Contact the TX Senate Finance Committee ASAP! #txedbudget #txbudget #savetxschools

I received an email this morning from Save Texas Schools reminding me that the Texas Senate is expected to issue its budget bill tomorrow, Thursday, April 21st. It is important that Texans concerned about school finance contact these Senate members and thank them for and encourage them in their efforts to create a budget that does not cut as deeply as the House version of the budget does.

If you doubt the difference, take a look at these cuts from Round Rock ISD and see the number of programs and jobs that can be saved under the Senate version of the budget versus the House version.

Save Texas Schools provided this handy contact list for the Senate Finance Committee members. Now you have no excuse for not contacting them! Even if your Senator is not listed there, contact at least one of them. As a Texan, their decisions impact you and your schools no matter where you live.

Here is a suggested email, also from Save Texas Schools.

Dear Senator _____________________, 

Education is the greatest investment we can make in the future of our state. I understand the current budget crisis, but I also know that Texans can find solutions to the toughest problems. I ask you to support the following: 

1. Finding new revenue and non-revenue sources of funding that will reduce the proposed budget cuts to education. Proposed cuts will put 100,000 teachers out of work, close schools and eliminate vital programs. 

2. Use of most or all of the Rainy Day Fund to reduce budget cuts. This is the time the fund was created for. Given the current price of oil, the fund will also replenish quickly. 

3. Fixing the ongoing structural deficit, so that we are not back here in 2013 with the same crisis. I am encouraged by Senator Ogden’s proposals to reform the failed Margins Tax. 

Texas is currently 44th in its investment in education, and will likely be 50th if the new cuts are enacted. This is not acceptable! We are a wealthy state and the current crisis is man-made. Let’s fix the problem, stop the politics, and invest in our children. 

Sincerely, (Name) (Address)

I encourage you to speak with passion from your own heart, however. I think emails that are individualized gain more attention; they do not look like one organization's "blast campaign", but show the true feelings of the constituents. That said, if all you have time for is the suggested email above, then send it! They need to know we care about education and we are paying attention to what they do.


Speak up, Texans! The future of our children depends on it!!

ACTION ALERT: Texas HB 6 With Vital Instructional Materials Funding- House is Voting April 6th!

The following is a legislative action alert I received today from Jennifer Bergland and TCEA Advocacy. It is reposted here with permission. HB 6 is the companion bill to SB 6 which I testified on before the Senate Education Committee last week. Even if you are reading this late in the day Tuesday, call your rep! I called last week on a different matter at 7:30 PM thinking I'd get voice mail, and I got a live person!

ACTION ALERT: Call your Representative today!

HB 6 will be voted on by the Texas House of Representatives on Wednesday morning.  Call your representative's office today and urge them to support this bill. Attached is a document that highlights the benefits of HB 6. This bill is vital for technology funding for Texas school districts.  

When you call, ask to speak to the legislative aide who handles education issues for the representative. 

• Inform them that HB 6 will be voted on by the House on Wednesday (April 6th)
• Ask them to vote for HB 6 and 
• Oppose any amendment that might delay the implementation of the Instructional Materials Allotment. 

You can find out who your Representative is here: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/

You can find their contact information here: http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/

You could also follow up with a quick email urging them to support the bill and email the attached document.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Jennifer Bergland
Texas Computer Education Association
Director of Governmental Relations and Membership Services
jbergland@tcea.org
http://tceaadvocacy.wordpress.com/

In response to Jennifer's call to action, I called my representative's office on my lunch break today and spoke with one of his aides. Later, I sent this follow-up email to him:

Dear Representative Gonzales,

I am your constituent and I am contacting you today to

- ask you to vote for HB 6 which will come before the House for a vote on Wednesday, April 6th, and

- to oppose any amendments which will delay the institution of the Instructional Materials Allotment created by HB 6.

HB 6 deletes the word ''textbook'' from current education law and updates it to the phrase ''instructional materials''. It also establishes an Instructional Materials Allotment in place of the current textbook allotment, giving school districts more flexibility and local control in choosing the materials they feel are best suited to instructing their students in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

As a taxpayer, I feel it is a better use of my tax dollars to allow districts to purchase the best materials for their students, whether they be traditional textbooks or digital content and the technology needed to deliver the content. It is a waste of my tax dollars to continue to purchase only textbooks which are often outdated by the time they are printed or which sit on shelves collecting dust because forward-thinking educators are using alternative materials to design instruction based on their students' learning needs.

As an educator, I believe the flexibility afforded by HB6 if it is passed will give my colleagues the opportunity to exercise their professional judgement in choosing instructional materials that will meet the needs of the students in their classrooms. It will also help us continue to work toward the goals Texas has set for its schools, which by 2020 includes students ''hav(ing) on-demand access to all appropriate digital resources and technologies to complete activities that have been seamlessly integrated into all core content areas, providing learning opportunities beyond the classroom that are not otherwise possible.''

(Above quote taken from Texas Education Agency 2010 Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020; accessed from the TEA website).

For your additional information, please see the following documents:

Information on HB 6 from Texas Computer Education Association. (I shared this same document with your Chief of Staff Chris Sanchez when I visited your office at the Capitol on Monday, March 21st)

http://tinyurl.com/support-HB6-SB6

A copy of my personal testimony before the Senate Education Committee on SB6, the companion bill to HB6. The bills are very similar and my reasons for supporting SB6 are the same as my reasons for supporting HB6.

http://tinyurl.com/SB6Testimony3-29-11

Thank you for taking time to read this information and your consideration of support for HB 6.

OK folks! Your turn! If you are a Texas educator, please email and call your Texas House Representative right away! 

A Message for Texans

This is why. Why I have been thinking and blogging about budgets and politics and legislation lately. Because the thousands of Juliannas and Matthews and Amandas and Seans in Texas schools deserve educations that are adequately funded to provide rigorous instruction in core courses, enrichment classes to broaden their experiences and tap into their talents, and support programs to fill in the gaps in areas where they struggle.

Texas school children do not deserve to be pawns in a political game of balancing the Texas budget with a "cuts only" approach while the governor and legislators refuse to access available Rainy Day funds to mitigate the crisis or permanently fix the structural deficit that helped get us here in the first place.

Do not let our kids down.

Citizens, please email, call, and write your legislators today and tell them to prioritize education funding.

Legislators, please listen to the majority of Texas citizens who do not want to drastically cut education funding.

Texas children and the future of our state are worth it!