Dr. Mary Bone@drbone4tx
The Hidden Hand of Corruption: When “Education Foundations” Become Shadow Governments
Public schools exist to educate children—not to function as investment firms, real estate developers, or political power hubs. Yet public records show that in Barbers Hill Independent School District (BHISD), an education foundation has quietly grown into something far larger and far less transparent.
At the center is Superintendent Greg Poole, who simultaneously serves as the district’s top executive and as Executive Director of the Barbers Hill ISD Education Foundation, according to the foundation’s IRS Form 990. Poole earns $489,143 as superintendent and reports spending eight hours per week managing the private foundation. That arrangement raises basic questions about public resources, accountability, and divided loyalties.
Those questions grow more serious when money enters the picture.
Between 2019 and 2021, BHISD transferred more than $41.4 million to the foundation, according to Open the Books payment records. In June 2025, the school board approved an additional $8 million grant to the foundation—equal to more than 5.3% of the district’s $151 million annual budget. Three trustees who also served on the foundation board voted in favor of the transfer without recusing themselves.
Once public money enters a private nonprofit, it leaves behind open-records laws, procurement rules, and direct voter oversight. While such transfers may be technically legal under narrow circumstances, legality is not the same as good governance.
Despite receiving tens of millions of dollars from the district, the foundation’s IRS filings show it returned only a small fraction of that money back to BHISD. The foundation reported grants to the district of $487,344 in 2019 and $689,075 in 2020—a small percentage of the funds transferred. By 2023, the foundation reported $159.6 million in total assets and more than $2.26 million in investment income.
That same year, the foundation spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal services ($88,943), accounting ($107,382), advertising ($143,970), investment management fees ($400,516), and meals and entertainment ($25,738) expenses that nearly matched the grants provided back to the district. The vendors receiving these six-figure payments are not disclosed in public-facing documents.
Meanwhile, the foundation’s activities increasingly resemble those of a real estate holding company.
Chambers County appraisal records show the foundation owns at least 13 properties, with an estimated market value of at least $14.25 million. In June 2024, Americus Holdings, a private real estate firm, purchased multiple properties and subsequently sold it to the foundation.
Americus Holdings is led by Andrew Schatte, Managing Partner, and Nathan Watkins, Vice President. Watkins is also listed as a director of the Barbers Hill ISD Education Foundation on the foundation’s 2023 IRS Form 990 and is currently a candidate for Texas House District 23.
Americus Holdings’ own website highlights a major real estate development—the Brickyard Apartments—described as a project undertaken in partnership with the Barbers Hill ISD Education Foundation. Education foundations traditionally fund scholarships, classroom grants, and teacher support not apartment developments. Public records do not clearly explain whether taxpayer-derived ISD funds were used in these projects.
Political finance records further connect the same small circle of individuals.
Campaign reports show Superintendent Poole, Americus Holdings executives, contractors, vendors, and foundation-linked individuals contributing to the same political action committees, including Texans for Good Government PAC, Texas Sands PAC, and The Beer Alliance of Texas. Poole personally contributed $25,000, while Schatte and Watkins also made substantial donations.
Collectively the contributions form a tightly interconnected network linking public education leadership, private development interests, and political fundraising.
Oversight within the education foundation itself is also circular. Current and past foundation directors include the superintendent, the assistant superintendent of finance, multiple current and former ISD trustees, the Chambers County Judge, a city chief financial officer, and a sitting political candidate with business ties to foundation real estate projects. Trustees approve transfers to a foundation they help govern, while district executives manage both the public school system and the private entity receiving the funds.
In a published article, Superintendent Poole described the foundation as a way to obtain “more flexible funding” than district resources allow. But flexibility is precisely what public finance laws are designed to restrain. Taxpayer money is supposed to be transparent, accountable, and subject to oversight not parked in private entities where public scrutiny ends.
No single document proves wrongdoing. But taken together, these records describe a system in which public school funds are transferred into a private organization, governed by overlapping leadership, invested in real estate development, and surrounded by coordinated political activity.
Parents and taxpayers deserve to ask simple questions:
When public money leaves the school district, who is watching it and who benefits from its flexibility?
Does the passing of district funds to the education foundation meet article III, section 52(a) provided that the school district: (1) ensures the expenditure is to accomplish a public purpose of the school district, not to benefit private parties; (2) retains sufficient control over the public funds to ensure the public purpose is accomplished; and (3) ensures the school district receives a return benefit.
@KenPaxtonTX
