TribTalk | Perspectives on Texas

A publication of The Texas Tribune
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James de Garavilla, Silsbee ISD Trustee and TASB President 2018-19

Texas Association of School Boards

The Texas Association of School Boards is a nonprofit, statewide association dedicated to promoting educational excellence for Texas students and serving local Texas school boards. We represent every school district in Texas—large and small, and rural, suburban, and urban. Our members are the locally elected school boards serving Texas school districts. School board members are unpaid volunteers who are dedicated to educational excellence for Texas school children. They serve because they care about their communities, schools, and most importantly, children.

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Property tax relief, improved school funding must go together

By James de Garavilla, Silsbee ISD Trustee and TASB President 2018-19,

Property tax relief is inextricably tied to improved school funding. Locally elected, locally accountable school board members know that property tax restraints cannot be addressed in isolation without detrimental effects to Texas schools. Over the past decade, the Texas Legislature has shifted more and more of the burden for funding the state’s public schools onto the shoulders of local taxpayers because of an outdated school finance system.