A new education organization is challenging the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) in an effort to combat “woke” ideology in public schools across the state.
Texans for Excellence in Education (TEE) pitched a partnership with Carroll Independent School District to school board trustees Monday evening.
Executive Director Hava Armstrong told trustees that TEE is a non-partisan, non-profit organization seeking to aid school districts in delivering high-quality education to students.
She said in her presentation that TEE believes parents should be “principally involved” in the education of their children, noting that school board trustees are elected by voters and are, therefore, “accountable to the taxpayer.”
Carroll ISD School Board President Cameron Bryan said the board decided in March not to renew its membership with TASB and began seeking alternatives, one of which must be selected before the beginning of the new fiscal year.
TEE is a potential solution.
“For decades, [TASB] has had [an] unchecked monopoly on providing the elected members of our Texas public school boards with critical services that absolutely impact every aspect of how they function, from obvious fiduciary responsibilities all the way downstream to what is taught in our classrooms and even where our kids go to the bathroom — and with whom,” Armstrong said in a subsequent press conference attended by The Dallas Express.
“That monopoly ends now,” she continued. “School districts are not one-size fits all.”
Armstrong asserted that TASB has attempted to “conform” all the school districts across the state into “its vision for Texas public schools.” She claimed this approach endangers the independence of elected school board trustees and places more value on unelected administrators.
TASB casts the situation differently, however.
In a previous statement to The Dallas Express, a TASB representative alleged that attempts to provide an alternative such as TEE are “part of an effort to undermine local governance in public education and to silence and fragment the state’s largest group of elected officials — school board trustees.”
Armstrong also said Monday that the “worldview” of TASB “pushes for biological males to be in the same restrooms and locker rooms as our young girls.” She said that while TASB pushes “indoctrination” on students, TEE prioritizes transparency and values the input of parents.
“TEE is here to put ‘independent’ back into ‘independent school district,'” she declared.
Multiple state lawmakers also attended Monday’s school board meeting to express their support for TEE.
Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) asserted that TEE is a “great alternative to the liberal-leaning organization TASB that is indoctrinating children and teachers in this state.”
“If you’re a school district that has the courage to step forward and dump TASB, I would tell you to seriously consider TEE,” he continued. “It’s going to change the face of education.”
Rep. Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth) also praised TEE’s efforts.
Schatzline said he is “so excited” for TEE to not only provide an alternative to TASB but also to take “a step in the right direction” as it aims to refocus public schools on education rather than indoctrination.
“I’m ready for TEE to step up and write policy manuals, not leftist policy mandates like TASB where they come in and begin to shift the narrative making sure that your students are indoctrinated against your will,” he continued.
“Taxpayer dollars go to fund TASB,” Schatzline noted. “Those are taxpayer dollars that are working directly against the values of the taxpayer and that’s exactly the antithesis of what TEE is.”
In March, the Republican Party of Texas asked school boards to disassociate from TASB because the group allegedly “encourag[es] harmful gender ideology in schools.”
Previous coverage from The Dallas Express on TEE’s effort to challenge TASB’s monopoly can be found here.