Texas Education Officials Question Charter School.

Education officials in Texas have appointed a special master to oversee a Houston charter school operated by a Baptist church that has received more than $20 million in state and federal funds over the past two years.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has appointed Dr. Robert Spoonemore, a former public school superintendent, to oversee the Prepared Table Charter School, reported the Kingwood Observer. The school is run by the Greater Progressive Tabernacle Baptist Church and operates out of an old public elementary school. The sum of money it has received in two years is much higher than comparable charter schools in the state.

TEA officials say an on-site visit and audit of the school conducted last October "indicated serious deficits for the current budget year." They also charged that members of the school's four-member board and its superintendent, the Rev. Harold Wilcox, were "not forthcoming" in providing financial information to the state.

Some legislators in Texas have called for reforming the charter system. Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco chaired a subcommittee on charter schools that has proposed more than 30 reforms. Dunnam has also suggested a moratorium on new charters for the near future.