Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued an opinion stating that school boards in El Paso County can probably post on their websites the personal financial statements of board members.  In the language of AG Opinions, Mr. Paxton said that “A court would likely conclude” that a board can do this if the majority so chooses, even over the objection of one of its members.

Why El Paso County? Because only in El Paso County are school board members required to submit a personal financial statement.

Why is that so?  Because the 2013 Legislature said so.

You may wonder: how does the Lege adopt a law that only applies to El Paso County?  Well, of course the law does not say that it only applies to El Paso County. Section 11.0641 of the Texas Education Code “applies only to the board of trustees of an independent school district that is located on the international border and in which a municipality with a population of 600,000 or more is located.”

Let’s see….international border. Big city.  Must be El Paso.  So now we will see if any of the nine districts in the county decide to divulge this information. Stay tuned.

This is from Attorney General Opinion KP-0069, issued March 14, 2016.

DAWG BONE: BOARD MEMBERS IN EL PASO HAVE LESS PRIVACY THAN OTHERS.