The recently appointed superintendent at Houston ISD found himself at the center of a payroll controversy Wednesday.
The direct deposits for as many as 2,000 Houston ISD employees were not dispersed as scheduled on July 5, leaving many frustrated and blaming former Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles for the mishap.
Houston ISD released a statement citing a technical issue. The district claimed its “IT and Payroll Departments are working diligently to resolve the technical errors causing this delay, and to prevent this from ever happening again,” according to Click 2 Houston.
In response to the incident, the Houston Education Association (HEA) did not pull any punches when pointing to Miles as the reason for the delay.
“#HISD didn’t have any system glitches until Mike Miles’ team took over. First, the termination letters now this,” HEA tweeted.
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, tensions have been running high at Houston ISD since Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Mike Morath announced that the state would be taking over the school system after it triggered a takeover law because of chronic underperformance at one of its campuses.
Morath appointed Miles as superintendent, despite his troubled history at Dallas ISD, where he served just three years at the helm and failed to meaningfully turn around student performance amid a hiring scandal and misconduct by top administrators.
“Miles has said it’s too early to see the positive results that will come from his changes. An analysis of various indicators bears that out, showing no consistent improvement in test scores or other measures,” read the blurb for a comparative graphic published by The Dallas Morning News in the aftermath of Miles’ tenure at Dallas ISD.
The graphic showed worse STAAR exam scores in Dallas ISD compared to Houston ISD and statewide averages. The number of Dallas campuses that received failing marks from the TEA also increased while he was superintendent.
However, poor academic outcomes did not end with Miles. Dallas ISD — the second-biggest school system in Texas — still has dozens of D- and F-rated campuses, the number of which actually increased between the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, according to TEA’s accountability reports.
In his letter announcing TEA’s takeover of Houston ISD, Morath made it clear that the agency considered the district’s leaders to be the problem.
“In prior years, Houston ISD was governed by a Board of Trustees that did not focus on improving student outcomes. Instead, the Board conducted chaotic board meetings marred by infighting while Board members routinely exceeded their authority, directing staff in violation of the school laws of Texas,” read a letter obtained by The Dallas Express.
Still, resistance to the takeover was quickly made apparent, with teachers, parents, and public figures voicing their opposition.
“This is not just about [one campus] or about HISD. There is a concerted attack on public education and on public schools,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at the time, according to KHOU 11.
It was in this context that the unexpected payroll delay generated outrage, particularly since the Houston ISD employees who attempted to reach out to the district’s human resources department were reportedly met with dead ends, according to a post from the community group Houston ISD Watch.
Some did, however, oppose blaming the new superintendent.
“Not true. I got a check from HISD once when I wasn’t even working there anymore. New team is gonna screw up, but don’t act as though HISD was perfect before,” wrote one Twitter user in response to HEA’s post.
