Waste of the Day: Failing Texas School Paid Supt. $900K

Topline: Faith Family Academy, a taxpayer-funded charter school district in North Texas, was nearly shut down by the state following three consecutive years of poor student performance. Yet each year, its superintendent was paid between $500,000 and $900,000, according to records obtained by Open the Books.

Cautionary tale of a Texas school

Key facts: Mollie Purcell took over in 2012 as superintendent of Faith Family Academy, which has 3,000 students across two campuses in Oak Cliff and Waxahachie. 

Purcell made $720,991 in 2023, including a bonus of $414,496, according to payroll records. The same year, the state-run Texas Education Agency gave her district an accountability rating of 56 out of 100 — or an “F” —  based on students’ standardized test scores and the district’s overall improvement from previous years.

Nearly all of Faith Family Academy’s students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, but the Texas Education Agency noted the school’s test scores received an “F” rating even compared to other districts with similar demographics.

Faith Family Academy responded by making Purcell the highest-paid superintendent in the state. She earned a base salary of $321,513 in 2024 and a bonus of $578,159, according to payroll records. Her $899,672 total compensation was the most ever for a Texas public school employee in at least a decade, according to Open the Books’ agency records that date back to 2016.

Purcell was not the only high earner. Two of her deputy superintendents made $733,000 and $724,000 in 2024.

Texas education officials gave the school a failing grade – but the principal earned six figures

The district earned another accountability rating of “F” from the TEA in 2024. Its 59 out of 100 score was in the bottom 3% among all Texas school districts.

Purcell earned $577,381 in 2025, including a $244,936 bonus, according to records reviewed by Open the Books. She was the highest-paid superintendent in Texas that year, according to Texas Education Agency records. 

The education agency gave Faith Family Academy its third-straight “F” rating in 2025, which would have forced the district to close down under Texas’ “three strikes” law. The district successfully appealed the rating and had it changed to a “C.”

Faith Family Academy did not return a request for comment.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com.

Summary: Students are typically rewarded for getting good grades and chastised for getting an “F.” The same logic should apply to school administrators. 

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.