Bastrop EDC drops plan to push education during school bond election - Austin American-Statesman

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The Bastrop Economic Development Corp. backed off a plan to support the school district’s $75 million bond by publishing pro-education ads in advance of November’s election amid concern it was an unlawful use of tax expenditures.

BEDC Executive Director Shawn Kirkpatrick said Tuesday that after further research he felt the corporation couldn’t justify spending money on advertising since it was limited in what it was able to say by the Texas Election Code.

According to that code, organizations that receive public funds, like the BEDC, are prohibited from donating to political action committees or coming out in favor of or against elections.

Mary Huber

Bastrop school district superintendent Steve Murray presents the proposed 13-cent maintenance and operations tax increase and $75 million bond that will come before voters Nov. 8. MARY HUBER/BASTROP ADVERTISER

Despite the rule, the BEDC had hoped to publish ads supporting education in general as a driver of economic growth — without directly advocating support for the school district’s $75 million bond and tax ratification election.

Bastrop Interim City Manager Marvin Townsend urged the organization against the expenditures at a board meeting in September.

“The issue of using public funds to influence any election is contrary to public office,” he said. “You are limited to discussion of the facts.”

Bastrop Mayor Ken Kesselus (left) and interim City Manager Marvin Townsend at a Bastrop Economic Development Corp. meeting. ANDY SEVILLA/BASTROP ADVERTISER

On Nov. 8, the Bastrop school district will ask voters to approve a $75 million bond and 13-cent maintenance and operations tax increase to pay for new infrastructure, enhanced safety measures, better technology and higher teacher salaries, as well as reconfigure grades and eliminate intermediate schools. Both measures, if approved, would increase the district’s property tax rate from $1.44 per $100 valuation to $1.61 per $100 valuation, school officials said.

The BEDC board argued that education and workforce development were key to economic growth and that by supporting education, they were in turn supporting their own mission, which is to bring good jobs to Bastrop.

“The economic development of this community … is largely dependent on our having quality schools, and we can’t have good schools if we’re not willing to pay for them,” BEDC board member and Bastrop Mayor Ken Kesselus said in September, when the group voted unanimously to direct advertising funds toward educational materials.

Mary Huber

The Bastrop Economic Development Corp. had planned to publish materials in support of education ahead of the school district’s $75 million bond election but abandoned the idea after it received pushback at its September meeting and accusations it was lobbying for the school in the election. MARY HUBER/BASTROP ADVERTISER

Many who attended the meeting accused the corporation of lobbying for the school.

No legal counsel was present at the time of the vote, since the BEDC had just fired its attorney JC Brown minutes earlier.

Brown had submitted a legal opinion on the matter, which said the corporation was allowed to provide “limited, indirect support for local educational initiatives,” but not direct support of the Bastrop school district.

Absent from the opinion was the portion of the Texas Election Code, Chapter 225, which spells out the unlawful use of public funds for political advertising. The Bastrop Economic Development Corp. is funded by sales tax revenue.

Kirkpatrick said upon further review of the code, and after speaking with board members and the city manager, he had decided against publishing any educational ads.

“The EDC supports the need for quality education, facilities and workforce training programs,” Kirkpatrick wrote in a statement to The Bastrop Advertiser.

But the organization, for the time being, will not spend any money toward promotional materials to advance education.

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