Harris County prosecutors say hundreds of people illegally obtained Texas teaching licenses through cheating ring

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Three Houston Independent School District employees are among five people charged in connection with a scheme to help hundreds of people cheat on state teacher certification exams, Harris County prosecutors said Monday.

Longtime Booker T. Washington High School boys basketball coach Vincent Grayson ran a cheating ring in which people who provided help fraudulently obtaining a teaching license typically paid about $2,500, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said as many as 400 people in Texas may have illegally obtained teaching certificates through the cheating ring since 2020, earning organizers nearly $1 million.

Prosecutors said the plan involved the conspirators taking and administering exams on behalf of certified teacher candidates. Investigators believe hundreds of participants were scattered across the state and some were likely still in classrooms. Prosecutors said the licenses likely helped school employees get promotions, earn higher salaries and retain teaching jobs.

“The damage, in my view, is not just to the education system, which is under huge pressure at the moment, but also to the families of the children who attend these schools, who rely on the government to educate their children and keep them safe. Eight hours a day,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said at a news conference Monday.

Grayson did not immediately respond to a message or phone call from Houston Landing. His attorney, Cheryl Irvin, declined to comment and told Landing that “I know next to nothing yet” about the details of the indictment.

The arrests came at a time increase in the number of uncertified teachers Getting hired by Texas public schools. Fewer people are entering the teaching profession through traditional university education programs. Certified teachers must complete a bachelor’s degree, a Texas college education preparation program, and a state certification exam.

Texas Education Agency spokesman Jake Kobersky wrote in a statement Monday that the department “will review any information shared by law enforcement and take appropriate action against any educators involved in this program.” Kobersky said the State Educator Certification Board will decide any punishment.

Alleged collaborators

The other two HISD employees charged in the case are Washington High Assistant Principal Nicholas Newton and Yates High School employee LaShonda Roberts. Prosecutors said Roberts was an assistant principal at Yates High School, but district payroll records show he was working as the head of special education on campus as of early September.

Prosecutors said Newton administered exams for certified teacher candidates, while Roberts “recruited and referred” an estimated 90 teachers and collected approximately $267,000 in payments. Prosecutors said Newton, who was paid more than $188,000 for his role as a test taker, “was caught red-handed taking tests for two teachers at the same time and made a full confession.”

Attorneys for Roberts and Newton were not listed in court records as of Monday afternoon.

The other two defendants are an employee of the Houston Education and Training Center and an exam proctor. The five defendants each face two felony charges of participating in organized criminal activity.

HISD Chief of Communications Alexandra Elizondo said HISD became aware of the allegations “shortly before” the arrests and placed three employees on paid leave Monday. Elizondo said district leaders are “still receiving information” about the case.

Grayson earns a salary of about $90,000 a year as an athletic trainer at Washington High School, according to district payroll records from September. The school’s men’s basketball coach notched more than 200 wins during his 18-year tenure as The Leader. reported last year. According to September payroll records, Newton earns an annual salary of $129,000, while Roberts earns $92,000.

Elizondo said HISD does not yet know if any teachers in the district have been fraudulently licensed. Elizondo said HISD will work with law enforcement and the Texas Education Agency to identify teachers involved in the cheating scandal and terminate their contracts.

“The behavior in question is completely unacceptable and completely contrary to every HISD value we believe in regarding teacher certification,” Elizondo said.

“Suddenly we were passing by”

Prosecutors said their investigation began in mid-2023 when the Texas Education Agency received a tip about testing for irregularities at the Houston Education and Training Center. State education officials and the testing company Pearson noticed that candidates who had previously failed teacher certification exams were driving from Dallas, Fort Worth and other remote areas to take their exams in Houston.

“Then they would drive sometimes four or more hours to the Houston area and all of a sudden they were passing the tests perfectly,” Michael Levine, criminal chief of the District Attorney’s Office’s Public Corruption Section, said Monday.

In court records, Levine described Grayson as the “organizer and ringleader” of the scheme. Grayson determined that Houston Education and Training Center employee Tywana Mason was willing to accept bribes, Levine wrote.

Certified teacher candidates would arrive, show their ID, sign in and leave, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, inspectors said Newton was scheduled to take the exam for a certified teacher candidate.

Prosecutors said teacher certification candidates would typically pay Grayson $2,500, and Grayson would send Mason about 20% to allow the fraud to occur.

Authorities obtained thousands of bank and phone records as part of the investigation, Levine said. About 20 teachers “made more or less complete confessions,” Levine wrote in court records.

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