If you're a fiscal conservative in Texas right now, the very thought of the November election should cause shivers to race up your spine.

If it doesn't, let us get you up to speed.

The Texas Parent PAC states on its website that the group is for "anyone who loves children and supports high-quality public education." There is precious little else on this group's website, but Texas Ethics Commission reports and some dedicated Google searches turn up some bone-chilling information.

The search for Parent PAC's leadership does not take long, turning up former Coalition for Public Schools coordinator Carolyn Boyle.

Boyle has long made it her mission to defeat any semblance of a school voucher program in Texas . She said in a 1998 Texas Schools Public Relations Association newsletter that she feared a voucher program would discourage the passage of school bonds. "Bonds," of course, is a code word for taxation. According to the Texas Ethics Commission, Boyle has personally contributed money to Annie's List, an organization for Democratic women candidates.

In an effort to appear "bipartisan," the PAC began last year targeting conservative Republicans in the primary. The most notable instance was in HD 94; the Parent PAC backed school board maven Diane Patrick to run against Public Education committee chair Kent Grusendorf. Patrick defeated Grusendorf after a bloody campaign, during which few Republicans took the infiltration seriously.

Liberal incumbent Republicans Delwin Jones, Tommy Merritt, Charlie Geren, Roy Blake, Jr., and Carter Casteel enjoyed Parent PAC support. Among these, three received an "F" on the Americans for Prosperity Taxpayers' scorecard. (Casteel scored an "F-.") Jones, Merritt, and Geren survived the primary, likely due to their considerable tenure.

If the scorecards of Geren, Blake, Merritt, Jones, and Casteel are an indication of the type of candidate that the Texas Parent PAC supports, then taxpayers had better watch their wallets when education bills are proposed in the House.

Parent PAC Republicans are poised to win in several districts and take their places in Austin . In addition, the Parent PAC has now endorsed Democrats in targeted House races. Among the most notable are House Districts 107 and 134.

Reps. Bill Keffer and Martha Wong have strong conservative voting records. Americans for Prosperity gave each of them an "A" for the 79th Legislature. (Keffer got an "A+.") Young Conservatives of Texas rated Keffer at 90% conservative. Both groups track voting history on fiscal conservative issues. For this last session, that would mean voting for accountability and transparency in education spending.

We wondered how the Parent PAC had turned out the vote. There was more than one House race with disproportionate turnout. Americans for Prosperity has turned up a letter sent by the Texas Parent PAC to school districts requesting full contact information for their employees and administrators.

The information was freely given in at least one school district, and with so many of Parent PACs supporters coming from within ISD administration, it's clear that the word was gotten out: some Texas legislators want to expose bad spending practices and keep ISDs accountable, and that offends the Parent PAC's mission.

According to various interviews and news articles, the Texas Parent PAC was particularly incensed over Republican leadership efforts to create a school voucher program in Texas . Again, this information cannot be found on the Parent PAC website.

A quick search of Ethics Commission reports reveals that they targeted races where Dr. James Leininger, a well-known advocate of school vouchers, donated money.

Why, though, would a group of "concerned parents" want to defeat vouchers specifically? The answer is that the Texas Parent PAC is not actually made up solely of "concerned parents," but also of current school employees, administrators, and lobbyists.

There goes the shiver again! The issue here is not school vouchers per se, but accountability. Administrators often take home the big salaries, boast about the million dollar-plus budgets they manage, and fight against any measure that keeps public schools accountable to taxpayers - whose money funds their extravagance.

From all accounts, the Texas Parent PAC is nothing more than a sinister tax-and-spend wolf disguised as a sheep.

Its tactics include endorsing liberal Republicans in the primaries to appear bipartisan and targeting teachers and school administrators through email lists provided by the ISDs.

We have yet to see what the results will be in this general election, but it is clear that if conservatives in Texas stay home, the composition of the Texas House of Representatives will be far less amenable to true education reform.

When you hear politicians say they are going to "help the children," it typically means they will raise your taxes and waste more taxpayer dollars. That dread you feel has little to do with Hallowe'en.

Connole is watchdog coordinator for Americans for Prosperity-Texas and Samuelson is a former state chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas .

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