HISD superintendent releases report that he says shows years of wasteful spending, calls for change

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles released a shocking report showing what he calls years of wasteful spending.

After taking over more than six months ago, Miles said he wanted a closer look at how the district operated, including buses, staff overtime, and school maintenance.

On Monday, Miles shared what he's learned in a report.

"I think the level here was higher than what I expected," Miles said. "I wasn't totally surprised, but there was some level of, 'Wow, this is worse than a typical urban district.'"

The 31-page report focused on ways HISD operates, including overtime, teacher absences, contractor work, consultants, and staff tracking. Miles said they learned the district spends too much on each item.

He says one employee made $90,000 in overtime, and nearly a thousand teachers took too many days off without consequences.

Seven years ago, the district spent $300 million on consultants, which made up nearly a tenth of all the district's spending.

While he gave numbers on some spending, ABC13 asked how much of it was wasteful spending.

"I don't know, is the answer," Miles said.

Another focus was buses. Miles pointed out that the district spends $6,400 on each student, yet only 17 riders board each bus on average.

He also showcased bus purchases from two years ago. Former school leaders spent $20 million on 175 buses using federal dollars.

According to Miles, these vehicles are unnecessary because the district has over 200 buses that serve as backups.

A former school board member told ABC13 they purchased them because the current fleet requires a lot of maintenance. They admit they may have bought too many buses, but there were 40,000 more students at the time.

ABC13 showed the report to Houston Federation of Teachers union president Jackie Anderson, who believed Miles left some items out.

"I think it was wasteful for him to spend nearly $500,000 on a convocation," Anderson said. "I think it was wasteful for him to close the libraries and throw away hundreds of thousands and perhaps a million dollars worth of books."

To improve transportation, Miles said they may need to change routes. If they double the average riders from 17 to 34, they could cut $25 million.

A former school board member told ABC13 it may save money, but increasing capacity could also mean longer rides for students. Miles explained they could try to make those rides more efficient by moving bus barns that he claimed were in the wrong locations.

"Somebody made that decision then," Miles said. "We're living with the consequences now. The problem would be not to do anything about that and just say, 'Well, we've got to live with it because the bus barns are where the bus barns are.'"

Miles also wants more consequences for teachers who miss too much time and wants to track hourly workers to cut down on overtime.

Anderson is concerned that these changes may lead to a bad work environment.

"(It may) cause a mass exodus of teachers, where they can go and work in surrounding districts with a defined workday and be paid overtime for extra work," Anderson explained.

However, Miles said teachers appear to be happy. More than half of them have completed an intent-to-return survey, and nearly all plan to.

Union leaders said that doesn't necessarily mean teachers are happy. "Because you don't know if you have another job yet," Anderson explained. "It's too early in the year. You may not want to come back, and you may not be successful from now through the summer locating a job."

The former school board member said she agrees with some of Miles' recommendations, including using more staff instead of contractors. However, she said if Miles wants to improve busing, it shouldn't be about changing routes.

Instead of having programs in some parts of the city, she said expanding to other areas would cut transportation costs. If you have an HISD student, you may not notice changes right away, including buses.

Miles said it would take time, and these won't happen overnight.

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