Issues and Advocacy
TASB Advocacy Agenda
2008-2010 Advocacy Agenda
Change is one constant: the evolving needs of school districts and the availability of state funding for public education.
And there are others: resistance to taxation, underfunding of public education, erosion of local control, and the need for continuing educational improvement.
 Meeting those challenges is the focus of the TASB Advocacy Agenda: Early in 2008, TASB hosted grassroots meetings in each of the 20 Education Service Center Regions. These meetings involved hundreds of board members and yielded regional priorities that will be included in a statewide legislative program for the upcoming biennium. The meetings also resulted in the designation of regional representatives to the TASB Legislative Advisory Council. This 108-member group will meet in Austin in April and May to meld these regional agendas into specific Advocacy Priorities for which the Association at large will pledge resources and energy.
The Council also elected from its members four local trustees to serve as voting ex officio members of the TASB Board's Legislative Committee. This Committee closely monitors progress of the Advocacy Agenda; these four trustees serve as a bridge between the Council and the Committee.
After the 2009 legislative session, the Council will reconvene in June to review the Advocacy Agenda in light of legislative actions and recommend refinements to the adopted priorities.
The Advocacy Resolutions, the reactive stances adopted by the Delegate Assembly, are submitted by individual districts between April and July and address emerging education issues. Resolutions are submitted to the TASB Board Resolutions Committee, considered by the TASB Board, and adopted by the 2008 Delegate Assembly if approved by a majority vote.
The third leg of the TASB Advocacy Agenda are the Cornerstone Principles, which establish an organizational imperative. Principles require adoption by a two-thirds majority of the attending delegates at the 2008 Delegate Assembly.
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