Dallas ISD has agreed to a $1 million civil settlement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas, which says the district failed to report a former special education teacher to state regulators despite four internal investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould announced the agreement Tuesday. Of the total, $145,000 is a penalty and $855,000 is to be spent on changes inside the district, including reporting audits, law enforcement protocols and required training, according to his office.
What prosecutors allege
The government's case rests on federal special education money. Prosecutors say that from 2022 to 2024 Dallas ISD certified it was following all state laws while accepting those funds, even though it did not report the teacher to the State Board for Educator Certification.
According to the release, the district handled the complaints through its Title IX process, applied a stricter standard of proof than state law requires, found the allegations "unfounded" and let the teacher resign in lieu of termination in April 2024. His name then went only on an internal Dallas ISD "Do Not Hire" list, which other Texas districts could not see, prosecutors said.
The complaints came from an anonymous source, a parent and several administrators, the release says, and were routed inside the district rather than to municipal police.
The teacher later worked in Plano ISD and Forney ISD and was arrested in the Forney case, the release says. At a press conference, Raybould said Dallas ISD had accepted responsibility and that information about the teacher had been kept in separate offices within the district, CBS News Texas reported.
The district's response
In a statement to the Dallas Observer, Dallas ISD said it investigated the allegations about the former employee and could not corroborate any of them. The district said it "strongly" disagrees with the government's allegations and its interpretation of the reporting statute, which lawmakers amended last year, but shares the goal of protecting students.
It pointed out that more than 85% of the settlement money goes to student safety work.
