In an open letter sent November 22, the caucus of conservative state representatives asked parents, teachers, and school board members across the state to encourage their independent school districts (ISDs) to break from TASB.
“Since the Texas Association of School Boards refuses to do the right thing to sever ties with the clearly un-American organization called the National School Boards Association [(NSBA)], it’s time for our local ISDs to leave TASB,” the caucus wrote.
“Parents are under attack, and it’s time for us to stand up and send a strong message supporting parental rights by no longer forcing taxpayers to pay for or belong to organizations taht accuse sincerely concerned parents of domestic terrorism.”
TASB’s parent group organization, NSBA, previously asked the White House for federal law enforcement protection for school board members. Citing a number of tense meetings around the country over mask mandates and critical race theory, the NSBA letter to President Joe Biden likens the growing number of angry parents to a trend of “domestic terrorism” and asks for the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security to intervene.
Shortly thereafter, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland mobilized federal law enforcement to “address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel.”
Responding to an inquiry from the advocacy group Parents Defending Education, TASB distanced itself from the NSBA letter, saying it was not involved. It also said that it would remain an affiliate of NSBA.
However, documents show that NSBA notified its state affiliates of the letter before sending it.
Parents Defending Education obtained communication between NSBA and its affiliates showing that TASB knew a request for protection would be sent to the Biden administration. While the NSBA specified the reason for this request, the full content of the letter was not shared with affiliates like TASB until it was sent.
The Texas Freedom Caucus believes that this newly released correspondence shows that TASB approved the letter before it was sent, in addition to the fact that an Aldine ISD trustee leads NSBA.
“[N]ew documents have come to light showing that TASB did, in fact, know that NSBA was colluding with the White House to target and silence parents prior to the September 29th letter being sent,” the caucus wrote.
“[I]t is difficult to believe that TASB was not involved, or, at the very least, aware of these unprecedented attacks on parents.”
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