Executive Director’s Blog

Texans should take great pride in the Texas Capitol building and grounds. It is a stunning building — 11.64 feet taller than the U.S. Capitol, and it is a monument to democracy. Any citizen can enter the building, take a tour, participate in a hearing, visit a...

TASA was founded in 1925, which, if my math is correct, was 99 years ago. For some perspective, in 1925 Texas Gov. Pat Neff handed over the reins to “Ma” Ferguson, the first female governor in Texas (and second in the nation) that year. Calvin Coolidge was president...

Back in 2017, when I was working as a superintendent and serving as TASA president, I chaired the TASA 2025 Task Force, a group of 40 superintendents and assistant superintendents who developed the strategic framework that guides all of the work we do today. At the...

You know, there's something ... immoral about abandoning your own judgment ... We just can't let this get out of hand. And we're gonna do whatever we have to do to make this come out right." —John F. Kennedy in the movie "JFK" In every state that uses taxpayer money...

We may already be in our second special session of 2023, with more specials forecasted for summer and fall, but I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the 88th regular legislative session because it was definitely one for the history books. Our TASA Governmental...

One of the most fortunate occurrences in my professional career was working for a superintendent, Charles Bradberry, whose passion was finding talented teachers and administrators. As an assistant principal in my mid-20s, I learned so much from him about creating a...

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill crossed political boundaries to enact legislation at the federal level. Although they had political differences, there was a sense that they were working for the common good and each knew they...

Let’s face it, the past two-plus years have been a challenge, though the word “challenge” may be the understatement of the century. We can wallow in that if we want (I certainly have done it more than my fair share) or we can celebrate that, in spite of the...

Being an educator has never been easy. Educators are called to serve, so they instinctively put the needs of others ahead of their own. They spend countless hours designing lessons, grading work, coaching individual children, completing endless paperwork, dealing with...

Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, far right, far left, or somewhere in between on the political spectrum, voting in the primary elections is the most important civic responsibility we have as Texans. In our state, the most important elections occur in the...

For the past 18 months, I have had a bit of survivor’s guilt. After 28 years of serving in public schools, the last 10 as a superintendent, I left school district work to serve at TASA in 2018. In the best of times, being a superintendent is barely sustainable, though...

Recently, an elected state leader told me that public education, like health care, has long been on the fringe of what the government should be involved with. In other words, public education is not really a core function of our government. I couldn’t disagree more....

Tip O’Neill, the legendary U.S. Speaker of the House in the 1980s, was famous for getting things done in a bipartisan fashion, most notably with President Ronald Reagan. He is also famous for saying “all politics is local.” That is, while national politics might be...

Teachers have a special place in my heart. They are part of my DNA … literally. Both of my parents taught in public schools, including my mom, who taught at my elementary school. They were my first teachers, and they instilled in me the importance of service to others...