A group of Texas lawmakers urged school districts across the state to leave the Texas Association of School Boards after the organization promoted “transgender” restroom policies.
TASB is a statewide taxpayer-funded lobbying group for school officials that provides products and services to school districts. All 1,024 Texas school boards are TASB members and pay their dues with tax dollars.
State Rep. Brian Harrison (R–Waxahachie) and eight other legislators sent a letter to every school board in the state encouraging them to “do the right thing for the taxpayers who entrust you with the stewardship of their hard-earned money and immediately leave TASB.”
Harrison was joined by State Reps. Terri Leo-Wilson (R–Galveston), Briscoe Cain (R–Deer Park), Mark Dorazio (R–Leon Springs), Richard Hayes (R–Denton), Matt Schaefer (R–Tyler), Nate Schatzline (R–Fort Worth), Bryan Slaton (R–Greenville), and Tony Tinderholt (R–Arlington).
The letter condemned TASB for taking over a year to leave the National School Board Association after the group compared concerned parents to “domestic terrorists.”
The lawmakers also drew attention to TASB’s recent updated legal guidance pushing public schools to allow gender-confused students to use the restroom of the opposite sex, even if other students and their parents raise concerns. To defend their position, the group cited Title IX of the U.S. Department of Education’s sex discrimination codes and questioned the definitions of male and female:
The legal issue presented by transgender students is how to define “male” or “female” when a student’s consistently expressed gender identity does not match the student’s assigned sex at birth. There is no law that prohibits a district from granting the transgender student’s request to use these facilities.
In response to TASB’s new recommendations, Slaton, Harrison, Tinderholt, and Dorazio published a letter calling for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to review the document and “provide further guidance” to Texas school boards. The lawmakers accused TASB’s guidelines of endorsing radical gender ideology and endangering children attending public schools.
In their letter to Texas school boards, the lawmakers informed members that their offices would assist the districts with finding new vendors to replace TASB’s services. They also reminded school officials that Texas does not require public schools to join TASB and urged them to promote citizens’ interests.
“The vast majority of Texas voters support conservative, traditional values—and the rule of law. So, it is of the utmost importance that these hard-working Texans are not forced to fund organizations that work against their values and potentially place their children in harm’s way.”
Harrison said school districts should work for Texas students and their parents instead of promoting radical ideologies.
“It’s bad enough that harmful woke ideology is being pushed on Texas students over the objection of their parents, but worse that local elected officials are forcing those same parents to fund it with their tax dollars. That must end,” said Harrison. “I appreciate my colleagues joining me in fighting to stop the continued weaponization of our constituents’ tax dollars against them.”
