AUSTIN -- Petitions calling for Sen. Wendy Davis' reinstatement to the Senate Education Comittee were presented to Lt.Gov. David Dewhurst's office Friday on the eve of an Austin rally calling for the reversal of billions of dollars in state education cuts.
Melanie Harvey, a 4th grade teacher with the Everman Independent School District, delivered the bound petitions to Dewhurst's office but the lieutenant governor was not present to receive them. Harvey said she accumulated 3,652 names since starting the petition drive on Jan. 19.Davis served on the education committee during two previous legislative sessions but Dewhurst, the Senate's presiding officer, didn't return the second-term Democrat to the panel when he issued new committee assignments at the outset of 2013 Legislature in mid-January.Some critics saw Dewhurst's decision as a rebuke against Davis for a high-profile filibuster she staged at end of the 2011 session to protest more than $5 billion in education cuts. Davis, who represents Senate District 10 in Tarrant County, has made restoration of the cuts one of her major initiatives during the current legislative session.Harvey was accompanied by her husband, John Harvey, a TCU economics professor, and Allen Weeks of Austin, director of Save Texas Schools, as she brought the petitions to Dewhurst's office. Weeks' organization is sponsoring the Saturday rally.Although Dewhurst wasn't present, the trio met with Caasi Lamb, Dewhurst's senior adviser for budget and policy, to make their case for Davis' reinstatement. Harvey said the petition drive, conducted over the Internet, drew a broad range of comments from across the political perspective."I find it appalling that you would allow your partisan position to affect a very qualified senator whom our community just loves," wrote Kathleen Schlichenmaier of Arlington, in comments apparently directed at Dewhurst. "Please place our elected senator on the committee.""This Republican mother wants Sen. Davis on the committee," said Julie Soughty of Frisco. "Shame on Lt. Gov. Dewhurst."Harvey said Davis' office was aware of the campaign but did not participate in the petition drive. "They're appreciative of it but they've kind of stayed out of it," she said. Harvey and her husband, the parents of two college-age twin daughters, said they planned to remain in Austin to participate in the Saturday march and rally. Melanie Harvey said she expects significant participation from North Texas, including a busload of parents from the Everman school district.Weeks, who helped staged a similar rally in 2011, said organizers are hoping for up to 10,000 participants from districts across the state. Demonstrators will gather at 11 a.m. and march to the capitol for a noon rally and speeches on the capitol steps. Scheduled speakers include Former Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott and Diane Ravitch, former assistant secretary of education during the first Bush administration.Dave Montgomery is the Star-Telegram's Austin Bureau chief, 512-739-4471Twitter: @daveymontgomeryHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
