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Over the past three years, the pinnacle of a small constitution faculty community that serves fewer than 1,000 college students has taken house as much as $870,000 yearly, a startling quantity that seems to be the best for any public faculty superintendent within the state and among the many high within the nation.
Valere Public Faculties Superintendent Salvador Cavazos’ compensation to run three campuses in Austin, Corpus Christi and Brownsville exceeds the lower than $450,000 that New York Metropolis’s chancellor makes to run the most important faculty system within the nation.
However Cavazos’ wage seems way more modest in publicly posted data which are supposed to supply transparency to taxpayers. That’s as a result of Valere excludes most of his bonuses from its stories to the state and by itself web site, as an alternative solely sharing his base pay of about $300,000.
The truth that the superintendent of a small district may pull in a big-time wage shocked consultants and previewed bigger transparency and accountability challenges that might comply with as Texas strikes to approve a voucher-like program that may enable the usage of public funds for personal faculties.
Cavazos’ whole pay is alarming, stated Duncan Klussmann, an affiliate professor on the College of Houston Division of Academic Management & Coverage Research.
“I just can’t imagine that there’d be any citizen in the state of Texas that would feel like that’s OK,” Klussmann stated.
Particulars regarding Cavazos’ compensation, and that of two different superintendents recognized by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, drew a pointy rebuke from the affiliation that advocates for constitution faculties throughout the state.
“It’s not acceptable for any public school to prioritize someone’s personal enrichment ahead of students’ best interests,” Brian Whitley, a spokesperson for the Texas Public Constitution Faculties Affiliation, stated in a press release. He added that any fee selections made on the expense of scholars needs to be reversed instantly.
“The public charter school community has long embraced strong accountability and transparency. That’s what Texans deserve, both for academic outcomes and taxpayer dollars,” he stated. “To that end, the full picture of superintendent compensation at all public schools should be made clearer.”
Texas lawmakers have filed laws that may cap public faculty superintendents’ annual salaries, however most payments wouldn’t prohibit bonuses. These payments additionally don’t apply to non-public faculties that stand to obtain an inflow of taxpayer {dollars} if lawmakers move laws this session approving schooling financial savings accounts, a sort of voucher program. Non-public faculties wouldn’t be topic to the identical degree of state oversight as public faculties.
Lawmakers who advocate for vouchers received’t be capable to gauge whether or not the investments have been worthwhile in the event that they don’t mandate that non-public faculties comply with the identical monetary and tutorial reporting necessities as public faculties, stated Bruce Baker, a professor on the College of Miami Division of Educating and Studying.
Cavazos’ compensation proves that even these reporting requirements are “woefully inadequate,” Baker stated.
Texas faculty districts should submit all compensation and advantages offered to their superintendent on-line or in public annual stories, in line with guidelines set by the Texas Training Company. They have to additionally report superintendents’ salaries and any supplemental pay for further duties to the state. However Valere excluded greater than a dozen bonuses and extra funds it awarded Cavazos, a few of which its board granted to him in perpetuity.
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune uncovered the full quantity the district paid Cavazos by combing by way of federal tax data that the constitution community should file yearly with the Inner Income Service to keep up its nonprofit standing. The information organizations then gathered extra particulars by way of public data requests to the district and the state.
Cavazos’ July 2022 employment letter states that his base annual pay could be $285,887, however Valere Public Faculties reported in its tax filings that he was paid $870,714 that 12 months.
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Cavazos, who has overseen the constitution district since 2014 and beforehand served as superintendent in two different public faculty programs, declined an interview and didn’t reply written questions for this story.
Board members offered written responses to questions by way of lawyer Ryan Lione, who serves as exterior counsel for the district. In defending Cavazos’ compensation, they likened his function to that of a company CEO, which they stated comes with “many more day-to-day duties,” together with fundraising, overseeing enlargement and guiding the constitution by way of a 2020 cut up from its mother or father group.
“We believe that the benefits that Dr. Cavazos brings to Valere through his vast experience and knowledge justify the compensation that the Board has and continues to award him,” the Valere board’s assertion learn.
Board members stated that they didn’t imagine the district had run afoul of any state reporting necessities as a result of nobody from the state had advised them that that they had.
However Jake Kobersky, a spokesperson for the state’s schooling company, stated it doesn’t monitor whether or not districts submit their compensation info on-line and that it solely follows up if it receives tips on violations. He declined to touch upon whether or not the district’s omission of bonuses paid to Cavazos in its reporting to the state or on the district’s web site was a violation, however after questions from the information organizations, Kobersky stated the company is now reviewing the district’s reporting to “determine what next steps, if any, are necessary.”
Bonus After Bonus
At the least two different Texas constitution faculty districts have additionally paid their superintendents tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} on high of what they publicly reported lately, our evaluation discovered.
Dallas-based Gateway Constitution Academy, which serves about 600 college students, paid its superintendent Robbie Moore $426,620 in 2023, almost double his base wage of $215,100, the newest obtainable federal tax filings present. Pay for Mollie Purcell Mozley of Religion Household Academy, one other Dallas-area constitution faculty superintendent, hit a excessive of $560,000 in 2021, regardless of a contracted wage of $306,000. She continued to obtain greater than $400,000 throughout every of the 2 subsequent years, in line with tax filings.
The districts didn’t publicly submit the extra funds on their web sites, and solely Religion Household Academy has reported any further pay to the state. Moore, Mozley and Religion Household Academy didn’t reply to requests for remark. In a press release, Gateway Constitution Academy didn’t handle questions associated to the superintendent’s compensation. With out offering any particulars, the assertion stated the district has made errors however is implementing “corrective measures.” Because it was contacted by the newsrooms, the district has up to date its web site with a new doc that lists an undated $75,000 bonus for Moore. The Texas Training Company didn’t reply questions on both faculty district.
Valere, nevertheless, stands out among the many constitution faculty districts recognized by the information organizations.
Board members have voted to extend Cavazos’ pay or different monetary advantages in 14 of their 24 conferences since 2021.
In a single occasion, the board granted Cavazos a bonus of $20,000 after taxes for each month that he continued to work for the district. The rise, described as a “retention incentive,” bolstered his take-home pay by an extra $240,000 yearly.
“It’s almost like they’re just convening just to keep giving away their school’s money to this individual,” stated David DeMatthews, a professor on the College of Texas Division of Academic Management and Coverage. “I don’t think teachers that work in that school would feel so great that rather than make those investments into their children, they’re making it into this gentleman’s bank account.”
Board members defended their choice to dole out repeated bonuses to Cavazos, together with funds totaling roughly half one million {dollars} to totally reimburse a withdrawal he produced from his retirement fund in 2018 for a “personal emergency.”
They declined to debate the character of the private emergency however stated the funds have been “the right thing to do” to make sure that Cavazos may retire someday. Board members claimed {that a} “significant” portion of Cavazos’ compensation got here from personal donations however wouldn’t say how a lot or present paperwork to assist their assertion.
The board additionally stated that it rewarded Cavazos for his work main the district by way of a “difficult” 2020 separation from its former mother or father group, Southwest Key Packages, the Texas-based nonprofit that gives housing for unaccompanied minors who arrive on the southern border.
The cut up got here after The New York Instances revealed that Southwest Key’s leaders, together with then-CEO Juan Sanchez, had used cash from the constitution district and its for-profit corporations to bolster their pay nicely past the $187,000 federal cap for migrant shelter grants. Sanchez, who additionally served on Valere’s faculty board on the time, obtained $1.5 million in 2017 because the constitution struggled with debt and college students contended with deteriorating buildings, the Instances discovered. In response to the reporting, a Southwest Key spokesperson disputed that the nonprofit had unfairly taken cash from the colleges. Sanchez, who resigned in 2019, denied wrongdoing, saying in an interview with ProPublica and the Tribune that his wage didn’t come from the constitution’s coffers.
State data present that the state schooling company closed an investigation in 2022 into “conflict of interest, nepotism, and misuse of funds” at Valere. The company wouldn’t present particulars on what prompted the probe or share details about its findings.
To piece collectively Cavazos’ compensation, the newsrooms filed public data requests for fee data and assembly minutes, which the district had not posted on-line for years. On at the very least two events, Cavazos obtained funds that originally appeared to don’t have any file of board approval.
Minutes from a January 2024 assembly confirmed that the board didn’t vote on a $73,000 fee he later obtained. When the newsrooms requested in regards to the discrepancy, the board stated it offered the reporters with the unsuitable copy of the minutes and pointed to a completely different model the district had later posted on-line that included approval of each the fee, for a life insurance coverage plan, and a automotive lease.
One other bonus got here after a November board assembly attended by a reporter from the information organizations who heard no dialogue of the fee. Questioned about when the board authorized the bonus, members stated that they had executed so throughout a closed-door portion of the assembly. After the reporter identified that such an motion was towards state regulation, board members stated they voted after ending the closed session however earlier than permitting the general public, together with the reporter, again into the assembly room.
Scholar Efficiency Lags
Three lecturers who research faculty efficiency and compensation information stated they’ve by no means seen a faculty board totally reimburse any worker’s retirement account or approve so many hefty bonuses in such a brief interval.
Consultants, together with Klussmann, a former superintendent of a district in Spring Department, Texas, stated that the cash needs to be put towards college students’ schooling. The overwhelming majority of Valere’s college students qualify without cost and diminished meals and greater than a 3rd are English-language learners, which schooling consultants say are sometimes clear indicators that college students are at a studying drawback.
Valere’s pupil efficiency on state exams additionally lags behind statewide averages, information exhibits.
Final 12 months, Valere academics left at a better price than in most faculties throughout the state. The turnover has been tough for Marisol Gauna’s son, who has autism and ADHD. Gauna says he now not has a particular schooling instructor who works with him one on one to assist overcome studying hurdles. Because of this, she worries he may fail the eighth grade.
A mother or father of three youngsters within the district, Gauna was flabbergasted when she discovered about Cavazos’ pay from ProPublica and the Tribune. These funds, she stated, may very well be used to retain academics, enhance sports activities amenities and supply more healthy cafeteria meals.
“It should go to the school or even to the teachers so that way there can be good, responsible teachers that want to stay there,” Gauna stated.
Disclosure: The Texas Public Constitution Faculties Affiliation, The New York Instances and the College of Houston have been monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full record of them right here.
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