08:09 PM CST on Saturday, January 8, 2005

Associated Press

HOUSTON — A Houston teacher's union official says school district officials ignored a middle school teacher who tried to report cheating on standardized tests last spring.

The Houston Federation of Teachers says the teacher told union representatives last year that a school administrator gave her advance copies of the 2004 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

The teacher's school is one of 25 Houston Independent School District campuses under investigation because of uncharacteristically high scores on the TAKS.

Union president Gayle Fallon says the union offered to have the teacher give a statement in return for immunity.

She says the district's attorney declined and — as far as she knows — nothing was done.

HISD spokesman Terry Abbott declined to comment.