "Libraries are the only place they can get books for free."
Eva Kerschen is also a student at an HISD school.
"We shouldn't have to fight for libraries. We should have them and shouldn't have them taken away," Kerschen said.
Miles responded to the community concerns during a closed media briefing following the board meeting. He explained the books will not be taken out of schools and encouraged parents to visit schools when the school year begins to see what the team centers will be like.
"Once the school year starts, go into a school and observe what's going on in a team center and see if kids are reading," he said.
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