Connecting the Dots

Click on the links to Connect the Dots ... Education ... Public Officials ... Attorneys ... Lobbyists ... TASB ... Good Friends in High Places.

Let's get started ... I requested this document in September 2005. When Eanes ISD did not provide a single document in response to my public information request, I asked again in January 2006. I received the attached document eight (8) months later in September 2006.

During his time on the Eanes ISD school board, Brad Shields was a Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) board member and a lobbyist as well. Here are receipts showing that Eanes ISD paid for Mr. Shield's TASB trip to Washington, D.C. when he was a TASB board member and a lobbyist ... (Shields Legislative Associates). I wonder why our school district paid these expenses instead of TASB? When Eanes ISD parent Susan Bushart (see Community Update page of this site) contacted Mr. Shields to inquire about this reimbursement ... click here. Eanes ISD taxpayers are still funding Mr. Shields ... Click here to inspect checks provided to Mr. Shields by Eanes ISD. And one more thing? Guess who served Todd Baxter as Campaign Manager when Baxter ran for State Representative? Brad Shields, Eanes ISD school board member.

Apparently Shannon Ratliff worked 35 years for McGinnis, Lockridge & Kilgore and then switched to Akin Gump. More here. McGinnis, Lockridge and Kilgore represents Eanes ISD in many areas including attempts to withhold public information from the public and writing amicus briefs about "Vexatious Requestors." Who coined that phrase? Keep reading.

Back to Eanes ISD ... Board president Robert Durkee wrote a letter to TASB requesting the issue of open records as a legislative priority for TASB. Seems to me that school boards should work together as a "body corporate" and not as a single individual. Maybe Mr. Durkee should brush up on his ethics (and board policies) before forwarding letters on behalf of the Eanes ISD school board without the knowledge of the Eanes ISD school board. Wonder if that's ethical. The Eanes ISD board ratified the letter (after the fact) during the October 2006 Eanes ISD board meeting. That letter is the subject of a pending public information request. Also in October, the Eanes ISD board meeting minutes reflect an invitation to meet with another ISD board and I am interested in learning more. Update: More links soon.

The Texas Ethics Commission website lists Brad Shields, Dave Thompson (attorney representing Lake Travis ISD suing parents in that district for use of the Texas Public Information Act), and Randall (Buck) Wood (representing lobbyist Thomas Ratliff who is suing the Eanes ISD) ... all lobbyists for Open Records and Open Meetings ... here. I wonder if who will "defend" Eanes ISD in this lawsuit. I wonder if Eanes ISD is insured for litigation such as this though TASB. SEE UPDATE BELOW. The Eanes ISD 05-06 check register reflects these tax dollars expended to TASB ... no description currently available.

Speaking of civil rights ... I am a volunteer advocate for children with disabilities. Back in 2004 when my attempts at informal resolution within the district failed, I submitted a complaint against Eanes ISD to the Office of Civil Rights. The district retained outside legal counsel. When OCR substantiated my complaint, Eanes ISD Superintendent Nola Wellman apparently called that federal agency and she explained that TASB ... OCR phone log here.

So, who coined the phrase "Vexatious Requestor?" I submitted my first public information request in 2003. One year prior to my first request, in 2002 the TASB "legislative agenda" included the following statement:

Texas Association of School Administrators
406 East 11th Street Austin, TX 78701

Thompson, John David III (00035306)
Bracewell and Giuliani LLP 711 Louisiana Suite 2300 Houston, TX 77002-2770
Type of Compensation: Prospective
Amount: $10,000 - $24,999.99
Client - Start: 01/01/2007 Term Date: 12/31/2007

Veselka, Johnny L. (00012683)
406 East 11th Street Austin, TX 78701
Type of Compensation: Prospective
Amount: Less Than $10,000.00
Client - Start: 01/01/2007 Term Date: 12/31/2007

"The Wrong Man for the Job -- Bill Ratliff"

by Donna Garner

July 2, 2007

I want to leave no doubt in anyone's mind: Texas definitely does not need Ex-Texas Senator Bill Ratliff as the next Commissioner of Education. In yesterday's Austin American-Statesman (AAS), the editorial board recommended Ratliff for the position. Why am I not surprised? During the 1990's it was Ratliff, Mike Moses (Ex-Commissioner of Education), and the AAS who ran the show. Ratliff and Moses came up with their miserable ideas, and the AAS advertised them free of charge!

Now that the public is looking more objectively at education in our state, they are beginning to realize we have major problems with our public schools; and the people who helped to create this chaos are trying to distance themselves from the mess they created.

Ratliff is not just a "private citizen" with a big heart for the schools. Besides his legislative retirement benefits, Ratliff makes large sums of money as a taxpayer-enriched opportunist. Ratliff is a registered lobbyist (http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/dfs/loblists.htm) with many clients including the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB). Having retired from the Texas Senate in 2003, he began representing TASB on May 10, 2004. That year he received up to $99,999.99 from TASB, and again in 2005, and 2006.

We taxpayers paid Ratliff's rich lobbying fees because the membership dues that education entities pay to join TASB come from our taxpayers' dollars.

Because the TASB dues come from public funds, we taxpayers are actually paying TASB to lobby Legislators for more school funding so that our taxes will increase. We are paying to lobby ourselves!

Ratliff is also a paid lobbyist for Raise Your Hand from which he is to make $49,999.99 in 2007: http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/tedd/lobcon2007d.htm.

The Austin paper did not bother to mention Ratliff's many lobbying allegiances and conflicts of interest nor did the paper mention other important facts about Ratliff. Not only did he author the failed and oft-maligned Robin Hood Plan, but he also drafted SB 1 in 1995 which stripped local teachers of control over what they taught.

Due to SB 1, Texas teachers have lost control over their day-to-day instruction and instead must follow the poorly constructed Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards.

The English / Language Arts / Reading TEKS are particularly egregious because they are not explicit, measurable, or specific for each grade level; and the curriculum requirements listed in the ELAR/TEKS are much too numerous for a teacher to cover thoroughly in a year's time. Therefore, teachers flit from one TEKS element to the next, never really having time to make sure students gain mastery.

It is these poorly written standards (the opposite of back-to-the-basics curriculum requirements) upon which the much-despised TAKS tests are based.

As the author of SB 1, Ratliff is also responsible for taking the authority away from elected local school boards and placing that power into the hands of unelected superintendents.

No longer do locally elected school board members have any real control over the all-important issues of personnel hiring and district curriculum decisions.

Local school board members' duties have basically been reduced to (1) hiring and firing the superintendent, (2) buying and selling property, and (3) setting board policy (e.g., those items which involve board members themselves -- elections, vacancies on the board, travel and reimbursement policies, etc.).

Ratliff is also responsible for the loss of control by the elected State Board of Education. At the state level, Ratliff tried for years to replace the elected State Board of Education (SBOE) with an appointed one. Appointed boards really do not care what voters want. They will do the will of whoever appoints them and of the lobbyists who orchestrate from a distance.

Ratliff's SB 1 reduced the authority of the elected SBOE and enhanced the power of the unelected Texas Commissioner of Education who at the time was Ratliff's joined-at-the-hip ally, Mike Moses.

Ratliff always pretended that the SBOE had lost control over textbook content; and until Attorney General Greg Abbott's 2006 opinion, the SBOE was shut out of fulfilling its lawful responsibilities. For eleven years the Board labored under Ratliff's false interpretation; and during that time, numerous inferior textbooks were placed in front of our Texas students.

Because of Ratliff's influence on SB 1, elected SBOE members cannot even elect their own chairperson; the Governor appoints one.

I certainly trust that Gov. Perry will completely ignore the Austin American Statesman's endorsement of Ratliff as Commissioner of Education. The future of true education reform in this state depends upon this appointment.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

- Albert Einstein