Mike Morath

Mike Morath (born 1977) is an American software developer and investor. He is the commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. Prior to joining the agency, he served as a trustee for the Dallas Independent School District, where he advocated for school reform and home-rule. Morath began his career in the technology sector.

Early life Morath was born in 1977 and was raised, for a time, in a coal mining town close to Western Virginia. His family moved to North Texas, where he attended Garland High School, a public school in Garland, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Morath had an interest in software development as early as age six when he wrote his first computer program. In high school, he developed a program to analyze his high school football team's offensive play-calling strategy.

After graduating from Garland High School in 1995, Morath attended George Washington University. He joined Alpha Phi Alpha, a historically and still predominately African-American fraternity and was a part of the Black Student Union, serving as director of communications.

Career After George Washington, Morath formed a software startup company that eventually failed. he joined the board of what is the second-largest school district in Texas.

As a trustee in 2013, Morath advocated allowing the district to the funnel savings gained from a proposed voluntary accelerated three-year graduation plan for high school students to keep full-day pre-kindergarten programs funded. The programs were facing a return to a half-day schedule as a result of a 2011 state legislation that cut a combined $200 million from the school's budget.

Morath was re-elected as a board member for District 2 representing parts of North and East Dallas. He was initially opposed by Sabrina Martinez Harrison, who withdrew on March 3, 2014. Morath entered the May 10 election unopposed. At some point during his tenure as a trustee, Morath sold his company, Minute Menu, The commission is tasked with proposing "changes to the state's method of student assessment and school accountability." His appointment to the position was criticized by those that opposed his attempt to establish home rule control over the DISD.

Commissioner In January 2016, Morath left his position on the DISD board to become the Commissioner of Education. He was sworn in on January 4, to lead the agency that is responsible for the state's 1,200 school districts.

As commissioner, Morath has, in several instances, exercised his power to intervene in the governance of under-performing school districts. In February 2016, he appointed Judy Castleberry as conservator of the South San Antonio independent school District. In March, following an investigation by the agency, Morath appointed Sharon Doughty as conservator of the Edgewood independent School District in San Antonio. He also announced that this would be followed by appointments to replace the vacant superintendent position and a board of managers to replace the elected members of the board of trustees. The new board of managers and superintendent were sworn in on May 24. In the case of the Hearne independent school District in May 2017, however, Morath reversed his own decision, made earlier in the year to appoint a replacement for the school board, allowing them to stay in power.

Morath has used his authority to intervene in the governance of Houston ISD or attempted to do so for several years. A state-appointed conservator has monitored the state's largest district since September 2016 and was given expanded authority in March 2019, stopping the district's elected board from completing their search for a permanent superintendent. Low performance in one of over 200 schools in HISD also resulted in Morath deciding to pursue appointing a board of managers, one of the options allowed under state law, despite the district's relatively high B rating. A state judge blocked Morath from replacing the district's elected board in January 2020. Following a 2018 finding by the U.S. Department of Education that Texas violated federal law regarding treatment of students with disabilities, TEA investigators in September 2020 again recommended state oversight after finding problems in the district's special education department.

In early 2016, following a glitch that erased the answers students inputted as part of a computerized state assessment test, Morath warned that the agency could reconsider its contract with the company, Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). Calling the error "unacceptable," Morath announced his agency will impose a $20.7 million fine on ETS. He also announced that the test will not be used to determine whether students can advance to the fifth or eighth grades, as per usual.

In June 2020, Morath's decision to permit schools to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic and not mandate face coverings was criticized by Zeph Capo who, as president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, represents 65,000 teachers and staff at the state's schools.

Personal life At the time of his election to the board of trustees of the DISD in 2011, Morath was engaged to Laura Vondra, an optometrist.