Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott asked acting Comptroller Don Huffines to closely examine four school districts, chosen at random, to ensure they’re “appropriately spending their funds.”
On Oct. 5, Huffines, a Dallas Republican, said he’d picked Barbers Hill, Austin, El Paso and Prosper ISDs, without explaining why he chose those specific districts.
The “Huffines Performance Review,” his office said in a news release, “will examine whether district spending complies with state law and is directed toward students, classrooms, and teachers — rather than toward administrative expansion or non‑instructional bureaucracy.”
By the end of Election Day, those investigations seemed in limbo, after both Huffines and Abbott lost their seats to Democrats.
In her first press conference since defeating Huffines on Tuesday, incoming comptroller Sarah Eckhardt, an Austin-area state senator, expressed little interest in pursuing those investigations.
“I would immediately curtail all of those reviews strictly to financial evaluations of the school districts that have been selected,” she told reporters. “And not do this ridiculous deep dive into what books they have on the bookshelves and what kind of hiring policies and recruitment policies they have.”
Eckhardt suggested Gov.- elect Gina Hinojosa wouldn’t care.
“I feel confident that our new governor will have no interest in this duplicative, wasteful … micromanagement of these four school districts,” Eckhardt said
A spokesperson for Prosper ISD told KERA in an email the district hasn’t received any communication from the comptroller’s office “regarding changes to the status or timeline of their review.
“Prosper ISD continues to cooperate fully with state auditors, and we remain confident in a positive outcome,” the spokesperson wrote.
What Eckhardt was more concerned about was the job she’s tasked to do in in advance of the next legislative session starting in January: the state’s estimated revenue.
Eckhardt said the estimate is behind schedule, blaming in part Huffines, who she said has “gutted the agency.” As a result, she’s reached out to dozens of auditors Huffines fired in hopes of bringing them back.
A spokesperson for Huffine’s office told the Houston Chronicle Eckhardt was “misinformed,” and that Huffines plans to publish the estimate in December ahead of the next legislative session.
Abbott appointed Huffines as acting comptroller after he won the March primary. Eckhardt said she wants Abbott to appoint her as comptroller now, rather than wait until January. She’s citing the same argument Huffines did – preparing the revenue estimate.
“I need to be involved as soon as possible so that we can right that ship that, by Mr. Huffines’ own statement…that he had ‘ripped the agency apart,’” she said.
KERA asked Abbott’s office if the governor might install Eckhardt as comptroller ahead of schedule, but hasn’t heard back.
In the meantime, Eckhardt is also working to assess and evaluate the $1 billion voucher fund, the Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). But because Huffines cut the staff, Eckhardt said she needs to rebuild the internal workforce capable of examining Odyssey, the online voucher marketplace the state has a $50 million contract with.
The comptroller-elect said she needs to “get in there soon, review everything that Odyssey has been collecting and analyzing, and also take the further step of rebuilding the internal talent to manage this program and to vigorously audit its performance.”
She said re-staffing will be an ongoing job.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
Copyright 2026 KERA News