A well-known taxpayer funded lobbyist told a conference of school board trustees to weaponize teacher pay so teachers would be motivated to lobby the legislature and vote differently at the ballot box.
This revelation comes from Rob McClelland, a Dripping Springs ISD trustee who was at a June meeting hosted by the Texas Association of School Boards and heard the remarks from Moak Casey CEO Buck Gilcrease firsthand. McClelland recounted the story in an interview with TPPF’s Mandy Drogin.
“Before we got into the meat and potatoes of school finance, the CEO, who I’ve never met before in my life, starts going on a rant…a rant about the failure of school board trustees, the failure of teachers to vote a certain way to persuade the legislature to do certain things.” McClelland said. “(Gilcrease) was encouraging us to utilize compensation as a weapon to try to change the way our teachers would vote.”
“And that was the point that I got up and walked out—and there were a few people who got up and followed me,” he said. “Because I was not going to subject myself to that stupidity—to weaponize compensation against our educators. I mean, it’s ridiculous, right? It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Earlier this year, the superintendent of Huffman ISD was caught on audio illegally encouraging teachers and staff to vote against opponents of school choice and tying it to teacher pay.
It’s worth remembering that school boards do not need permission from the state legislature to raise teacher salaries. If teachers aren’t getting raises, it’s because the ISDs are making that choice. For example, Arlington, Bastrop, and Fort Worth all gave teachers raises this year.
I can only imagine how angry I would be as a teacher if my compensation were being used a weapon in a political lobbying strategy.
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