Area PTA members urge support for school funding, fighting vouchers

With the 85th Texas Legislature now in session in Austin, parents and educators in the Keller and Grapevine-Colleyville school districts are active in promoting adequate funding for public education, opposing school vouchers and changing the state’s accountability system.

Members of the Keller School District’s Legislative Liaisons, a grass roots campaign, include PTA moms, campus support staff members and administrators.

Officers in the PTA at Hidden Lakes Elementary School and the Keller High PTSA have been leading the charge to reach out to state and local government officials with the message that good public education systems are the foundation of good communities.

They began a letter writing campaign called “Love Letters to Austin” and provided samples and copies of letters addressed to State Sen. Kelly Hancock, State Sen. Konni Burton, State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione and others so parents and district employees could express their concerns about Keller schools’ low level of current funding and potential threats to future funding like vouchers.

The PTA moms organized a rally a few weeks ago at Keller High School with Keller Mayor Mark Mathews and invited Capriglione to Hidden Lakes Feb. 24 to speak with PTA members. A few of them traveled to Austin Feb. 27 for Texas PTA Rally Day.

“None of us had ever done any of this before,” said Cherie Moeller, the PTA vice president for membership at Hidden Lakes. “We wanted to show how much we care about our schools, all our schools, and that’s what Legislative Liaisons is all about.”

Every week, Hidden Lakes Elementary School PTA parents send legislators large envelopes full of palm-sized hearts with messages of support for Keller schools signed by parents and children.

Teachers at Hidden Lakes and Keller High received business cards with the names and phone numbers of legislators and basic talking points.

Amanda Bigbee, attorney for the Keller School District, is advising the group and informing them about bills that impact public education.

Bigbee said that Senate Bill 3, which would allow for Texas taxpayer dollars to be used to help parents send their kids to private or religious schools, seems to be gaining traction in the Senate but not the House.

Other members of the Keller district’s Legislative Liaisons have been focused on accountability and the new A-F rating system. The group began a social media campaign called “Beyond a Letter Grade” to highlight positive results in Keller schools that have nothing to do with state testing.

Superintendent Randy Reid recorded a YouTube video as part of the campaign.

Jeff Dickeson, assistant principal at Hillwood Middle School and part of Legislative Liaisons, said members were seeking to encourage parents and employees to get involved with “Beyond a Letter Grade” and issues facing public education like vouchers and inadequate funding.

Grapevine-Colleyville PTA families rally in Austin

Tisha Ghormley, president of the GCISD Council of PTAs, said that 52 PTA parents, grandparents and students traveled to Austin for PTA Rally Day last week.

Members of the group met with with Burton, Capriglione, and Rep. Jonathan Stickland and with key staff members of Sen. Jane Nelson, Sen. Kelly Hancock and Rep. Matt Rinaldi.

“It was just a fantastic day,” Ghormley said.

Texas PTA officials were hoping for 1,000 participants and got more than 1,600.

Ghormley said GCISD PTA members wanted to get involved at the state level after seeing the inadequacies in the district’s funding during the educational campaign for the bond last year.

The group’s legislative priorities include a de-emphasis of state testing, opposition to vouchers, pursuing a meaningful accountability system and strengthening bullying protections for students.

Getting the word out about inadequate funding for public education is the common theme for both GCISD and Keller groups.

“This is not something we can fund raise our way out of this time. There are not enough box tops out there,” Moeller said.

This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Area PTA members urge support for school funding, fighting vouchers."