The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) brought in a conference speaker who urged school board members to use teacher raises as a “weapon”—because they’ll need teachers angry enough to apply political pressure in the upcoming Texas legislative session.
Speaking with the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Mandy Drogin, Dripping Springs ISD board member Rob McClelland says that at a recent TASB conference for board members, a consultant with Moak Casey spoke about school finance—and raises for teachers.
“Lots of school districts are having budget problems,” McClelland said.
Moak Casey was brought into TASB’s Summer Leadership Institute in San Antonio from July 12 through 15. The consulting firm bills itself as “Proven Leaders in Public Schools,” and tout the firm’s record on helping districts get bond packages passed.
In that conference, according to McClelland, Moak Casey CEO Buck Gilcrease told board members from throughout the state that raises for teachers should be withheld this year as a way to leverage an agenda with lawmakers.
“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.”
McClelland said he had no intention of accepting this advice.
“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.”
McClelland emphasized that he’s speaking as an individual, and not on behalf of the DSISD board.
Moak Casey’s Gilcrease did not respond to an email asking for a comment on this matter.
But TASB spokesperson Sylvia Wood distanced the organization from Moak Casey—even though Moak Casey is one of TASB’s top partners.
“Organizations besides TASB often present at our events and all registrants are notified that the views expressed in presentations and materials offered by non-TASB staff are the views of the presenters only and do not necessarily reflect the views of TASB, its members, officers, directors, or staff,” she said.
She added that Gilcrease’s strategy of denying raises to teachers in order to apply political pressure “does not represent a TASB position, nor one that we agree with or support. As a nonpartisan member organization, TASB takes no position on how people should vote.”
Pleading Poverty
At the San Antonio conference, the mood at the conference was somber, according to McClelland. And that’s reflected in the claims made by TASB in the conference materials. TASB has framed much of the conference as local districts against the Legislature.
“The 88th Legislature did not even fund the increase in inflation post-HB 3, affording districts the same money, much less new or more money,” the panel description for Strategic Budgeting in Critical Climates reads. “Unresolved, the consequences are devastating.”
And in another panel description, TASB contends that “The state claims to be spending more money than ever before on public education. Yet, school budgets are stretched tighter than ever with inflation climbing, state mandates increasing, and ESSER receding.”
These claims are simply untrue. According to Texas Education Agency, which distributes money to public schools, Texas spent $92.4 billion on public education in the 2022-23 school year, an increase of over $7.6 billion from the previous school year .
And even when accounting for inflation, Texas spent $22.8 billion more in 2023 than it did in 2012. That’s a whopping 32% increase in inflation-adjusted spending (adjusted to 2024 dollars) over the last decade.