Third Future Schools and by association HISD Superintendent Mike Miles have been cleared of any wrongdoing involving the charter network’s financial doings, according to investigators for the Texas Education Agency.
Spectrum News reported earlier this year that TFS-Texas had been siphoning off money from its charter schools in Texas and using it to prop up Third Future Schools in Colorado where it is headquartered. Miles was the co-founder and CEO of TFS, but resigned that position to take on the state-appointed HISD superintendency job.
According to the TEA 29-page document, Spectrum New, the Texas Observer and other media outlets made the mistake of applying the wrong set of charter regulations to TFS-Texas which has charter schools partnerships with Midland, Ector County and Austin ISDs.
TFS-Texas operates “partnerships” with school districts and those are designated “Subchapter C charter schools,” TEA says. As such, the partnering school district works out the details and oversees the contracts it enters into and while TEA does review those contracts, it does not have direct authority over them. This differs from Subchapter D regulations for charter schools authorized by the TEA.
“Subchapter C charter schools received funding from a school district via their partnership arrangement and do not receive funding directly from the state,” the TEA wrote.
Because of this, TEA did not investigate TFS per se, but sent its investigation notices to the Texas school districts involved in the contracts with TFS,
After calls for his resignation because of the Spectrum story, Miles in May issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and pointing out that TFS — like most charter network organizations — delegates some administrative duties such as accounting services to its central office which would then be reimbursed for the work. That’s why checks were sent to Colorado.
TFS has issued a statement saying it was “appreciative of the thorough examination conducted by the TEA and the confirmation that our operations are in full compliance with Texas school laws.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
