Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has closed investigations into two North Texas school districts he accused of using tax dollars to advocate for recent funding elections.
Paxton's office sent letters to Garland and Northwest ISD, as well as Judson and Liberty Hill ISDs, accusing them of illegal electioneering ahead of Tuesday's election.
The letters quote a Texas law that says "the board of trustees of an independent school district may not use state or local funds or other resources of the district to electioneer for or against any candidate, measure, or political party."
Voters in Garland and Northwest ISDs passed Voter-Approval Tax Rate Elections this week. Garland ISD's VATRE is expected to generate $56 million for special education, salary hikes for improved teacher retention, student programs and added safety and security measures. Northwest's VATRE, for $12 million, will go toward helping reduce class sizes and improve teacher compensation, the district said.
Paxton's office said the districts used taxpayer funding to encourage voters — through posts on their websites and on Facebook — to support the VATREs, but later removed "the offending material" after receiving the letters.
Northwest ISD denied all allegations, calling Paxton's Friday press release "factually inaccurate." The district acknowledged it "voluntarily rephrased" a sentence in a post after the AG's office outlined in its letter, but said in a statement to KERA that it did not electioneer during its 2025 election. A spokesperson said the district communicated that fact to the Attorney General's office on Nov. 4 in response to the letter it had received a day earlier.
"As with all district elections, communication materials were reviewed by a third-party legal consultant for full compliance with all state laws, including those governing electioneering," the district told KERA. "Throughout the district's most recent election, Northwest ISD provided fact-based communication to help the community understand the ballot measure."
Last week Judson ISD told Texas Public Radio it also hadn't engaged in electioneering, but removed an online video ahead of the election "in an effort to avoid protracted time-consuming litigation."
KERA also reached out to Garland and Liberty Hill ISDs and will update this story with any response.
Bill Zeeble is KERA's education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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