Texas teacher scandal

 NBC:

Over 200 unqualified Texas educators had someone else take their exams in cheating scandal, officials say

People would typically pay $2,500 to the scheme's fixer, who would bribe test officials and have proxies take their certification tests, prosecutors said.

Five people have been charged in Texas with organizing and participating in an illegal cheating scheme that certified more than 200 unqualified teachers and helped the plot’s “kingpin” rake in more than $1 million, prosecutors said.

In the scheme, people would typically pay $2,500 to have proxies take certification tests for them at two testing centers in Houston. The scandal involved bribing a testing proctor to allow test applicants and their proxies to switch places, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said at a news conference Monday.
...
Investigators noticed a pattern, they said: Numerous teacher certification candidates who previously failed certification exams would drive from faraway Texas cities to the Houston area to take exams.

“Suddenly, they were passing the test with flying colors,” Mike Levine, a felony chief in the DA’s Public Corruption Division, told reporters.

Then a tip came in that exposed the cheating scheme, authorities said.

A former coach applying to be a police officer in a different part of Texas “had an attack of conscience” and came forward, Ogg said.

The tip and the ensuing investigation led authorities to an email address, a Zelle account, a CashApp account, a phone number and eventually the identifications of some of the defendants, investigators said.

Investigators interviewed dozens of teachers — at least 20 of whom cooperated and told "nearly identical version of events," Levine said.
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Officials said Grayson made at least $1,090,000 from the scheme, and most likely more in cash, which is harder to trace.
...

The teachers who participated in the scheme are likely to face consequences for their actions.  They not only cheated the system but by doing so cheated their students.  

See also:

REPORT: More Than 200 Unqualified Texas Teachers Got Their Jobs Through Massive Cheating Scam

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