Make Education a Priority Campaign
Audio and video of the news conference held Monday, January 31, are now available.
The Make Education a Priority campaign is designed to persuade legislators to protect current funding levels for public education, as they develop the state’s 2012-13 budget, and to work collaboratively with the education community to create a more adequate and equitable public school finance system for this state.
TASB Vice-President and Legislative Chair Faye Beaulieu (Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD) recorded a video message urging everyone to support public education this session.
Goal: Raise awareness about broken school finance system and effect of funding cuts
The Make Education a Priority campaign was started by Aledo ISD in 2010 to raise awareness among local community members and the state legislature about Texas’ broken school finance system and the effect state funding cuts would have on our public schools.
Campaign has two-prong strategy
- Texas school boards are encouraged to adopt the Make Education a Priority resolution if they have not already. (A majority of districts already have; view districts that have adopted the resolution.)
- Each school board should complete the Make Education a Priority issue brief and share the information with their legislators and TASB Governmental Relations (e-mail
) as early in the legislative session as possible.
What your district can do now
Complete this issue brief
Download the brief (doc) | Read tips for completing the brief
In January, the House released its proposed budget for the 2012-13 biennium. The budget proposes severe cuts to state funding for public education.
While the budget provides the amount of the cuts, it does not indicate how those funding cuts would be implemented. Therefore, there is no way to determine how individual districts would be impacted.
In light of that ambiguity, TASB Governmental Relations has developed this issue brief as a template to guide board members in providing legislators with the types of information that would assist them in making informed decisions about public education funding.
Write an op-ed or letter to the editor
Use the information from the completed issue brief to submit an op-ed/letter to the editor of your local newspaper informing your community about what state funding cuts will mean for their schools. Help them understand that your public schools cannot continue to provide the services the community has come to expect if the district is forced to operate with less state funding.