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The advocacy group representing Texas legislators and charter schools have sternly criticised the small charter school network, which paid up to $870,000 a year, making him one of the nation’s highest paid public school leaders.
Criticism came after Propovica and the Texas Tribune released a story about Balele Public Schools last week, revealing that the district has only reported payments from Salvador Cavazos, an inspector of less than $300,000 a year. In fact, the bonus and one-off payments have roughly tripled his income to run a district with fewer than 1,000 students on three campuses.
Lawmakers raised the story at a Texas House Committee Committee hearing on March 6 to discuss the amounts the state should offer traditional public schools and charter schools over the next few years. Legislators repeatedly appealed to Bryce Adams, vice president of government affairs at the Texas Association of Public Charter Schools, for Cabazos compensation, asking why additional state funds would be needed if charter schools use it for high managers’ salaries.
“You got a report today about one of you who makes $800,000 a year in the Texas Tribune,” said Rep. John Bryant, a Democrat from Dallas. “The public-level supervision with 100,000 and 150,000 children is not approaching that.”
State Sen. Terri Leo Wilson, a Republican outside of Houston who served on the Texas State Board of Education, called the Cavazos bonus “silly, unprecedented, outrageous.”
In response, Adams said his organization was against the high compensation of the supervisor. He said that Cabazos should be paid less by handing out copies of letters the Charter Association sent to three members of the Balea Public Schools board. The association rarely questioned the district’s actions, but said it described an additional $600,000, ranging from $500,000 to $600,000, along with his annual salary, as “completely aligns” with the market. The letter urged the school board to tie Cabazos bonuses to certain indicators.
“This action can be detrimental to Texas’ public charter school system and to advocate on behalf of TPCSA members and the students they serve,” a board member of the association wrote in a letter on Jan. 22.
After learning about the newsroom’s findings, the association sent a letter to Barrele before the article was published. Propublica and The Tribune shared that the other two charter school systems will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in addition to their base salary. The association did not answer any questions regarding whether they also contacted those schools.
The Texas Pacific Charter Schools Association has written to Balea Public Schools, stating that Principal Salvador Cabazos’ compensation exceeds market value and needs to be reduced. Credit: Retrieved and trimmed by Propublica and Texas Tribune
The responsibilities of the strong Cabazos compensation are because traditional public and charter school leaders are lobbying lawmakers with more money after years of progress without increasing basic funding. This push was strengthened given the legislative session’s ongoing efforts to implement programs like vouchers, and parents can use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private schools. Legislative budget experts have discovered that doing so could potentially steal money from public schools. Texas Governor Greg Abbott defended the voucher program.
As charter schools are considered public rather than private, lawmakers questioned whether taxpayers could be confident that additional spending on public education would go to the needs of students rather than the pockets of administrators like Cabazos.
Valere Public Schools board members did not directly address lawmakers’ concerns about Cabazos payments this week in response to press questions via email this week. They also wrote that they had not responded to a letter from the Charter Association, saying the association “has no regulatory authority or other authority over Barrele.”
Cavazos has rejected multiple interview requests. Board members defend his compensation, explaining that he is also the CEO of the charter network, and that his contributions also justify his salary. Members also said that the “significant” portion of Cabazos’ compensation comes from private donations, but that they do not provide evidence to support their claims.
Dallas president Bryant told the newsroom in an interview that the actions of Balea Public Schools show why the state needs stronger surveillance of charter schools.
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He said lawmakers must strengthen current reporting requirements for Texas education institutions. The agency requires that the district publish all supervisory compensation and benefits on their website or annual report. The district must also send information directly about the inspector’s yearly sal and information about supplemental payments for additional obligations to the state, but the state educational institution did not clarify whether it would include a bonus. We told the newsroom that the district would not check if it complied with the initial requirements unless a potential violation was flagged.
“They have to report it and put it in the law that there is a penalty for not doing so,” Bryant said. “If not, it will continue to become obscure.”
Texas Educational Institutions did not answer questions sent by the newsroom after the state’s current charter school and legislative hearings regarding supervision compensation. Not Texas Speaker Dustin Burrows, or Lt. Colonel Dan Patrick, who set legislative priorities for state legislators.
Abbott’s spokesperson Andrew Mahalleris has sent a written statement to a news organization that olds the district that spends state funds on “administrative bloat on behalf of teachers who hire and students who serve.” Abbott will work with lawmakers to ensure that public dollars go to “students and teachers, not systems or overpayment administrators,” writes Mahalelis. He did not mention any particular bills or solutions.
Lawmakers introduced at least five bills during this legislative meeting. This limits the pay of the inspector, but for most people, the proposal does not limit the bonus and therefore did not apply to most of the Cabazos coverage.
Rep. Carrie Isaac, a Republican who represents the county between Austin and San Antonio, has submitted a proposal to limit the pay of supervisors, who are just twice as much as the district’s most profitable teachers. Isaac’s current proposal does not take into account the supervisor’s bonus. After learning how to award large payments in addition to the Barere School Board’s Cavazos base salary, she said it was “absolutely” open to amending the bill to include bonuses.
“I don’t see any validity,” Isaac said in an interview. “I would like to see a supervisor who pursues his role from his commitment to success, rather than a means of ensuring these excess pay.”
Despite protests from lawmakers and experts both inside and outside the charter school sector, the Barrel Committee has so far been behind the decision. Asked by the newsroom if there are current plans to make changes to the salary that Cavazos receives above the base salary, the board sent a one-word response.
“no.”
The charter school supervisor will earn $870,000. He leads a district with 1,000 students.
