District responds to AG lawsuit

To suggest that our public school budget is not impacted by this Primary Election - the Primary Election through which those who make decisions for funding for public schools will be elected - certainly seems less than transparent to us.”

Aledo ISD

The Aledo ISD issued a statement today in response to learning that it is being sued by the Texas Attorney General’s office.

While the district has not been served in the suit or been contacted by the AGs office, school district officials have seen the pleading.

According to the AISD statement, “the OAG alleges that the district engaged in electioneering because the district’s email to the community last week was, ‘discussing the school’s budget and how voting in the primary election would greatly impact Aledo schools.’

 “To suggest that our public school budget is not impacted by this Primary Election - the Primary Election through which those who make decisions for funding for public schools will be elected - certainly seems less than transparent to us.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued a number of other school districts on the same issue. Earlier this week he sued the Frisco Independent School District and two principals in the Denton ISD. In the Frisco case, he alleged that certain social media posts were “pushing certain policies and political measures.”

In the Denton case, he alleged that two principals used school district resources to send out a “scorecard” rating legislative candidates’ support for public education.

Later this week he sued Castleberry ISD and Denison ISD.

“State law prohibits school district officials from using public resources to advocate for or against any candidate, measure, or political party, and, after consulting with our legal counsel, it is clear that the email cited by the OAG in the suit did not constitute electioneering,” said the statement from Aledo ISD. A copy of the email posted on the district’s website can be found at https://bit.ly/AISD-statement.

“In all things, we work hard to be transparent and make sure our community and staff are well informed. We also believe that exercising one's right to vote is a civic duty that should be encouraged and promoted. If you have lived here for the last several years, you know that we regularly encourage voting in every national, state and local election,” the district’s statement concluded.