Houston ISD’s state-appointed board voted 7-1 on Thursday to approve up to $870 million in previously unauthorized purchase agreements, marking an uneasy resolution to a policy breach that frustrated some members of the board and community.

For the past 16 months, Superintendent Mike Miles’ administration had failed to receive required board approval on a class of spending that skips the traditional vendor bidding process, bypassing a step designed to provide oversight and transparency, the Houston Landing reported Monday.

Although three board members previously told the Landing the policy violation disturbed them, they did not publicly discuss those concerns during Thursday’s meeting. The board raised the issue of the contracts, immediately entered into a 2 ½-hour closed session away from public view, and returned to make brief statements and vote. Seven members voted to approve the agreements, while Rolando Martinez voted against it and Cassandra Bandy abstained.

None of the nine board members have publicly raised issues with any of the specific contracts in question.

In a statement before the vote, the board’s audit committee chair, Janette Garza Lindner, said a firm had reviewed all unapproved purchase agreements worth $1 million or more at the committee’s request and found no issues. Lindner said the findings will be published on HISD’s website, though she did not specify when the report would be posted.

“We asked our internal audit team, which is an external firm … to validate that the spending followed the appropriate processes, approvals, budgeting, record keeping,” Lindner said. “Our internal audit team found that all of the processes that were followed were appropriate.”

Board president Audrey Momanaee added that HISD is planning a full audit of its purchasing practices with quarterly follow-ups in response to the issue. 

But while the board vote effectively put the issue in the rearview mirror for Miles’ administration and the board, some community members say they have unanswered questions about the ordeal.

About two dozen students, parents and other community members spoke at the Thursday meeting to express outrage at the breach of district policy and lack of oversight on the vendor awards. 

Eliana Gottleib, an eighth grader at Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School, pressed Miles and the board to look into the issue more. 

“For a group of people who are so hung up on following procedures, like carrying a traffic cone to the bathroom, you would think you would follow your own procedures when spending almost $1 billion,” Eliana said. “Board members, please address this lack of oversight the same way you would at your businesses or jobs. Both you and the community know that a formal investigation is absolutely necessary for this kind of incident.”

Meanwhile, HISD parent Briana Mohan asked for increased transparency on the audit that HISD said came back clean, pointing out the district’s audit committee hadn’t met since November.

“Where is this audit? When will your great transparency allow us to read it?” Mohan said.

After the vote on the purchase agreements, the Thursday meeting continued with a unanimous vote to begin the process of selling 19 district properties and concluded with the election of new board officers for 2025. Ric Campo, who previously served as board vice president, replaced Momanaee as president. Momanaee assumed the role of vice president.

Asher Lehrer-Small covers Houston ISD for the Landing. Find him @by_ash_ls on Instagram and @small_asher on X, or reach him directly at asher@houstonlanding.org.

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