(The Center Square) – Another scandal has unfolded in Texas’ largest public school district: a $1 million teacher certification cheating scheme through which up to 400 individuals paid a proxy to take their teacher certification test on their behalf.
At least 200 got jobs as teachers in public schools statewide who never should have, according to new criminal charges filed in Houston. More than 400 were involved in the scheme, according to an investigation that began in May 2020.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced the findings of her Public Corruption Division’s investigation in a news conference on Monday. Five Houston ISD employees were criminally charged, “believed to have organized and participated in an illegal cheating scheme that could have resulted in as many as 400 teachers receiving unearned certification statewide.”
“People hate public corruption because it generally involves theft of taxpayer money, money that we’ve collectively entrusted to those we elect and those that we hire to be our government. These kinds of crimes weaken the public’s trust in the government itself but this case is worse than that,” Ogg said.
The ringleader allegedly orchestrated a process that involved “a test taking proxy or teacher impersonator to take the test along with a corrupt testing proctor to allow the switch between the applicant and the proxy test taker,” Ogg said. “This was used to certify more than 200 unqualified teachers all now practicing or having practiced” in public schools statewide. “Worse yet, the cheating teachers include at least two sexual predators who once falsely certified had access through their employment to underage kids on campus and off. One has been charged with indecency with a child and another with online solicitation.”
Houston ISD has been plagued with corruption. In February 2020, the FBI raided its headquarters; its former COO was indicted for allegedly embezzling $6 million of taxpayer money. More recently, a third-grade teacher was arrested in a gang, weapons and narcotics bust; an assistant principal was arrested for sexual assault of a former student; a former teacher was arrested for sex crimes with a 14-year-old student; a former “advocacy teacher” at an all-girls high school was arrested for sexual assault, among many others.
This is after the state took over the failing district in May 2023 and Houston parents represented the greatest number who pulled their children out of Texas public schools, The Center Square reported. Despite this, HISD board members unanimously voted to ask taxpayers to pick up nearly $11 billion in debt in addition to owing nearly $2.5 billion. The measure is currently on the ballot and has widespread opposition.
Those charged, according to Ogg, include the alleged ring leader, Vincent Grayson, Booker T. Washington High School’s head boy’s basketball coach, (alleged profit, $1,090,000); Tyawana Gilford Mason, the former Houston Training and Education Center certifying official and alleged test proctor (alleged profit, more than $125,000); Nicholas Newton, a Booker T. Washington High School assistant principal and alleged proxy test taker (alleged profit, more than $188,000); Darian Nikole Wilhite, a TACTIX proctor who allegedly took cash bribes allowing proxies to take tests for teacher applicants and who was previously prosecuted for bribery in Harris County in an unrelated case; and LaShonda Roberts, a Yates High School assistant principal who allegedly recruited over 90 individuals to participate in the cheating scheme.
They were charged with two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity, including money laundering, a first-degree felony, and tampering with a government document, a third-degree felony. The charges carry sentences between two years to life in prison.
In response, Houston ISD held an online press video call saying it had no idea about the scheme, was “unaware about the investigation or the conduct in question.” The district was notified shortly before the five individuals were arrested. A spokesperson said the “conduct in question is completely unacceptable and completely against everyone of HISD’s values about what we believe about teacher certification.”
But the scheme was well known among teacher applicants, Ogg said.
A “Good Samaritan” came forward to make the DA’s Office aware of it. “A former coach applying as a police officer in a different part of Texas had an attack of conscience and came forward with a scheme that was apparently well known among teacher applicants wanting to be certified and busted this phony test taking scheme right out of the water,” Ogg said.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office was also involved in the investigation, she said.
Mike Levine, a felony chief in the DA’s Office’s Public Corruption Division, said that in mid-2023, the Texas Education Agency became aware of teacher certification test irregularities. Numerous individuals who failed their teacher certification tests drove hundreds of miles to Houston, where they passed their certification test, he said.
Levine said investigators interviewed dozens of teachers and poured over countless spreadsheets, emails, cash apps and phone numbers connected to the scheme.
Those wanting a proxy to take their teacher certification test allegedly paid Grayson $2,500 and Mason allegedly got a 20% cut, he said. Those claiming to take the test would show their ID, log in and then leave. Newton then allegedly took, and passed, their test on their behalf. Newton, who’s believed to have taken over 430 certification tests impersonating teachers, “gave a full confession,” Levy said.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to come forward, including by calling Houston Crime Stopper’s, he said.
