Category Archives for Permanent School Fund
Something’s Rotten Here
In today’s Texas Tribune story about the State Board of Education‘s management of the Permanent School Fund (PSF), much of the focus has been on this inane quote from board member David Bradley, R-Beaumont Buna: “If you sit on the mental health commission, do you have to be retarded? If you sit on the [Texas […]
Also posted in David Bradley, Rick Agosto
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Talking Points
From today’s TFN News Clips: “If you sit on the mental health commission, do you have to be retarded? If you sit on the [Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission], do you have to be a drunk?” — Texas State Board of Education member David Bradley, R-Beaumont Buna, arguing that state board members don’t need to be finance […]
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Finger Pointing at the Texas SBOE
Once again we see evidence that the Legislature made a huge mistake last spring by not letting Texas voters decide whether to strip the State Board of Education of authority over managing the Permanent School Fund. (Republican leaders in the state Senate helped kill that and a number of other SBOE reform bills.) It has […]
Also posted in State Board of Education, Tincy Miller
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Ethics Complaints Target Texas SBOE Members
An Austin-based ethics watchdog filed complaints Monday with the Texas Ethics Commission against two State Board of Education members for not disclosing gifts they reportedly received from a firm seeking investment business with the board. The complaints filed by Texans for Public Justice urged the commission to determine whether Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio, and Rene Nuñez, D-El […]
Reality vs. Perception on SBOE Ethics?
On Friday two Texas State Board of Education members at the center of recent stories about ethics concerns denied that they have done anything wrong. Check out reports on this from the Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman and Dallas Morning News. The denials came on the same day the state board’s Finance/Permanent School Fund Committee discussed whether the […]
Also posted in Gail Lowe
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TFN Calls for Lege to Investigate SBOE Ethics
The Texas Freedom Network issued the following press release today: The president of the Texas Freedom Network today called on state lawmakers to investigate ethics concerns swirling around the Texas State Board of Education’s management of the Permanent School Fund and to reconsider their failure this spring to let voters decide whether the board should […]
SBOE Committee to Discuss Ethics Concerns
This requires close watching. Faced with growing a growing list of ethics concerns regarding the Texas State Board of Education‘s management of the Permanent School Fund, the board’s Finance Committee is meeting on Friday to review ethics rules. The Austin American-Statesman has the story here. What isn’t clear, however, is whether some board members are more interested […]
New Revelations on SBOE Ethics Concerns
The Dallas Morning News just dropped another ethics bomb on the Texas State Board of Education. The newspaper reports that two board members “have received thousands of dollars in gifts from a company seeking a lucrative contract with the board, records show, and those members have not reported the gifts on financial disclosure forms.” Today’s […]
Also posted in Uncategorized
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Growing Concern over Texas SBOE Ethics
A major story and two scathing editorials in the last few days show that concerns over possible financial shenanigans and vote-trading on the Texas State Board of Education are growing. We told you last week about ethics concerns (see here and here) surrounding the state board’s management of the Permanent School Fund. Today the San […]
Money and Politics at the Texas SBOE, Part II
(Click here for Part I of this series.) The Texas Freedom Network and other observers have long been puzzled about why Rick Agosto, a San Antonio Democrat, has often sided with the State Board of Education’s far-right faction since his election in 2006. He has done so even when all other Democrats — and even […]
Also posted in Rick Agosto, State Board of Education
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