The news comes after investigators announced a million-dollar cheating ring based in Houston earlier this year.
DALLAS — North Texas educators are among the more than 100 teachers across the state being investigated for potentially getting their certifications through fraudulent means, the Texas Education Agency confirmed.
The Texas Education Agency recently opened investigations into dozens of Dallas-Fort Worth area educators after Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced a massive criminal cheating scheme based of Houston earlier this year. Among the districts impacted in the probe include the two largest in North Texas, including Dallas ISD and Fort Worth ISD, as well as Arlington ISD, Irving ISD, Richardson ISD, Mansfield ISD, Duncanville ISD, among others, according to the Texas Education Agency.
The TEA says the district listed may not be the educators’ current place of employment, but that that was their place of employment at the end of either the 2022-23 school year or 2023-24 school year.
Five educators were charged in connection with the alleged million-dollar teacher cheating scandal that led to fraudulently certified teachers working in Texas school districts, Ogg announced in October. As part of the scheme, investigators said the teachers would use a test-taking proxy, or a person impersonating the teacher, and a fake test administrator to take and pass the tests required for certification.
“The extent of this scheme will never be fully known, but we know that at least 400 tests were taken and at least 200 teachers falsely certified,” Ogg said at the time.
The Texas Education Agency says they expect more teachers to be added to the list of pending investigations.
WFAA has reached out to area school districts listed in connection with the probe.
“The Fort Worth Independent School District was recently notified by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) that, as part of its investigation into an alleged certification-testing scheme across the state, TEA has identified five (5) FWISD teachers (based on 2023-2024 PEIMS Data) who are under investigation by the TEA Educator Investigations division,” A Fort Worth ISD spokesperson said. “The District takes this matter seriously, is cooperating fully with TEA, and will continue to do so to address this issue thoroughly.”
Dallas ISD confirmed that some of its employees are implicated in the statewide cheating investigation.
“On Dec. 1, the Texas Education Agency notified Dallas ISD of individuals implicated in a statewide cheating scandal who are current employees of the district. A total of six employees were confirmed,” the district said in a statement. “The district is fully cooperating with TEA during their investigative process.”
This is a developing story. WFAA will update this story as additional information becomes available.