Educator misconduct reports to the Texas Education Agency have more than doubled this year, and both Spring ISD and Klein ISD are among seven Houston-area districts where educators were reported for inappropriate relationships with students.
TEA data shows 16,848 misconduct reports so far in 2026, up from 6,456 in all of 2025, according to an ABC13 investigation published Thursday, Aug. 13. The surge comes as 32,000 Spring ISD students returned to classrooms for the fall semester.
Between December 2025 and February 2026, TEA received reports of educators having inappropriate relationships with students in Alief ISD, Galena Park ISD, Goose Creek ISD, Katy ISD, Klein ISD, Spring ISD and Splendora ISD. Of those seven cases across the districts, four educators surrendered their teaching licenses, two received reprimands and one had a license revoked.
The ABC13 report does not specify which outcomes applied to Spring ISD or Klein ISD individually.
Why the numbers jumped
The spike traces directly to Senate Bill 571, authored by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, which took effect Sept. 1, 2025. Before the law, districts had 10 days to investigate before notifying TEA. Now superintendents must file a report within 48 hours of learning about alleged misconduct, with no discretion to delay or dismiss.
The law also makes it a state jail felony for a superintendent to intentionally conceal misconduct.
The results are stark. Before Sept. 1, 2025, superintendents filed just 115 reports in all of fiscal year 2025. Since the law took effect, they have filed more than 10,000, according to an interview with TEA Inspector General Levi Fuller published in May 2026. TEA was receiving an average of 1,674 reports per month as of that date.
Could reach 100,000
Chris Tritico, general counsel for the Houston Federation of Teachers, told ABC13 the volume could keep climbing.
"It keeps growing at the rate it is, then it will be close to 100 thousand pending by the end of this school year," Tritico said.
Tritico explained that the old system gave districts room to filter complaints internally. Under SB 571, every allegation goes straight to TEA regardless of whether a superintendent believes it has merit.
What parents can do
As we reported Aug. 13, Gov. Greg Abbott has proposed a mandatory 10-year prison sentence for educators convicted of sexual misconduct with students, a legislative push that would eliminate probation-only outcomes.
TEA launched a publicly accessible Educator Misconduct Reporting Dashboard in May 2026, required by SB 571. Parents can look up educator certification records, check the Do Not Hire Registry and file complaints directly with TEA through the agency's online complaint portal.
Neither Spring ISD nor Klein ISD has issued a public statement addressing the misconduct data or the specific cases identified in the December 2025–February 2026 window.
