Texas speeds up educator misconduct investigations as reports hit record levels

The Texas Education Agency is changing how it investigates allegations of educator misconduct as reports continue to surge statewide.

Levi Fuller, the agency's first inspector general for educator misconduct, told CBS News Texas that the goal is to move investigations more quickly and keep educators accused of serious misconduct out of classrooms while cases are reviewed.

"We're expanding our capability," Fuller said.

Fuller is nearly six months into the new position, created as Texas faces growing scrutiny over how school districts handle allegations involving teachers, coaches, and other school employees.

The TEA has received more than 16,000 educator misconduct reports this year, Fuller said. About 9,000 investigations are currently active.

Under changes implemented by his office, about 7,100 of those cases can now go through a temporary suspension process, which Fuller said has helped speed up investigations.

"So I would say the process has gotten faster," he said.

The increase in reports comes as North Texas has seen a series of high‑profile cases involving allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by educators, including cases in Celina, Millsap, Forney, and Plano.

Fuller said the growing number of reports does not necessarily mean misconduct itself is increasing. Instead, he said, more people are reporting concerns, and the state is acting on them.

Adding 100+ educators to Do Not Hire Registry each month

The TEA is currently adding about 112 educators per month to its Do Not Hire Registry, on average, Fuller said.

"That's 112 people who have been accused of harming children, who will be out of our schools," he said.

The statewide registry was created after lawmakers passed Senate Bill 571. The law also requires superintendents to report alleged educator misconduct to the TEA within 48 hours of learning about it.

Fuller's comments came the same day federal officials announced a new initiative aimed at combating educator misconduct in North Texas.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced Project Safe Schools, bringing together federal, state and local agencies to investigate allegations of abuse and potential failures by school districts to report misconduct.

U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said Tuesday that the problem is "clear and urgent."

Federal officials said the TEA has opened more than 9,700 educator misconduct investigations over the past two years, resulting in more than 590 disciplinary actions and more than 480 educators being placed on a registry preventing them from being hired elsewhere.

The federal announcement also included criminal charges against two former Forney ISD educators and a civil settlement with the district over allegations that officials failed to properly report misconduct.

Fuller said the TEA has also launched a Student Protection Resource Center, providing parents a place to report concerns and find information about educators.

The agency is also working to make misconduct cases easier for the public to find online, another change Fuller previously said was coming when CBS News Texas first interviewed him about the new position in February.

At the time, Fuller said the agency was seeing a dramatic increase in reports, with the average number of monthly reports rising from about 476 to more than 1,400. He said the increase was partly a sign that districts and educators were taking new reporting requirements more seriously.

"But knowing about these issues is a positive thing," Fuller said in February. "We have to know about it in order to fix it."

Fuller also confirmed to CBS News Texas that his office is investigating former Plano ISD elementary school principal Jennifer King.

King has been accused in a lawsuit of failing to report alleged abuse involving students. The Plano school board voted Aug. 13 to terminate King following allegations involving students and other district employees.

Fuller said the TEA received a report about King from the school district.

"The school board, the school itself, reported her," Fuller said. "So we received a report from them."

The investigation remains ongoing.

With the number of reports continuing to rise, Fuller said the TEA will likely need additional resources to keep up.

His office oversees the Educator Investigations Division and Special Investigations Unit, among other responsibilities.

"This is going to be a significantly new environment for schools," Fuller said.

Fuller previously acknowledged that his office had a relatively small team compared with the number of cases it is now handling and said additional positions could eventually be needed.

For parents and educators who suspect misconduct, Fuller's message is straightforward: report it.

For parents whose children have been harmed, Fuller said the responsibility now falls on the state to make sure it does not happen again.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "Our kids, they deserve to be safe. They deserve to learn."

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure that this doesn't happen again," he said. "We're going to do everything we can to snuff this problem out."