On Wednesday, the Texas Education Agency announced the appointment of Levi Fuller as the first Inspector General for Educator Misconduct, a newly created role designed to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of allegations against Texas educators.
Fuller, a Lufkin native and a product of Texas public schools, will lend his expertise to coordinate decision-making on educator “misconduct” investigations statewide.
“The reason why this position is getting created is not only to adjudicate some of these issues, to keep the normal processes going, but we’re also going to be applying a holistic approach to looking at everything from beginning to end,” Fuller said in an interview with The Dallas Express.
“The inevitable goal is doing an all-systems, multifunctional approach to eliminating problems so kids can go to school and be safe,” Fuller added.
Fuller brings over a decade of experience prosecuting a range of sensitive, high-stakes cases.
He recently served as Chief of Staff for State Representative Andy Hopper. He previously worked as an Assistant Attorney General, where he served as a special prosecutor for the Election Integrity Division. As a Judge Advocate in the Army, Fuller also worked with the Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office to reform how the military handles sexual assault allegations and cases.
When asked about the importance of honesty and communication with parents in his new role, he told DX, “Transparency is going to be one of the things that we are going to be working on from start to finish. Parents feel like they don’t know what’s going on with the system. We’re going to be doing a review of our products to see if we can be more transparent and a lot quicker with our disclosures, so parents are kept up to speed.”
Fuller was quick to defend Texas educators, noting that misconduct cases represent only a fraction of the state’s approximately 320,000 teachers and 80,000 additional school staff members, despite media portrayals.
“Texas has the best teachers in the entire country,” Fuller told DX. “The vast majority are the finest people out there. What this position is going to be doing is just rooting out the few bad actors that are tarnishing the entire profession.”
As a father with children in Texas public schools, Fuller said the mission is personal.
“I’m a dad too. My kids are in public school,” he explained. “This position and what we can do here impacts me just like it impacts them, and I’m going to treat it as such.”
The new position will provide regular guidance and recommendations to the State Board for Educator Certification, the Commissioner of Education, the Governor’s office, and state legislators. Fuller said his office will identify where the current education system is breaking down and where it’s working well.
“Families have concerns, and they feel like those concerns aren’t being addressed,” Fuller told DX. “The commissioner is giving me the tools that I need to go out and answer the questions that parents have.”
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath praised Fuller’s appointment, saying his experience prosecuting misconduct cases will help restore confidence in the teaching profession.
“With more than a decade of experience holding bad actors accountable, Levi will help root out the flawed few that sow distrust among families and school communities while helping to restore confidence in the teaching profession,” Morath said in a press release announcing the new TEA role.
Fuller holds a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University and a Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law. He is a graduate of Lufkin High School and has served as an Infantryman, Artilleryman, and Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army and Army National Guard.
