A San Antonio French teacher caught straddling a 15-year-old in her car . A Donna school security guard suspended for sending inappropriate texts to female students . A Waco band director who had sex with a high school girl in his music room . These are just three of the 74 cases of inappropriate sexual relations between educators and students that have been opened since September . The Texas Education Agency reported that , in the last three school years , there has been a 27 per cent increase in the number of student-teacher relationship investigations in the state . San Antonio teacher Marcus Revila was given 17 years in prison for producing child pornography with a 16-year-old student who he got pregnant . Lisa Zuniga avoided a long prison sentence because she was pregnant with the child of a 13-year-old student she had sexual relations with . There were 179 investigations during the 2013-14 school year , compared to 141 probes in the 2009-10 period , according to the Houston Chronicle . The surge of cases in Texas corresponds to a national rise . There were 781 reported alleged cases of sexual relationships between students and school employees , according to the Washington Post . Terry Abbott , a former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education , said that , on average , 15 new young people are reported to have been 'sexually victimized ' by their teachers each week , he wrote in the Washington Post . Abbott 's firm , Drive West Communications , has been tracking media reports of relationships between students and their educators . According to Abott , they found that Texas has the highest number in the country of teacher sexual misconduct cases . Abott believes social media services have made it easier for teachers to 'develop improper relationships with students out of sight of parents and principals , ' he wrote in the piece . Brittni Colleps ( left ) was sentenced to five years in prison after she admitted to having sex with five 18-year-old students at her home . But the lawyer for Ashley Zehnder ( right ) is arguing that she did not commit a crime by having relations with a student because the age of consent in Texas is 17 . He believes Facebook , Instagram and Snapchat have 'created an open gateway for inappropriate behavior ' . Some states are already taking action . In New Jersey , teachers are not allowed to add students on Facebook without written approval from their principal . They can also only contact students electronically if its done through district computers . A relationship between biology teacher and cheerleading coach Ashley Zehnder , 24 , and a boy on the school 's squad came to light because of technology . Zehnder admitted to the relationship after the boy began showing a naked photograph she had sent him through Snapchat to fellow students at their Pasadena high school . The teacher 's lawyer has argued that Zehnder did not commit a crime because the age of consent in Texas is 17 . But some Texas teachers have been locked up for years after they were caught having sexual relationships with a student . Two Texas school districts have been rocked by multiple student-teacher relationships occurring just months apart , which included criminal justice teacher Carlo Andres Cordova and teacher Breanne Brown . San Antonio teacher Marcus Revila was given 17 years in prison without parole this year after he was charged with producing child pornography with a 16-year-old student he had relations with and is now pregnant with his child . And Kennedale teacher Brittni Colleps was sentenced to five years in prison after she admitted to having sex with five 18-year-old students at her home . But former teacher , Lisa Zuniga , was able to avoid a long prison sentence in 2003 because she was pregnant with the child of a 13-year-old student she had sexual relations with . A South Texas school district recently got hit with a federal lawsuit after three employees were found to have had sexual relationships with students , according to the San Antonio Express-News . One of those employees , criminal justice teacher Carlo Andres Cordova , was the son-in-law of the Donna district 's superintendent and allegedly had sex with a female student in his classroom . And barely a month after a health sciences teacher at the Abilene Independent School District admitted to having sex with a student , the district was rocked by another incident in January . According to police , teacher Breanne Brown had sex with a 16-year-old student on 10 different occasions .
Donna Independent School District reported that there has been a 27 per cent increase in number of investigations in last three years . There were 179 investigations during the 2013-14 school year , compared to 141 probes in the 2009-10 period . Two Texas school districts have been rocked by multiple relationships reported in the last three months . Texas Education Agency now faces a federal lawsuit after three employees were charged with inappropriate sexual relations with students .