Texas’ Next Finance Chief to Ramp Up School-Vendor Scrutiny
(Bloomberg) — The Democrat elected to serve as Texas’s next state comptroller vowed to increase transparency around the hundreds of millions of dollars directed to vendors in the state’s massive public school system.
The heightened scrutiny by Texas Comptroller-elect Sarah Eckhardt would extend to private operators of Texas’s rapidly growing virtual schools. Because of a law passed last year, virtual school operators including Stride Inc. receive taxpayer funding regardless of the school’s attendance rate — unlike brick-and-mortar schools that receive less funding if their average daily attendance falls.
Bloomberg Businessweek on Monday published a story about how Stride has received more than $1 billion from Texas taxpayers over five years, even as thousands of its students were truant and two of its schools were forced to close after years of failing performance.
Stride did not provide comment on Eckhardt’s plans. The company previously said it “complies fully with all applicable state law” and that its district partnerships “give families a virtual option within public education.”
Asked about the story’s findings, a representative for Eckhardt said she will “create transparency so that taxpayers, parents, and the Legislature can effectively evaluate whether vendors like Stride are the best fit for our public schools, and whether they’re living up to the intentions of the Legislature which enabled virtual vendors like them to operate.”
Texas statute requires the comptroller to evaluate spending at school districts and campuses, and to review operating and staffing costs per student. While it will ultimately fall to the state legislature to enact any policy changes, Eckhardt will closely track public spending to ensure the state receives quality services, said a spokesperson for Eckhardt, Jeffrey Clemmons.
Eckhardt, who defeated Republican Comptroller Don Huffines in a shock upset Tuesday, has also taken aim at the state’s $1 billion private school voucher program.
Democrats swept to victory across Texas state offices Tuesday night, including in the gubernatorial race, won by Gina Hinojosa, a former Austin school board member and state representative. In her victory speech, Hinojosa vowed to fire Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, reverse course on vouchers and “end an era in which our schools are sold for parts.”
(Updates with comment from governor-elect in last paragraph)
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