Make it Matter Monday - March 24, 2025

Make it Matter Monday

EDUCATE, ADVOCATE, INSPIRE

Make every Monday Matter by sharing this information with your communities.

March 24, 2025

Learn

The Austin Chronicle is doing an amazing job of distilling information in our education world right now. Please read Brant Bingamon's latest piece, MAGA Moms and the Republican Resistance to School Vouchers: Make education public again.

Read about our Voucher Battle

Do

Mark your calendar and make a plan with your family and friends to join us at the Capitol on Saturday, April 5, 11am, for another Save our Schools Rally! Thousands of folks from around the state have already signed up to be there. Join us to show our law makers we are a force to be reckoned with. 

Join thousands of us at the Rally!

Share

Find us on social media (Instagram, FB, Tik Tok, YouTube) and help share our graphics. We work hard to make sure y'all and your communities have the information you need to help the advocacy efforts that are necessary to help get resources into our schools and keep a whole heap of bad things out. An educated community is our best hope of saving our public schools so please help us get this information out. 

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SPILLING THE CAPITOL TEA

House

Last Tuesday, the House Pub Ed Committee heard HB 6, a bill designed, in theory, to make our classrooms safer. In reality, it disproportionately harms already vulnerable populations and does nothing to solve the problem that too many of our kids do not have adequate supports. It was insightful to read the comments from the hearing: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/publiccomments/Meetings/C4002025031808001/InputItems/67f9538d-4795-4af3-959d-5fbe9c52699a.pdf#navpanes=0

It was left pending in committee so feel free to reach out to the members of the Pub Ed Committee to share your thoughts. 

Next Tuesday, March 25, the House Pub Ed Committee will hear a number of bills, including a couple that have to do with school safety. 

Again, I don't know anything specific about any of these bills but encourage you to look them over and comment, if you feel moved. 

Things won't always be this slow on the House side so please set aside your Tuesdays, if you have the flexibility, in preparation for hearings on bills that will need our voices to push through or stop. 

Senate

The Senate contiues to push through stinker bills. There's not a lot we can do to stop the Senate from being the Senate but next week we'll have a chance to at last get our voices on the record. 

The Senate State Affairs committee is meeting, starting Monday at 9am in Senate Chamber, to hear a handful of bills, including SB 1999, which basically allows teachers to show contempt for a child's humanity by refusing referring to them by an unwanted name or pronoun without consequence.  Please go down and register an opinion. You can also leave a written testimony (25 copies) that includes your name and the bill numbers, or register for public testimony (2 minutes). 

On Tuesday, 8am, rm E1.028, the Education K-16 committee will hear a number of bills relating to school safety, truancy, and charter school expansion. 

NOTE: I don't have the bandwidth to follow everything and I depend on the hive mind of this very large group to share information that is important to you. I know there are special education advocates in this group. And social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, literacy access, local control advocates, and so many more. Please share your thoughts on bills like HB 6 and with the group in advance of hearings so we can support you. 

Please share your advocacy information with the group by sending your call to action with background information to acptaadvocacy@googlegroups.com. It takes a village and there is too much important information out there we need everyone to know about. 

JOIN ME

Tuesday morning I will be at the Capitol for a few hours. If you haven't been before, please reach out to me and I'll show you around, help you learn how to register and drop a card, and introduce you to some of our friendly representatives. Please take advantage of this slow time to get up to speed so you're ready to hit the ground running when we need you. 

Daphne HoffackerACPTA Advocacy Chairadvocacy@austincouncilpta.orgaustincouncilpta.org/advocacy

512-698-2240

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