More than 200 “unqualified teachers” in Texas were able to get jobs or promotions at schools across the state under a board scheme in which impersonators were paid to take more than 400 certification exams for them, prosecutors said this week.
Five people have been charged in the scheme, under which they earned a total of at least $1 million, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said at a news conference on Monday.
One of those charged, Vincent Grayson, a basketball coach at Booker T. Washington High School in Houston, Texas, was accused of being the “kingpin of this scheme,” Kim Ogg, the district attorney in Harris County, said. Mr. Grayson, 57, of Houston, worked to help educators, who usually paid $2,500 have their certification exams taken by an impersonator at testing centers, Ms. Ogg said.
“The extent of the scheme will never be fully known,” Ms. Ogg said. “But we know that at least 400 tests were taken and at least 200 teachers falsely certified.”
Mr. Grayson’s lawyer, Cheryl E. Irvin, declined to comment and said that she was waiting for more information to be provided by the state regarding her client. Mr. Grayson is scheduled to appear in court again on Friday.
The other people charged were an assistant principal at Booker T. Washington High School, a testing center employee, a “corrupt proctor,” and an assistant principal at Jack Yates High School in Houston, Ms. Ogg said. All five have been charged with two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity, Ms. Ogg said. She said that the charges are either first- or third-degree felonies, depending on the level of culpability. The maximum possible sentences range from two years to life in prison.
The scheme was uncovered in 2023, after the Texas Education Agency became aware of certain irregularities at a testing center. A tip confirmed some concerns and an investigation was started, Mike Levine of the Harris County District Attorney Office’s Public Corruption Division said at the news conference.
Investigators found that numerous educators, some of whom had failed the exams at other testing centers around the state, traveled great distances to a Houston-based center and passed “with flying colors,” Mr. Levine said.
The Texas Education Agency is working to find the teachers who cheated on the test, Mr. Levine said. The agency declined to answer specific questions about its investigation but said in an email that it was working with the State Board for Educator Certification and law enforcement to “pursue appropriate action against any educator involved in this scheme.”
“The fraudulently certified teachers run the gamut,” Mr. Levine said. “They’re not just in the Houston area. They’re not just in the Dallas area. They are literally littered throughout the state.”
Teachers may get hired without passing the certification exams on which they cheated, Mr. Levine said, but they usually have to pass within a year or two of being hired. There are also some teaching-related jobs that do not require passing these exams, but the tests are required for promotions.
Booker T. Washington and Jack Yates High Schools did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the status of their employees. But the Houston Independent School District said in a statement that “all three of these employees have been arrested and will be receiving notifications relieving them of their duties effective immediately,” Houston Public Media reported.
“We saw examples of cheating on almost every certification test,” Mr. Levine said. “Social studies, history, a lot of folks on the P.P.R., which is a test almost all teachers need to take.”
The TExES Pedagogy & Professional Responsibilities test, or P.P.R., had a 96 percent passing rate in 2019, the test’s website said.
Ms. Ogg said, on Monday, said the recent cheating charges harm an education system that is “under great duress right now.” In Texas, school library closures and a proposal to infuse the elementary curriculum with stories from the Bible have sparked debate.
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