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November 2016 Resolution in Honor of Thomas Ratliff

WHEREAS Thomas Ratliff has been an active public school volunteer; and

WHEREAS in 2010, he took that activism to the next level by running for the State Board of Education; and

WHEREAS the citizens of District 9 elected him to this office in both 2010 and 2012; and

WHEREAS Mr. Ratliff served on the Committee on School Finance/Permanent School Fund and helped the fund grow into the largest educational endowment in the country; and

WHEREAS he developed an uncanny ability to persuade his fellow board members and education association advocates to find common ground on contentious issues; and

WHEREAS Mr. Ratliff was always mindful of the impact that new education policies would have on small and rural districts like the ones that populate his board district; and

WHEREAS his work on the board continued his family’s legacy of public service; and

WHEREAS Mr. Ratliff has become so well-known for his good deeds in the field of public education that he received this fall the prestigious Golden Deeds Award; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the State Board of Education express its heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Thomas Ratliff for his service to the schoolchildren of Texas and the people of State Board of Education District 9; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to Thomas Ratliff in appreciation of his service on the board and that a copy be included in the permanent records of the State Board of Education.

WITNESS our signatures this eighteenth day of November, two thousand sixteen, in Austin, Texas.


Donna Bahorich, Chair


Ruben Cortez Jr., Secretary