So how did CCISD do? Great!
The Texas Tribune had a great article about a new law requiring all school districts to post campaign finance reports. CCISD has posted the reports for years on their website. You can find them here. According to the Tribune “The Texas Tribune and ProPublica analyzed 35 Texas school districts that held trustee elections last fall and found none that posted all of the required campaign finance records.” That is 35 districts out of over 1000.
I have to highlight one of the responses from a school district. The State has put so much legislation pressure on school districts throughout the state including putting guns into school, posting religious statements, allowing Chaplins to replace professional counselors, and more. It’s amazing any district can keep up.
A spokesperson for Lago Vista Independent School District, outside Austin, said simply, “Unfortunately, with the multitude of legislative mandates following the 88th session, this one got by us.”
Even with posting these reports there are ways to hide campaign donations and support for candidates. Political Actions Committees (PACs) can spend unlimited money in support of a candidate and the expenditure can be very difficult to find. As an example a PAC spent $150,000 on three candidates in Keller ISD. $50,000 each in a race that typically should cost $2-$5 at most! BTW, all three won, one has resigned, and another is probably going to be sued.
I am surprised the State has required school districts to post this information but they should also require PACs to post to the Texas Ethics Commission in a way that a search can be easily performed. At this point it is very difficult to find a PACs participation.
Bay Area Houston 