The 83rd Legislature will be called to order Tuesday in Austin, but school districts around the state have been ahead of the gavel since summer, lining up lobbyists and setting legislative agendas.
Many districts have been called to action in the political arena in 2013 after the 2011 Legislature slashed $5.4 billion in funding to public education. More than half of the state's 1,030 school districts have joined lawsuits currently being heard in state District Court, arguing that the state's funding formula is unfair and unconstitutional.The Texas Constitution charges the state with the responsibility of providing for "a general diffusion of knowledge" by an "efficient system of public free schools.""I have noticed a lot of activity in the North Texas area prior to this session and last," said Dax Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Governmental Relations Commission of the Texas Association of School Boards. "What I noticed last session is districts were a lot more motivated than I've seen in a while."The Save Our Texas Schools rally in March got several thousand people to lobby their lawmakers in Austin, Aledo Trustee Bobby Rigues got more than half of Texas' 1,030 school districts to sign a "Make Education a Priority" resolution, and an anti-voucher resolution has collected 400 signatures.The districts' activism may have mitigated the budgetary damage two years ago."You started out at $10 million to be cut from education, they got it down to a little over $5 million," Gonzalez said. "Funding cuts tend to perk up peoples' ears."Most observers believe that the issue of school choice is likely to be the hot-button education issue during this legislative session."We've heard Sen. Dan Patrick talk about 'school choice,' but what the districts hear is 'vouchers,' public funds being siphoned away from public to private institutions," Gonzalez said.Arlington, with 64,000 students, has jumped into the legislative mix. Last fall, the district signed a one-year contract with the Austin consulting firm of HillCo Partners to represent them at a cost of $60,000. The district did not have a contracted lobbyist in 2011 for the 82nd Legislative session."We're getting back into that territory. The rationale for us to pursue this is to have them work with us to make us as politically savvy as possible," said Aaron Reich,an Arlington trustee. Arlington's legislative agenda champions, among other things, full pre-kindergarten funding that would allow the district to create more public-private partnerships with day-care centers.Arlington trustees want more flexibility to create charters within their district, Reich said, but their willingness to talk about public school choice comes with concern."We're not going to just throw up our hands and say we oppose vouchers," he said, "but with public dollars should come a level playing field of accountability."Arlington trustees also want more local control of the "4 by 4" curriculum requirements that added four years of math and science at the expense of electives, the key to many career programs."The focus on career readiness is going to be a big buzz in this legislative session, and physics isn't an end-all, be-all for every career on the planet," Reich said.Funding is priorityThe Fort Worth district is working with Marty De Leon, an Austin lawyer and educational lobbyist who worked with the district last session."We've always prepared an agenda and made sure we have our priorities set," said Carlos Vasquez, a Fort Worth trustee.The 80,000-student Fort Worth district is the largest in Tarrant County.Fort Worth's detailed three-page agenda, which has not been formally adopted by board vote, advocates that the state return funding to 2010-11 levels, pay for any mandated changes in curriculum and assessments before they are implemented, and restrict the use of public funds for private school vouchers."Funding is our main priority; it's the most important part," Vasquez said. "We can't wait for the lawsuit to be decided to find out about the money. Equity in funding is such an issue for a district like ours."The district also has prioritized funding for all-day pre-kindergarten, bumping up the transportation allotment, and restoring district flexibility on class sizes and student calendars.Several North Texas districts are hoping a unified approach might be more effective during this legislative session.A coalition of schools including Mansfield, Birdville, Grapevine-Colleyville, Carroll, Keller, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw and Rockwall adopted a common agenda that promotes proper school funding, effective and equitable academic accountability and support for local control of districts. The districts oppose changes to the Teacher Retirement System, as well as private school entitlements "in any form."The group has a combined population of almost 144,000 students. It has not engaged professional lobbyists.Cindy Lotton, a Keller school trustee, said the common concerns of vouchers, assessment and funding brought the districts together. Lotton said local control is a priority.Keller, Grapevine-Colleyville and Carroll are working together for a community rally called "Our Schools, Our Voice," which will be held Feb. 7 in Grapevine."We want to be a lot more visible this time," Lotton said. "We really believe as voters, we have a lot more power."Shirley Jinkins, 817-390-7657Twitter: @shirljinkinsHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
