Please make plans to join us at the TASA/TASB Convention for our annual membership meeting. We will meet Saturday, September 24 at 2:15 p.m. at the Marriott Riverwalk (right across East Market Street from the Grand Hyatt and Convention Center). We will meet on the 2nd floor in the Alamo Ballroom.

We are pleased to release a new Communications Toolkit. This time, it is specifically designed For School Districts Proposing Bond Elections. If that's something that will be on a ballot in your district this November, or possibly next May, then please take a look at the messaging guidance, examples, and food for thought provided in this resource.

Thanks to our friends at New West Communications for their work on this project.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

And don't forget about this similar resource: Communications Toolkit for School Districts Proposing VATR Elections

Here is the latest information on legislative committees and commissions we are tracking. 130 days remain before the 88th Legislative Session. It will be here before we know it.

The House Ways & Means Committee will meet on Thursday, September 8 to hear testimony on interim charges related to topics including Chapter 313 economic development tax incentives as well as property taxes, including property tax appraisals.

The House Appropriations Committee will meet two days next week. On Thursday, September 8, they will hear testimony on five different topics, including the Teacher Retirement System. They will hear an update on the TRS fund as well as both TRS Care and TRS ActiveCare. Then on Friday, September 9, the Committee will hear testimony on four topics, which include their interim charge on ESSER expenditures.

The Senate Local Government Committee will conduct two days of hearings later in the month. On Tuesday, September 13, the Committee will take up four different interim charges, including taxpayer funded lobbying. The following day, Wednesday, September 14, they will hear testimony on property tax reform as well as appraisal reform.

The committee's final interim hearing will be a joint hearing with the House Higher Education Committee on the topic of teacher workforce recruitment, retention, and preparation on Tuesday, September 20.

The Commission is scheduled to meet again on September 28. They conducted a two-day hearing in August to hear testimony on virtual models and special populations.

Remember that you can always check our hearing tracker to stay up-to-date on which interim charges have been heard and when. Not too much of the interim remains, and we've highlighted in yellow to indicate the topics committees have not yet scheduled hearings to cover.

The Coalition has adopted our priorities for the upcoming 88th Legislative Session in 2023.

You can take a look at the priorities on our website to get more information behind each of those statements. And if you are interested in even more details about what all of this means, we have expanded further with an itemized list of priorities under each of those headings.