An email has surfaced in which another DFW school official allegedly addressed school district employees to instruct them on how they should vote, just a week after the Texas AG sued the Denton ISD for illegal electioneering for doing the same thing.
The email, obtained by The Dallas Express, was allegedly sent by Renee Smith-Faulkner, the superintendent of the Castleberry Independent School District, to a distribution list made up of the district’s “Administration Leadership Team” on February 19.
Smith-Faulkner seemingly forwarded an email appearing to be from Linda Jo Galvan, president of the Castleberry ISD Retired Teachers Association, which advocated for candidates opposed to school choice and for those who voted to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Referring to the attached email, Smith-Faulkner purportedly issued the following instruction to recipients:
“Please take the information in [Galvan’s] email and vote accordingly. The main responsibility we have is to have a voice in the future of public education. We are operating on the same budget amount as in 2019 although we have seen record inflation since then. And there is no new money coming to our district next year. Vote in the Primaries. Have a voice!”
The subject line of the forwarded email was “Elections,” and it was apparently sent to Smith-Faulkner and Castleberry ISD’s director of instructional technology.
Included in the “Elections” email were the dates for voting in Texas primary races. Its sender, supposedly Galvan, then explained her opposition towards the Texas governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general:
“I don’t have a feel for how our Texas teachers are reacting to the onslaught of evil against them that is happening right now. All I know as a retired educator, I am VERY angry about the way educators are being treated in Texas. I am tired of Abbott, Paxton, and Patrick bragging about the economy of Texas then doing nothing to invest in the education of the workforce!!!!”
The email continued by expressing criticism of Abbott, Paxton, and the candidates they support while naming and advocating for candidates that ostensibly oppose school choice. It then encouraged the recipients to forward the email to “retirees, teachers or essential workers.”
“I am angry that Paxton and Abbott are in the process of doing “revenge tours” to get out the vote for the challengers they have picked to run against the legislators who voted for us against vouchers and those who voted to impeach Paxton. I think they have stooped too low to show their revenge!” Galvan allegedly wrote.
In addition to providing a list of candidate endorsements, the email specifically encouraged voting for Pat Hardy for the State Board of Education because she is against vouchers while her opponent, Brandon Hill, is pro-voucher.
The email also mentioned the Republican primary race in District 21 between House Speaker Dade Phelan and David Covey, whom The Dallas Express profiled last week.
“We really want Dade Phelan back,” Galvan purportedly wrote, remarking that “Abbott hates him because he stuck up for impeachment and against vouchers.”
Last year, a minority of House Republicans led by Speaker Phelan joined with the Democrats to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to have him removed from office.
On February 22, AG Paxton filed a suit accusing Denton ISD of illegal electioneering, citing a February 5 email by a district official organizing and instructing district employees to vote for candidates that favor school choice, as reported by DX. Paxton has since filed suit against Frisco ISD over similar allegations of electioneering.
DX reached out to Smith-Faulkner, requesting comment, but no response was received by the publication deadline.
