I hope you do more with this information than stay "in the know" though. I hope you take this knowledge and use it to write and phone your legislators and let them know how you feel about what they are doing to our schools if they pass their currently proposed budgets.
Please share this information with your friends and colleagues as well. It is going to take all of us - parents, concerned citizens, and educators - to get the attention of our legislators and governor and let them know we do not want an education system that cannot meet the needs of students because it is inadequately funded, nor do we want 100,000 educators to stay on the public payroll because they are collecting unemployment instead of teaching our kids.
Where to Mail Your Letters and Direct Your Phone Calls
Find Out Who Represents You and How To Contact Them - Traditional snail-mail letters and phone calls tend to get more attention than emails.
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/
Contact Governor Rick Perry
http://governor.state.tx.us/contact/
Staying Up to Date
Save Texas Schools - A State-Wide Coalition Dedicated to Preserving Our Texas Schools
Website: http://savetxschools.org/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Save-Texas-Schools/121711224567387
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SaveTXschools
News Article Page: http://savetxschools.org/news/
Texas Tribune - Independent online newspaper:
Home Page: http://www.texastribune.org/
Public Education Page: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/
TexasISD.com -Aggregates stories from across the state:
Home Page: http://www.texasisd.com/
Legislative Page: http://www.texasisd.com/cat_index_11.shtml
School Finance Page: http://www.texasisd.com/cat_index_25.shtml
Your Local News Media- Stay informed on how the budget cuts will affect your immediate community:
News Link Texas Newspapers: http://www.newslink.org/txnews.html
News Link Texas TV Stations: http://www.newslink.org/txtele.html
21st Century Teaching and Learning Blog - A colleague and friend of mine, @digitallearners, is posting a fact to her Facebook page each day in hopes that her noneducator friends will pick up the information and contact their representatives. She is cross-posting her daily posts to her blog. You can use her information to educate your social and professional networks as well. This link will take you to all of her Texas education budget posts: http://digital-learners.blogspot.com/search/label/Texas%20budget
Around the Corner Blog - @mguhlin is posting regularly about the budget crisis from an experienced educators' perspective. His posts give educators food for thought and action and can also serve to show concerned citizens from outside of education how the funding situation is being perceived in the education field. Texas education budget posts: http://www.mguhlin.org/search/label/BudgetNews
More Ideas?
Do you have sources you are regularly visiting for up to date information on the school funding crisis in Texas? Are you posting information regularly? If so, please leave a comment and tell us about it!
Photo courtesy of Flikr user Whole Wheat Toast. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike license agreement. http://www.flickr.com/photos/executionsinfo/2423986447/
