Joy Surratt Baskin

Biography

As Education Counsel and AED for Policy and Legal Services at the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), Joy oversees Legal Services, Policy Service, and Community College Services. She is a staff liaison to the TASB Board of Directors’ Resolutions Committee. She also serves as counsel to TASB’s Legal Assistance Fund.

Joy served as Director of Legal Services from 2005 to 2022, after working as an attorney in the division for eight years. As director, Joy oversaw the activities of the legal team and support staff, as well as the creation of a separate department to support community colleges. TASB Legal Services provides legal information through online publications, phone consultations, and live and online training for Texas public school officials, along with specialized services for education service centers and community colleges. TASB also founded and supports the Texas Council of School Attorneys and TASB’s Legal Assistance Fund.

In 2021, Joy was Chair of the national Council of School Attorneys (COSA). She is a founding member of the National School Attorneys Association (NSAA), launched in 2023 as a national, independent organization to support the work of school lawyers. She serves as an ex officio board member for NSAA. She is a regular contributor to the Legal Brief column in the School Administrator magazine for the American Association of School Administrators (AASA).

Joy is a frequent presenter on school law topics in Texas and at national events. She has been a regular guest lecturer on school law and ethics at the University of Texas and Texas State University. Starting with the spring semester in 2024, Joy will teach School Law at the University of Texas School of Law as an adjunct professor.

Joy is an active member of the School Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, including serving as Chair in 2010-11. By appointment of the Texas Supreme Court, Joy served as a member of the Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth, and Families (“Children’s Commission”) Education Committee.

From 1995 to 1997, Joy was an associate in the trial department of Thompson & Knight (now Holland & Knight) in Dallas, Texas, where part of her responsibilities included representing public school districts. 

Joy received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, in 1992.  A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she attended Stetson on a Presidential Scholarship and received the faculty’s outstanding graduate award in English. Joy thoroughly enjoyed a year abroad, studying at the University of Madrid in 1991-92. She then attended the University of Texas School of Law, from which she received her law degree with honors in 1995.