STUDENT LEARNING
- Advocate for an account”ability” system that focuses on improvement, is forward-facing, and not stigmatizing.
- Support increases in funding to support the transition to fully online state assessments required by HB 3906.
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
- Advocate for changes to Texas Reading Academies and accelerated learning regulations that will improve student and educator efficiency.
- Support policies that improve student and educator health and wellness.
RESOURCE STEWARDSHIP
- Advocate for comprehensive property tax reforms that will ensure property tax revenue generated in the school district stays in the school district.
- Support oversight of unfunded mandates that negatively impact school fund balances.
- Increase funding to the School Safety Allotment
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
- Advocate for educational equity among traditional public schools, charter schools, or vouchers where entities and/or individuals receive public funds.
- Support policies and practices that inform parents of their existing parental rights and responsibilities.
Act Now!
Ensure your voice is heard!
The last day to register for the November election is Monday, October 4, 2021.
Important dates to remember:
- Last day to Register to Vote – Monday, October 4, 2021
- Last day to Receive Application for Ballot by Mail – October 22, 2021
- Last day to Receive FPCA (Federal Postcard Application for Military & overseas voters) – October 22, 2021
| Months before the legislature convenes for regular session, Texas PTA is hard at work preparing our thunderous advocacy voice. First, we survey our membership to find out what’s important to you, covering a broad range of topics pertinent to Texas students and schools. Next, the Texas PTA Advocacy Committee takes those findings to draft a list of legislative priorities. The recommendations of the committee are presented to the Texas PTA Board of Directors, which then votes to either adopt or amend them. On September 13, 2020, the Texas PTA Board of Directors moved to adopt the legislative priorities as presented. These priorities will now guide our association’s work during the upcoming 87th session. Please begin to familiarize yourself with our 14 priorities, organized under four headings: Support Student Success; Health & Safety; Meaningful Assessment and Accountability; and Strengthen Public Schools.More information will be available for each priority beginning this fall. |
To vote in November you must be registered by Monday (05-OCT).
Early Voting: October 13 – 30
Election Day: November 3
| Register to vote by October 5, 2020 High school students must be at least 18 years old on Election Day to vote. Students may register two months before their 18th birthday. Apply to vote by mail by October 23 if you are: 65 years or older; sick or disabled; out of the county during early voting & election day. Learn more about vote by mail in Texas. |
Jan. 19, 2018
Lewisville ISD Students, Parents and Community Members,
In a recent report, the U.S. Department of Education found the Texas Education Agency (TEA) put requirements in place that led Texas schools to violate federal laws requiring schools to serve all students with disabilities. Simply put, TEA in 2004 began monitoring the percentage of special education students in school districts, and penalized districts with a special education enrollment of greater than 8.5 percent.
I want to be crystal clear on LISD’s practice regarding students served by our special education team. The number of students receiving those services in LISD has always exceeded the number established by the state. Frankly speaking, we never paid attention to the cap put in place by the state, and the district’s ratings suffered because we took a stand for the students who needed special education services.
Our concern is and has always been serving each and every student who walks through our doors. We provide outstanding opportunities to all of our nearly 53,000 students, and we will continue to do so.
Governor Greg Abbott claims a “dereliction of duty on the part of many school districts to serve our students,” which is an assertion I take great issue with. I invite Gov. Abbott to visit our schools and see the way not only our special education staff members serve our students, but also the way the entire campus supports all of our learners. While we respect the governor, he is misguided and misinformed regarding the work being done by public schools across our state to serve special education students.
I hope Gov. Abbott and TEA Commissioner of Education Mike Morath, who was appointed by Gov. Abbott, will support our public schools in unraveling the mess TEA created with requirements that agency put in place. In the meantime, we will keep doing what we do best – ensuring all our students thrive in a future they create.
Kevin Rogers, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Lewisville Independent School District
Dear PTA Advocates,
Once again and with your help, Texas PTA was instrumental in stopping the passage of legislation to create a voucher program in Texas. Our message continues to be, “Focus on strengthening our public schools! All students benefit from that goal.”
We made small, but important progress to begin to reform our outdated, inequitable and inadequate school finance system during the Special Legislative Session that lasted for 30 days this summer. HB 21 by Rep. Dan Huberty, created a grant program to provide extra support for students with dyslexia and autism, removed a penalty in funding for very small school districts, created a step-down to help some districts to adjust to the loss of specialized funding they had been receiving since 2006, and created a commission to develop recommendations for school finance reform that can be considered in the next Legislative Session that will begin in January of 2019.
While we did not see the progress in reforming our school funding system that we were hoping for, we made great progress in educating legislators about the fact that as property values rise and homeowners pay more in taxes, the state, for at least 10 years, has been using those increased revenues to offset their share of the cost of public education so that they now contribute less than 32% of the cost of education in Texas. This cannot continue. The state must increase its share of funding for public schools and must fund schools equitably. We will continue to work toward this goal.
Thanks again for making a difference,
Texas PTA Board of Directors and Staff
Texas PTA Advocacy Committee
