HB 122 is stalled in the Senate! The House of Representatives passed legislation that would raise the age of mandatory adult prosecution from 17 to 18 years of age, allowing non-violent offenders who are 17 years of age to be charged as a minor.
Step 1: Call Senator John Whitmire, Chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, and let him know we want a hearing on HB 122 to Raise the Age of adult criminal responsibility. You can find the numbers for his Austin and Houston offices below:
- Austin office: 512-463-0115
- Houston office: 713-864-8701
Step 2: Click here to email your Senator and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to ensure the Raise the Age bill gets heard in the Senate.
We need your voices to #backthefuture of Texas children. They are our No. 1 priority!
We have the best teachers at Marcus!
A big thank you for everything you do. We know the hours and investment you make for our children and it is very much appreciated!
Our future is in your hands…
…and we are comforted by this.
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LISD and DEA Medication Disposal Day
Saturday, April 29 from 10:00am to 2:00pm
Help prevent pollution and abuse by bringing your expired or unused over-the-counter or prescription medications to a location near you.
Marcus High School drop off @ front of school.
Other disposal locations:
- Flower Mound High School
3411 Peters Colony, Flower Mound - Hebron Valley Elementary
4108 Creek Valley Blvd., Carrollton - Lewisville High School
1098 W. Main Street, Lewisville - The Colony High School
4301 Blair Oaks, The Colony
LISD and Dia para desechar medicamentos
29 de Abril, entre las 10:00am y las 2:00pm
Prevenir la Contaminación y el Abuso! Tome la decisión correcta! Traiga medicamento, recetado o sin receta, que haya caducado o que ya no estè usando el a la escuela más cercana a usted.
Marcus High School drop off @ front of school.
Other disposal locations:
- Flower Mound High School
3411 Peters Colony, Flower Mound - Hebron Valley Elementary
4108 Creek Valley Blvd., Carrollton - Lewisville High School
1098 W. Main Street, Lewisville - The Colony High School
4301 Blair Oaks, The Colony
Contact your state senator and urge him/her to oppose vouchers, including education savings account programs and tax credit scholarship programs being heard on the Senate floor this week.
Texas PTA has a campaign set up so you can quickly and easily contact officials today!
[wc_button type=”primary” url=”https://t.e2ma.net/click/uhint/66tqjf/mj60yd” target=”_blank” position=”float”]Learn & Act to Oppose SB3[/wc_button]
February 9, 2017 @ 7:00p
New Venue: Auditorium
Four times a year each teacher has the opportunity to nominate one student per class to receive the coveted Marcus PTSA award. The student is not chosen solely for academics, but other qualities like dedication, effort, participation and teamwork are all considered when selecting a student. Students being recognized will be notified by a letter sent to their home. Note, the venue change occurred after the mail was sent. We will be holding the celebration in the auditorium.
Recognition from last year:
This student is a positive, cheerful young woman who boosts up those around her. She is a natural leader who has helped her groups do well in group activities. She actively participates in classroom discussions and eagerly volunteers for roles in various classroom activities. Her English skills are strong, so she needs little improvement, yet she is diligent in applying herself and always works actively to do well on her assignments.
Please Write-A-Check
Parents, last year’s check drive was a huge success. Because of your generosity the PTSA was able to continue supporting programsthat can benefit all students. A few of the programs the monies supported were:
- Drug Awareness with Red Ribbon Week
- College Fair
- Magnificent Marauders Student Recognition Program
- New Word Wall in the Marcus front hallway
- Teacher Appreciation
- Katie Greer – Cyber-Safety Assembly
- Senior Scholarships
We are once again asking for your help with a check drive of $10 to MHS PTSA to help support the following programs:
- 180 Abstinence Program
- Winning the Fight, Not Me
- Internet/Technology Safety
- TedEx Event
- Drug Awareness
- College Fair
- Magnificent Marauders Student Recognition Program
- Teacher Appreciation
- Senior Scholarships
Your MHS PTSA strives to continue all of the programs and opportunities MHS & MHS9 students have come to expect.
Please write a check today to MHS PTSA
Have your student drop in the PTSA lock box at either campus or Mail to:
Michelle Lloyd
3817 Fairfax Way
Flower Mound, TX 75028
Kindly send in your donations by February 17, 2017.
100% of your donation will go towards helping our students!
State Assessment for Academic Readiness
Texas PTA will advocate for a reduced emphasis on state-mandated testing, focusing on grades 3-8, and monitor changes to STAAR for high school students, and limits on benchmark testing for all tested grades.
Background
Texas PTA has worked for several years to reduce the number of and the emphasis on state-mandated tests. We were part of a strong team that reduced high school end-of-course tests from 15 to 5 and have sought to reduce the number of tests that are required in the elementary and middle school grades. We will continue to look for opportunities to pursue these reductions during the next legislative session.
Texas PTA seeks to extend the graduation committee structure created last session through House Bill 149, one in which students who have passed all the courses required for graduation but have been unable to pass up to two of the end-of-course exams required to graduate, can participate in a rigorous process to demonstrate that they have learned the required curriculum. The committee that assigns extra activities, and reviews the student’s work must agree unanimously in order for the student to be allowed to graduate.
Read more about the history of efforts to reduce STAAR.
Oppose Vouchers
Texas PTA will oppose vouchers including Education Savings Account Programs (ESA Programs) and Tax Credit Scholarship Programs that allow state funds to be utilized in private schools not accountable to the taxpayer or the state.
ESAs are a form of voucher that allows eligible parents to use a portion of the funds the state expends for their student’s public school education to fund private school tuition, tuition at eligible institutions, distance education, home schooling materials and curriculum. The remainder of the funds, generally around 30%, are kept by the public school the student previously attended.
Corporations can earn tax credits by donating money to a scholarship program that uses the dollars to pay for private school tuition for students.
Vouchers:
- Do not ensure accountability – They send public dollars to private schools that are not accountable to the public for producing results.
- Provide choice for some, not all –
- Vouchers disproportionately benefit students living in urban areas due to limited access to private schools in rural Texas.
- Vouchers do not address many needs of low-income, at-risk students such as transportation, free and reduced lunches, textbooks, assessment of special needs, access to additional remediation programs, full cost of tuition.
- Violate separation of church and state
- The US Constitution prohibits any government “establishment of religion.” Tax dollars directed toward public schools of religious origin violate that principal.
- The US Constitution ensures “free exercise of religion”; no government has proper authority to dictate a religious community’s expression of faith. Regulation and oversight always accompany allocation of public tax dollars, thus violation religious freedom.
Did You Know?
Only a portion of your property taxes, which is marked for schools, actually goes to your local school district. There is a tax rate cap on those funds that go to your local school district. The remaining funds are sent to the state for legislators to spend at their discretion. Often these remaining funds are spent on other state expenses like transportation.
Wouldn’t it be great if the state reinvested those remaining funds back into our public school system, so that our students will have more access to resources and facilities that they need to be successful? While reinvesting these funds back into public school will not solve all of our public school challenges, it would be a great jump start in improving the education of our students.
To learn more about how school financing works, you can access many articles and presentations online, or invite the CFO of your school district to explain how school financing works and what it means for your school district. Then join us at Rally Day February 27, 2017 as PTA and community members from across the state come together to advocate for these funds to be reinvested back into public schools, as well as many other issues that affect the education, well-being and the safety of our students.
