Recently released documents from Austin ISD reveal how much money was spent to send students and employees to the Austin Pride Parade.
A new report by the Texas Public Policy Foundation suggests that the school district shelled out more than $8,000 in funds for the event.
To increase the law enforcement presence at the parade, the school district spent $4,318 on Austin ISD police officers for the day. The second-biggest cost was the “Pride T-shirts” provided to the children. In total, $2,490.75 went to purchase the shirts.
Beyond this, an additional $1,027 was spent on buses to shuttle students to and from the parade, and $388.13 was allocated for entry fees.
The school district’s finance department claimed, “[A]ll Pride funding and spending comes from private donations specifically for these events. No taxpayer money is involved.”
However, James Quintero, a policy director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the report’s author, said that he is not confident Austin ISD is telling the full story.
“As noted in the [district] response, the expenditures were all made with ‘private donations,'” he explained. “But even still, the district is serving as the collection point for these activities, and, presumably, it requires staff time to collect and coordinate what’s going on here.”
In an additional statement to The Dallas Express, Quintero asserted that the payment for Austin ISD police officers casts further doubt on the veracity of the school district’s claim that no taxpayer funds were used. He said that the Austin ISD Police Department told him, “Our officer’s overtime does come from our local general overtime account.”
“My understanding is that Austin ISD PD [is] funded through Internal Service Fund accounts, of which the overtime account is one, and operates using public money,” Quintero said.
“[This] raises questions about the district’s prior statement that ‘No taxpayer money is involved,'” Quintero continued. “I am not persuaded that this is the case.”
“The fact is that Austin ISD is collecting, coordinating, and, to some degree, even marketing the event to the public,” he concluded. “At a minimum, that requires staff time and attention, which may only be procured with public money.”
The school district had promoted the event to district staff, students, and families, inviting them “to represent Austin ISD in the annual Austin Pride Parade.”
“We are #AISDproud to celebrate our LGBTQIA+ students, staff, and families and to highlight our commitment to creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for all,” the public school district wrote.
“Pride costumes and rainbow colors are encouraged,” the district added. “Austin ISD Pride T-shirts [will be] provided to participants upon arrival.”
The students led the procession, holding a rainbow-colored Austin ISD banner and wearing the pink Pride shirts paid for by the school district. People wearing “furry” costumes marched alongside the students, and a district school bus drove in the parade.
The Texas Family Project commented on the event, tweeting, “Vulgarity, scantily clad adults, threats, and minors dressed as furries? This just a glimpse of what [Austin ISD] students were subjected to at Saturday’s pride parade in Austin.”
Others defended the students’ participation in the LGBTQ event.
Meebs Aslam, a member of the Austin Human Rights Commission, tweeted, “Conservative snowflakes losing their minds over … a pride parade of students celebrating social & self-acceptance of queer Texans.”
“Mind you, it was illegal to be gay in Texas ~20 years ago,” he claimed.