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Volunteer Krithika Varadarajan helps a second grade student ride a new bicycle during Houston ISD\u2019s delivery of more than six hundred bikes and helmets with Oxy and Wish for Wheels at Scroggins Elementary School in Houston on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Wish for Wheels donated $67,000 for “609 Bicycles and Helmets” to multiple elementary schools in the last quarter of 2025, according to that quarter’s report.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston ISD departments and schools received nearly $12 million in outside donations<\/a> without board approval, even though the board is supposed to approve many of these donations first, according to district policy.<\/p>\n The purposes for the donations range widely and include staffing salaries,\u00a0Chromebooks, and field trips. School principals can also use donations at their discretion. <\/p>\n This is not the first time the state-appointed board has not followed policy meant to give oversight to the administration’s financial decisions. In January 2025, the appointed board approved up to $870 million<\/a> in purchasing agreements after district leadership acknowledged it had violated board policy for about 16 months.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The state-appointed board of managers in June approved quarterly reports listing donations\u00a0since August 2023<\/a>, including many donations that under current policy required board approval. That policy says that the board must approve any donation made with “a specified purpose,” except gifts from parent groups, like booster clubs and parent-teacher organizations.<\/p>\n The board, however, could change that policy so that they only approve certain gifts \u2014 like property or naming rights. They gave initial approval, but will need to take a second and final vote before the change takes effect.<\/p>\n Some elected HISD trustees, who have no decision-making power under a state-appointed board, said they are okay with changes to the donation policy \u2014 as long as the administration vets contributions and students receive the funding intended for them.<\/p>\n It could mean that students and schools get financial support faster, reducing bureaucracy for “routine, beneficial donations,” elected Trustee Bridget Wade said in a statement.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “In a large district like HISD, board review maintains public accountability, especially with external funds,” she said. “Any shift should include clear thresholds, administrative safeguards, reporting requirements back to the board, and protections against inequity or misuse.”<\/p>\n HISD did not respond to questions regarding the recent approval for donations or the potential policy change.<\/p>\n Board approved quarterly donation\u00a0reports<\/p>\n For gifts requiring prior approval, HISD’s board must consider donations at the next board meeting after the gift was offered, according to its December 2025 policy. The administration\u00a0publicly posts quarterly reports<\/a> of donations and grants online but does not routinely include them in board agendas.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Wade said the elected board has historically reviewed and approved significant donations from third parties and individuals for schools and departments. Routine or smaller donations, such as from\u00a0PTOs for specific school needs, were handled by the administration, while the board reviewed any larger or earmarked donations, Wade said.<\/p>\n Donations for each quarter since August 2023 ranged from around $359,200 to $2.2 million, according to the district’s reported totals for each quarter. These reports and totals also included contributions from PTOs and boosters that don’t require board approval.<\/p>\n SPECIAL EDUCATION: State orders Houston ISD to review special education overhaul after violations found<\/a><\/p>\n When the HISD board of managers retroactively approved purchasing agreements in 2025, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles said at that time<\/a> the district discovered that a team of employees had failed to submit certain purchases for board approval because they \u201cmistakenly\u201d believed that purchases affiliated with “cooperative agreements” did not require a board vote.<\/p>\n Wade said that the approval of years-old donations “does not inherently raise major concerns for me, provided proper vetting occurred.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n