The Texas Association of School Boards is set to leave Its parent organization, the National School Board Association, according to records obtained by Texas Scorecard.
The National School Board Association made headlines last year following their letter to President Joe Biden and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting federal intervention in local school board meetings and referring to concerned parents as “domestic terrorists.”
It has since been revealed that the NSBA leadership urged the Biden Administration to deploy military forces in an effort to prevent parents from attending school board meetings.
Since then, parents have been calling on the state organization—the Texas Association of School Boards—to leave the organization, as more than 20 states already have.
Texas, however, had been a holdout until now.
According to an email sent to school board members on Monday night and obtained by Texas Scorecard:
Dear TASB members,
Within the next hour, TASB will announce that we will leave the National School Boards Association (NSBA).
This decision was made by our Board of Directors following NSBA’s release of an independent investigation report on Friday, May 20.
This report discloses new details about the development of the NSBA Sept. 29 letter to the Biden administration and highlights operational practices and a lack of internal controls and processes at NSBA that do not align with our commitment to excellent governance.
As you know, TASB has been monitoring carefully NSBA’s efforts to rebuild trust with its members over the past eight months and awaiting the release of its independent investigation into the Sept. 29 letter.
While we acknowledge that improvements have been made under NSBA’s new leadership, it’s clear that those efforts don’t go far enough at this time to overcome the operational deficiencies and lack of internal controls outlined in the investigation report.
Of course, it is our hope that someday state school board associations across our nation can once again be united in our advocacy efforts on behalf of U.S. public school students.
Until then, our singular focus is ensuring Texas continues to have a strong voice and presence in Washington, D.C., moving forward. As always, TASB is focused on supporting its members and the advancement of their advocacy agenda — both here in Austin and at our nation’s capital.
Lastly, we have asked NSBA to allow Texas trustees who wish to continue to participate in NSBA-sponsored conferences or events — but as individual trustees and individual boards rather than state association members — the ability to do so. We’ve been assured by NSBA Executive Director John Heim that this courtesy will be extended.
Should you have any questions, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Dan Troxell (Executive Director)
