Lexi Churchill

A man convicted of libel in Britain helped spur investigations into Islamic private schools applying to Texas’ voucher program, legal filings say.

Dozens of bills were rejected over nearly 60 years, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found. Some measures would have prohibited youth camps and new construction in high-risk flood areas.

Texas earmarked $1.4 billion to help fund flood prevention projects. But after learning that so many communities turned down the money, two lawmakers who approved the program acknowledged it was flawed.

Three Texas charter school districts underreported compensation paid to top leaders. They also recently had failing or near-failing performance ratings.

The details were revealed in more than 25,000 pages of records released after a yearslong legal fight by news outlets including ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.

An investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found more than 60 instances of nepotism, self-dealing and conflicts of interest among 27 private schools that likely would have violated state laws had the schools been public.

Texas lawmakers’ inaction on flood prevention often hits rural and economically disadvantaged communities the hardest, experts said.

The rebuke from lawmakers and charter school leaders came after an investigation from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed that Salvador Cavazos, who oversees fewer than 1,000 students, is among the most well-paid superintendents in the country.

On paper, Salvador Cavazos earns less than $300,000 to run Valere Public Schools, a small Texas charter network. But taxpayers likely aren’t aware that his total pay makes him one of the country’s highest-earning superintendents.

Little has changed since the 2021 Texas winter storm. Power outages following Beryl’s July landfall led to two deaths and roughly 400 Texans hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning.