Carroll’s exit from school board association means it will need help for legal expenses
The Southlake Carroll school board lost access to the Texas Association of School Boards’ legal resources when it voted to leave the association.
Those resources include being a part of the association’s risk management fund, which means school districts can receive coverage for litigation expenses.
Without membership in the organization, the school district will now have to find a way to pay for litigation.
Carroll schools have received $308,000 in assistance from the risk management fund for liability coverage during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, an association representative wrote in an email.
The school district has not used any risk management fund money to cover nearly $275,000 incurred by the district as it faces eight separate civil rights investigations from the U.S. Department of Education, school officials said in response to an open records request.
Part of the school board’s resolution passed March 27 was to put out a request for proposal for risk management services. School officials did not immediately return requests for comment on where the the proposal stands.
School board members voted 5-1 March 27 to leave the nonpartisan association, citing objections to policies that favored diversity and to using tax dollars for services that could be found at a cheaper price.
Michelle Moore voted against the resolution over concerns that the district needed more time to evaluate the ramifications of pulling out of the association.
The association provides training, policy guidance and risk management to school districts.
