Pacific Research Institute convened a very successful inaugural Texas School Board Member Conference in Dallas on September 28. The conference, which was held one day before the start of the annual Texas Association of School Boards convention, drew nearly 40 in-person attendees representing 14 different school districts from across the state. 

Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, served as the conference moderator. In his opening remarks, he discussed the findings of PRI’s recently released national voter opinion survey, which showed that voters are more dissatisfied with their local school boards than their neighborhood schools, and see room for improvement in public education. 

The conference began with a presentation from Melanie Sturm, founder and principal of Engage to Win, who taught attendees about the “Six Powers of Persuasion,” or using the right language and the right communications tactics to push forward a free-market education reform agenda while also building common ground and diverse coalitions.

The first panel discussion explored how to improve student readiness and better equip Texas students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in school and after graduation.  

Mary Lynn Pruneda, senior policy advisor for Texas 2026 and former education policy advisor to Governor Greg Abbott, discussed the disconnect between the growing Texas job market and the inability of the Texas public school system to produce qualified workers for the marketplace. AJ Crabill, author of Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective, explained the importance of focusing on student outcomes and using tools such as student assessments in order to gauge the effectiveness of school districts and school board policies.  

Following a networking lunch, the second panel discussed how school board members can effectively use research and data to inform policy decisions. Deborah Wahlstrom, author of Using Data to Improve Student Achievement, talked about the Texas state subject matter examinations and what school board members needed to know about the performance levels of those exams in order to inform their decisions in their own districts. University of Arkansas professor Robert Maranto shared his experiences serving as a member of the Fayetteville, Arkansas school board and added his insight as an education professor to give school board members advice on how to practically implement research-based decisions.

The final panel discussion explored how school board members can ask the right questions to implement effective curriculum that best suits the needs of their local districts, which is especially important at a time when Critical Race Theory and other controversial curriculum are being pushed across the country. Andrew Yeager shared his experiences as a member of the Carroll Independent School District Board in areas of curriculum adoption and in particular how to avoid politically charged content. AJ Crabill gave school board members criteria by which they could judge the effectiveness of curriculum in order to provide them with the background information needed to ask the right questions to school district staff. 

The day ended with a reception where like-minded school board members were able to network and connect and begin to build statewide alliances to fight controversial curriculum and advocate for policies that are in the best interests of all Texas students. PRI will continue to engage the attendees and those who were unable to attend in person through regular webinars and outreach. 

Below are a few testimonials from School Board Members who attended the conference: 

“Even though we only met for one day, the conversation was 1000% more beneficial to me than the Texas Association of School Boards conference.”

“The other presenters were fabulous – I’ve ordered AJ’s book!”

“I enjoyed the conference. I enjoyed AJ very much and the speakers and lots of information that was so helpful. So much great stuff to take away.”

“Thank you for your investment in me and my two Board colleagues at the one-day conference last week. We enjoyed it and took away many nuggets to work on in one of the fastest growing school districts in Texas.”

“The conference was very useful. The presentations (presenters and content) were absolutely relevant and useful. I also liked the accessibility of the speakers and the interaction time with other school board members from all over the state.”

We will be distributing digital resources to attendees and school board members who were unable to join in person. PRI School Board Training Conferences will be held this fall in California, Arizona, and Washington State. 

Our work to educate and empower school board members to put parents and students first would not be possible without the generosity of our supporters. We are incredibly grateful to our donors for supporting this critical program.