The State Auditor spent a year inside the Texas Education Agency looking for waste, fraud, and abuse and found it in the org chart. The findings are in the State Auditor’s Office Report, released this month.
According to a year-long audit conducted by the Texas State Auditor’s Office, TEA management staff wages increased by 64% to $44.7 million, with a ratio of one manager for every 3.5 staff members, more than allowed by law.
As of August 31, 2025, the Agency had 1 manager for every 3.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees … but it had not obtained State approval to exceed the statutory limit of 1 manager for every 11 FTEs.
Texas Government Code allows one manager per eleven workers. Mike Morath’s agency runs 3x that!
We tried looking up where this 1:11 ratio came from, and why this random number is the law. This sent me down quite a rabbit hole, but I’m pleased to report it’s funnier than you think. Texas legislators were told in writing before the vote that “There is no basis to suggest that a 1:11 ratio is ideal,” and that the 1:11 number came from a news article.
However, it’s all good, because apparently, it doesn’t matter anyway, and nothing happens when you violate it other than you appear in a Current Revolt article.
Page 4 shows where the growth went:
the Agency’s management staff increased 38 percent while non-management staff increased 12 percent
Apparently, one weird trick to get higher paid government workers is to just say everyone is a manager!
Chapter 651 carries no penalty and names nobody to enforce it. Just a “conservative principle” passed into law, celebrated, and quietly forgotten, which may be why the statewide average is already 1 manager per 9.7 employees.
Under the Texas Sunset Act, the TEA is abolished September 1, 2029. Unlike the H-1B’s and other scams, there is at least a theoretical end to this madness.
If I were a Kalshi guy, I’d predict that Republicans will act on this issue next session. They are very willing to put the boot straight on the necks of the peasants for clout. A bureaucrat peasant making $90k is definitely cooked.
If Texas Republicans really want to lower the cost of running their sprawling bureaucracy, they already have a proven method for this! It’s a weird trick politicians have helped spread across Texas, and it appears to (once again) be the very best solution to achieve their fiscally responsible objectives.
It’s working so well in the private sector, I don’t see why Texas Republicans won’t get started right away in the plan to replace 100% of TEA with H-1B’s.
Think of the cost savings. We could eliminate property taxes, or even do 3 or 4 more rounds of school choice.