March 1, 2024
(Austin, TX) – This week, the Office of Attorney General secured a temporary restraining order against Frisco Independent School District. The court demanded Frisco ISD immediately stop using taxpayer time and resources on alleged illegal electioneering activities. This came after the Attorney General sued Frisco ISD based on social media posts attempting to impact the outcome of the ongoing primary elections.
These alleged illegal actions by Frisco Independent School District did not start this week. On February 2nd, State Representative Jared Patterson requested an official advisory opinion from the Texas Ethics Commission regarding ongoing electioneering communication from the district which, at best, goes against the spirit of Texas law relating to using taxpayer dollars to affect the outcome of an election.
Frisco ISD clearly sought to convince Democratic voters to vote in the Republican primary election and sought to encourage support of who they deem to be pro-public school system candidates. On March 20th, the Texas Ethics Commission will conduct their quarterly meeting where they may issue an official advisory opinion in response to this request.
In early February, documents from the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) became public, detailing social media campaign guidelines in attempts to encourage school districts to use taxpayer funded time and resources to influence elections. Later that month, emails from Denton ISD personnel encouraging specific candidates became public resulting in a lawsuit from the Office of the Attorney General for electioneering. On February 28th, Frisco ISD received a lawsuit from the Office of Attorney General for claims of electioneering, which was similar to communication material Rep. Patterson submitted to the Texas Ethics Commission in request of an advisory opinion.
Jared Patterson represents House District 106, which encompasses the eastern portion of Denton County. During the 86th, 87th, and 88th Legislative Sessions, Patterson authored and passed initiatives in policy areas such as transportation, education, property taxes, as well as eliminated unnecessary and burdensome government regulations. Patterson serves on the House Committees on Calendars, Licensing and Administrative Procedures, Transportation and serves as Policy Chair of the Texas House Republican Caucus Policy Committee. He is a member of the Texas House Criminal Justice Reform Caucus, the Texas Cyber Security Council, the Energy Council, Secretary of the Texas Aggie Caucus, and also serves as a board member for the Texas Conservative Coalition. Jared and his family reside in Frisco and are members of the First Baptist Church of Frisco.
