Make it Matter Monday 4/21

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Texas representatives who started the morning supporting an amendment that would have put the voucher question to the voters caved after a meeting with Governor Abbott and President Trump who threatened their current bills and future career. The bullying worked and those reps ended the day by voting against their constituents. 

Read their sorry excuses

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Many state representatives, including all the Democrats and two Republicans, stood strong against the hardball tactics of the Governor. Please call them and thank them for their courage and integrity. We appreciate any representative who puts their constituents ahead of their donors. 

Link to list of names and phone numbers

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One of our fiercest local representatives, Rep. Gina Hinojosa, gave an inspiring speech at the end of voucher fight that everyone needs to hear. Texas is broken and that brokenness was on full display Wednesday. Listen to her call to work together to build a new Texas out of the rubble left but this leadership's slash and burn approach to politics and policy. 

Go Gina, GO!

SPILLING THE CAPITOL TEA

As you probably know, both the funding and the voucher bill were passed. The funding bill is about half of what we need to catch up to 2019 levels but does include a small arts allotment, which is new and awesome, and includes some money for teachers. It will now be reconciled with the Senate funding bill and ... we'll hope for the best. 

You probably already know the voucher bill passed the House, as well. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has given it a thumbs up so it'll endure a vote or two before it goes to the Governor's office, which I would expect to happen soon.  

Shenanigans

Over the weekend, polls showed 95% of Texas voters wanted the issue put to a statewide vote and polls inside the various caucuses showed that the opposition from both parties all over Texas had coalesced around supporting an amendment that would have pushed the measure to a ballot referendum for the people to decide in November. There is precedent for this, including a referendum in the 1980's that asked voters to decide if our State Board of Education positions should be elected or appointed. It was not a constitutional amendment and is not illegal, despite political rhetoric, and was an option that would have allowed House members in the governor's party to vote for the bill but with final approval from their constituents. A win/win.  

At 9am, Wednesday morning, another round of informal votes showed the support for this amendment was not only solid, it had a wide majority of the votes - a comfortable buffer. By 9:30, the governor called the republican caucuses into a conference call with a special guest, President Trump. Between them, they threatened to kill any bill any member who voted for this amendment was working on and promised another round of expensive primaries they referred to as a "blood bath." State-wide extortion. Every bill would be stopped in the Senate, no matter how good or beneficial it is. 

By 10am, it was over. Not only did they completely fold but, with the votes sealed to tank this popular amendment and knowing they now had the leverage to pass the entire thing, the voucher supporters made a mockery of the entire proceeding. While the few remaining opponents who had the courage to stand up for their constituents continued to fight for amendments that included ensuring the private institutions taking these vouchers hired certified teachers or even ensured the teachers they hired didn't have sex offenses in their background, the supporters voted to table every single amendment without discussion, debate or a vote. Every single one. All night long. They made no effort to improve this bill. 

But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst was watching the frat house atmosphere by the supporters. They played on the phones, watched America's Got Talent on their tablets, joked and laughed at their tables, took naps, and mocked serious House members who were attempting to get the values of their constituents into this bill. I didn't actually know most of this until later so I didn't make the connection at the time. And we're not allowed to take photos or videos from the gallery (although I got away with a couple) but many of us saw the disrespectful attitude and behavior. 

What's next

It's easy to get down about how the voucher thing went and the thought of another couple of years without the sort of resources our schools so desperately need while state leaders pat themselves on the back about "record investments" and other hogwash. But don't. Seriously. The billionaires and the politicians they own lost and they're too foolish to even know it. The won this battle but they did it in such an underhanded, dirty way, there is no way they recover from this, no matter how deep their oily pockets are. Right, left, middle, rural, urban, suburban - everyone is angry. This might very well be the straw that broke the camel's back. 

Rep. Gina Hinojosa called for us to join together to build a New Texas and Rep. James Talarico reminded us that it is the seed that is crushed into the ground that grows to be a tree. The energy against vouchers is palpable. We can not get sad - we have to get mad, indignant, and demand better. Our goal now is to make sure that energy carries through to the next elections and the next and the next. We can not let people forget who let the 5.5 million students of Texas down ... and why. 

Good trouble

There are only a few more weeks of committee hearings and we want to be at as many of the Pub Ed (and other ones that relate to our priorities) as possible. We want to use every comment, registration, and testifying opportunity to give them a hard time about selling their constituents out to the Thugocracy (great phrase - thanks, Tricia Mitchell). 

Example: I don't support Bill xyz because I don't trust you. You allowed yourself to be bullied into selling out our public schools so why would we trust you to do what's best on this matter? 

If you have a No Vouchers shirt, I'm going to create some iron-on transfer we can put on top of "voucher" that says "courage" or "integrity" - changing No Vouchers to No Integrity or No Courage, but with the original "vouchers" clearly visible for them to see so there's no mistaking what we're talking about. 

We lost to their corruption but we don't have to go down quietly. Come join me!

This Week

There is a House Pub Ed hearing on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at 8am in the Reagan Building Room 140. TASA has done a wonderful job of describing them all and I encourage you to look to see if any are interesting to you because we'd love as many folks as possible to testify on as many of the bills as possible. But here are a few that stand out to us:

HB 178: Morales. Would require ethnic studies as part of Texas graduation requirements. Third session Morales has introduced/attempted this; in the layout she said it was to ensure students learn about Mexican American and African American history.

HB 1551: Hickland. Would require school to notify parents within 2 days if a school employee is charged with an offense that would require them to register as a sex offender. Hickland claims this will support parental rights and accountability. As best I can tell right now the law requires notification within 7 days (https://tea.texas.gov/texas-educators/investigations/superintendent-reporting-requirements)

HB 2354 Shaheen. It would broaden the types of charter schools to include college or university charters and adult education program charters. It would allow charter schools to have an admission policy that limits admissions to students of a single biological sex as stated on their birth certificate or other governmental record. 

HB2674: Cook. Would prohibit state (TEA, SBOE)  from regulating homeschool programs.

You can submit comments for any of these bills here: https://comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c400A live video broadcast of this hearing will be available here: https://house.texas.gov/video-audio/ 

Join us at 8am in the Reagan Building, or whenever you can get there. Definitely touch base with me when you are down there so I know to include you in whatever good trouble we can find.

We Showed Up!

ACPTA Advocacy showed up, y'all! There were so many of us and everyone was so amazing and hopeful and fierce. All day long! So many folks! I am thrilled to see the engagement and energy and people making the effort to show up. I'm sooo proud of us all!

We started the day leading chants in the Rotunda with hundreds of other advocates as the Governor's supporters were eating brunch in his reception room. We were so loud people could hear us from outside the building. It was glorious! 

We showed our support in the Gallery with our presence and our t-shirts, including raising hell when they stopped letting advocates in and getting the doors open again. Fierce. And the reps were so grateful to see so many of us there supporting their courageous stand for our schools against unbelievable disrespect and corruption. Our presence kept them fierce and committed to the bitter end. I hope everyone who was able to go or watch online, even for a few minutes, knows that you are the heroes of this story. Our reps are paid to fight - we came because we love our schools. We stayed because we love our state and know it's going to take us showing up to make it better. 

We visited offices, sharing our love and support for the staffers of those brave reps, stayed late into the night and wee hours keeping them motivated, and then delivered balloons and more love to those same staffers and reps the next morning. Dozens of ACPTA advocates from schools all over our district showed up, took names, kicked ass, and showed what is missing in a lot of Texas politics - love, intelligence, community, and a deep commitment to the greater good. We rock! I'm so proud of us all. 

Tell your friends, family and every teacher you know that this isn't over. We're fighting for a better world and this setback isn't going to stop us. 

Local Advocacy

Budget cuts are a painful reality for our district and there are a lot of moving parts. If you are not able to watch the AISD board meetings or join one of the discussions happening in various places and ways, please read our weekly Board Recap, written by engaged parent, Sharyn Vane. You can find them on our homepage at https://www.austincouncilpta.org/. 

And consider getting involved in our district. There are a number of advisory committees you can join to get more insight into district-wide initiatives. And please join your Campus Advisory Committee. Fill out this membership application form or reach out to your Principal. Both of these are great ways to stay connected and informed about the issues facing our schools and district right now. 

AISD Advocacy Advisory Committee

AISD has an Advocacy Advisory Committee that meets once a month to discuss advocacy efforts and updates. The purpose of the Advocacy Advisory Committee is to assist the district in advancing its legislative priorities at the local, state and federal level. They need more members, including students, parents, community and business members from each of our AISD districts. It's a great place to stay on top of what's happening and also have some input on what can be done about it. I highly encourage y'all to join. 

Edna Butts, AISD Director, Intergovernmental Relations & Policy Oversight, runs the committee and keeps a bill tracker to help everyone understand district legislative priorities and you can get advocacy updates from the district by reaching out to her at edna.butts@austinisd.org and asking to be included on her email list. 

Don't Let UP! 

Thanks for all your engagement! Don't stop! The session is winding down and we're almost there. Don't let up the pressure - it's as important as ever to keep making those phone calls. 

There are more hearings this week and the next and the next. I hope y'all are ready to help us keeping fighting for our schools.