Pacific Research Institute's 2024 Texas School Board Member Conference Recap
PRI convened a very successful Texas School Board Member Conference in San Antonio on September 26. The event, which was held one day before the start of the annual Texas Association of School Boards txEDCON, drew 30 attendees representing 9 different school districts from across the state, including Dripping Springs ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Frisco ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, Katy ISD, Mansfield ISD, McKinney ISD, Princeton ISD and Wimberley ISD.
The conference focused on building relationships among school board members to promote student-centered policies on their board, fighting woke ideological indoctrination, and overcoming roadblocks to education reform from school bureaucrats and special interest groups.
Every attendee was given a copy of PRI’s latest book The Great Classroom Collapse, which emphasizes how woke social justice equity theory reduces academic rigor in the classroom and pushes down student achievement. Lance Izumi, the book’s author and senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discussed the woke education agenda and the themes of his book in his opening remarks.
Izumi also discussed the findings of PRI’s second annual nationwide poll, conducted by Echelon Insights, surveying voter attitudes on their local public schools and local school boards. The survey found that just 4 in 10 voters nationally rated their local school boards positively. He also set up the day’s discussion by exploring national and Texas student performance.
The conference keynote speaker was Steve Lecholop, deputy commissioner of governance for the Texas Education Agency. Lecholop discussed new curriculum initiatives being considered in Texas. He also offered various strategies to improve student achievement and how local school board trustees can use state tools to help their students.
Panel discussions and presentations included:
"Taking Action: Prioritizing Student Achievement"with Evelyn Brooks, member of the Texas State Board of Education and Tamara Harrington, vice president of programs for Leadership ISD.
"Addressing Texas’ Education Budget and Finance Challenges"with Laura Zorc, president of Best in Ed
"Increasing Teacher Quality and Retention, Preventing Burnout"with Texas Tech University professor Jacob Kirksey; Ben Mackey, executive director of the Texas Impact Network and board member with the Dallas ISD; and Emily Garcia, chief education officer with Versidi, Inc.
The conference 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 work with school board member attendees at upcoming member-only webinars and personal consultations.
Endorsements From School Board Member Conference Attendees
“The information presented by PRI at its conference in one day was worth more than the three days of the TASB conference.”
“The topics at PRI’s conference and the speakers who presented would never have been allowed on the TASB conference stage.”
“I just want to thank you and your staff for giving so much to Texas. I really appreciate your work.”
