Over the weekend, Texas Impact staff and board members attended the annual TASA/TASB joint-convention, which more than 3500 school board trustees and superintendents attended. Like a number of our pro-public education advocacy partners, Texas Impact board members and staff had a table in the exhibition hall.
The convention was a great opportunity to clear up confusion about the new law requiring school boards to vote on initiating or expanding the use of chaplains in public schools. Even though it’s “preaching to the choir,” we also showcased our work opposing school vouchers. Finally, we let educators know they would continue to get support from the mainstream faith community, including from our new Public School Defender advocacy team.
Our friends at Raise Your Hand Texas, the Equity Center, and TASA all led workshops on advocacy. One TASA workshop, in particular, focused on the work superintendents could do to build support for public education through forming an advocacy committee made up of members from the community such as parents, business, and faith leaders. We’re fans, and we encourage Texas faith communities to reach out to school administrators to ask how they can help.
On Friday, superintendents and trustees held a press conference on the upcoming special session on vouchers. Dr. Chris Moran of Whitehouse ISD summed it up best: “we’re not interested in compromising for vouchers to gain school funding. This is a hill that we’re willing to die on. We believe so strongly in public schools that we are not willing to compromise.” Schools remember 2011 when the Texas Legislature cuts $5 billion from public education. They know what the Texas Legislature appropriates, a subsequent Texas Legislature can take away.
We now know that the special session will start on October 9, 2023. The next 30 days will be difficult and precarious for the future of public education in Texas. Looking past the next 30 days, the best case scenario would be that the issue of vouchers would be settled by the voters in the March primaries of both parties. To fully understand why, check out the Weekly Witness episode where Scott visits with Beaman Floyd about the perils of the upcoming voucher session. Then call your House member even if you are 100% certain they oppose vouchers.