For Laura Yeager, it was her longstanding passion for the importance of voting combined with understanding the policies affecting her children. For Dinah Miller, it was watching a voucher bill narrowly fail passage alongside four other PTA moms, and together realizing that phone calls and visiting lawmakers weren’t enough, that it would take new talent in the Texas Legislature to keep voucher bills from becoming law. For the Rev. Charles Johnson, it was the conviction that public education is a gift from God for all children. What, exactly, was it about public education that propelled these concerned citizens to become grassroots advocacy leaders?

Their individual catalysts aside, the heart of the answer centers on the idea that public education serves as the backbone for Texas communities, and when educators and their supporters show up at the ballot box, public education comes out on top. But the climb to the top has included numerous obstacles, and more challenges lie ahead.

The 2018 midterm elections showed promise in terms of voter turnout and as an indication of how much Texans value public education. But the improved results of November 2018 didn’t happen overnight. They were a result of the tireless efforts of many pro-public education groups, including ATPE and its experienced lobby team, working together to get out the vote among the public education community.

Coming Together

If you spend much time at the Texas Capitol, you’ll start to see the same people—especially if you share similar goals. This is the situation in which ATPE and other pro-public education groups such as Texas Educators Vote, Texas Parent PAC, and Pastors for Texas Children found themselves when they realized how much they could achieve by collaborating. A visit to their Facebook or Twitter pages shows just how often these groups cross-post each other’s content and share information to the masses.

Long considered a trusted voice in Texas public education policy, ATPE has worked with many of these organizations since their inceptions. With its extensive statewide member base and non-endorsement policy, ATPE is uniquely positioned to help public education allies harness voter power.

“I think all of these groups were doing their own thing individually, and then over time, we just figured out, ‘Hey, we can partner and get more done,’” explains Jennifer Mitchell, ATPE Governmental Relations director. “As the largest educators’ association, we have access to the most active educators and are able to funnel information between them.”

ATPE is the largest educator organization among Texas Educators Vote’s official coalition of 21 partners. Laura Yeager launched Texas Educators Vote (TEV) in 2015 with a focus on how and why to vote. Because Yeager focuses strictly on voting, neither TEV nor its growing list of partners endorse candidates or political parties. TEV’s sole mission is “creating a culture of voting and modeling civic behavior,” Yeager explains.

“I would see cars with bumper stickers saying they’re [the driver] voting for someone, left- or right-leaning, but then [educators would] go into the classroom and ask why aren’t they [politicians] funding our schools, why are the sinks falling apart, why are we testing kids out the wazoo, and why did they give me this rating, but they didn’t realize it had anything to do with how they were voting,” Yeager says. “The big issue for me was to move out of last place in voter turnout and for people to really connect their vote with what happens in their schools and take ownership of it.”

Yeager has broken down the model for civic engagement into three steps: register, research, and vote. To accomplish TEV’s mission, Yeager leans heavily on resources such as ATPE’s public education advocacy website, TeachtheVote.org, which is available to any Texan, and ATPE’s lobby team.

“I love Teach the Vote,” Yeager says, citing it as one of two resources she points supporters to. “It’s a fantastic resource and something unique we can lead people to make their own decisions.”

TEV got another boost of support in 2017 when the League of Women Voters of Texas became a partner, allowing more election tools to reach the public education community, such as the League’s nonpartisan Voters Guide and VOTE411.org.

“The schools and the educators are the cornerstone of every community, so they should be the leaders in getting out the vote,” says Grace Chimene, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas. “The public schools should be where people learn about voting and civics, and they should encourage staff, educators, and students to participate in voting. That’s why we choose to get involved in this [TEV’s coalition].”

Public education supporters want to make informed choices; they also want to see good options on the ballot. Enter Texas Parent PAC, which was formed when five PTA moms watched a private school voucher bill be defeated by only one vote. After they saw how close Texas came to having vouchers, the women formed a political action committee (PAC) to elect new faces to the Texas House. Texas Parent PAC is not beholden to any political party and takes care only to get involved in races where there is a clear choice between a candidate who is solid on public education issues and one who is not. The group also spreads the word that many Texas elections are decided by the outcome of the primary rather than the general election.

“It was a big process to teach people how important the primaries are,” explains Dinah Miller, Texas Parent PAC co-founder and co-chair. “Many districts are gerrymandered to favor one party or the other, and the decisions of who wins is made at the primary. When we first formed, there were very few competitive general elections.”

Texas Parent PAC has eight guiding principles pro-public education legislators and candidates must adhere to (see txparentpac.com/principles.html); conducts candidate interviews; and raises money for its endorsed candidates. Knowing how vital voter turnout is to its success, Texas Parent PAC also coordinates with other pro-public education groups on get-out-the-vote (GOTV) initiatives.

“You could say it [the 2018 momentum] was a perfect storm of all different kinds of grassroots people coming together for public education—parents, teachers, pastors, and even businesspeople,” Miller says. “Public education is in our [state] constitution. We’re the real ones standing up for authentic Texas values.”

Difference Makers

“Collaboration, partnership, cooperation, and solidarity,” begins the Rev. Charles Johnson, founder and executive director of Pastors for Texas Children. “No group can do it alone—however large and influential they may be. We are so much more effective when we are in solidarity with each other. This is a spiritual principle, but it works in an advocacy arena, too.”

Johnson started Pastors for Texas Children after watching the Legislature cut public school funding in 2011. The organization “mobilizes ministers and faith leaders for public education, ministry, and advocacy,” according to Johnson, and anyone “motivated by faith to support public education” is welcome. Approximately 2,400 faith leaders from all denominations have joined the group’s network. Pastors for Texas Children forges relationships with education leaders and local churches and encourages faith leaders to form relationships with their Texas House and Senate members, further establishing the church as another resource for the school districts.

“We have played a role in forging a much more collaborative spirit and engagement among all these community groups and education groups,” Johnson explains. “And it’s just impossible for the government to ignore us.”

The sense of community engagement blossoming among pro-public education groups has started to show results. Working with TEV partners, Yeager prepares a variety of resources with increasing reach in the education community—blogs, weekly voter updates, and social media all play a key role. Voter turnout in Texas for the 2018 midterms increased by 18%, and a number of pro-public education candidates were elected. As of January 2020, Texas Parent PAC had helped elect 84 new members to the Texas Legislature and defeated 31 incumbents since its inception.

Texas Parent PAC results show how much confluence there is between educator and parent interests.

“Accountability/testing and teacher pay are issues where parents and teachers found common ground,” explains ATPE Senior Lobbyist Monty Exter. “Commonalities on these issues had been building and bubbling up. TEV was the spearheading group, but other organizations met their stride and fed into that momentum and helped create the links between all of those constituencies of administrators, teachers, parents, and businesses to create that sort of mass get-together that moved forward.”

The most talked-about bill coming out of the 86th Legislature was House Bill (HB) 3, the school finance and public education reform bill—and a bill that might not have passed without the grassroots efforts of pro-public education groups. Texas Parent PAC’s Miller calls HB 3 a “good start,” but something that must be sustainably funded no matter the economy—a feeling Pastors for Texas Children’s Johnson echoes.

“We need to sustainably fund HB 3, and then we need another infusion of money into our public schools for several consecutive sessions in a row,” Johnson explains. “And we can do it.”

TEV’s Yeager agrees.

“The fact that educators voted [in the 2018 primary] made Dan Patrick say he wanted to give them a $10,000 raise,” Yeager points out. “Suddenly they [lawmakers] were all tripping over what they could do for teachers. If they [educators] can keep growing the voter turnout and build the next generation of voters, who knows what good things can happen?”

Challenges & Looking Ahead

Success often puts a target on your back. Pro-public education candidate wins in the 2018 primaries buoyed the enthusiasm of educators. ATPE, TEV, and similar organizations pressed on with GOTV and voter education efforts, while grassroots movements such as the Texans for Public Education Facebook group, organized by individual Texas educators, urged educators to support a slate of pro-public education candidates in the general election, regardless of party affiliations. As the momentum leading up to the 2018 general election gained steam, those less friendly to public education used scare tactics to discourage educators from voting.

A wealthy dark money group known for funding extremist candidates and officeholders—those who work to starve public schools of funding and promote private school vouchers—launched a “whistleblower” campaign. After its lawyer sent intimidating letters to individual teachers across the state, the group hoped to expose widespread, improper electioneering by school employees—evidence of which never materialized. The Texas Attorney General, at the request of a conservative lawmaker, sent ominous letters to school districts warning them to “cease and desist” certain efforts to drive up voter turnout among their staff and even students.

“For those who would prefer that educators stay home on Election Day, encouraging teachers to wear an ‘I voted’ sticker at school or talking about elections on one’s personal Twitter account was tantamount to an act of aggression,” ATPE’s Mitchell recalls. “Their fear of a million active and retired educators, not to mention parents and other community supporters, becoming energized and showing up together at the polls was palpable.”

The November 2018 election brought more gains, with pro-public education candidates toppling others who were not as supportive of public schools, reshaping the focus of the Texas Legislature as a result. The legislative session began with “fixing school finance” as its top priority. HB 3 naturally took the spotlight, but ATPE’s lobby team also helped defeat legislation that not only would have affected an educator’s right to free speech but also would have made it nearly impossible to teach students about civics and elections, even when required by the Texas curriculum standards. Without question, the 2018 elections spurred those bills. Pro-public education groups anticipate these voter intimidation attempts to continue as questions linger about the next Legislature’s willingness to continue funding and build on the improvements made by HB 3. Answers to those questions hinge on the outcome of the 2020 elections.

Says ATPE’s Exter: “We often tell our members, ‘Vote for your profession.’ It’s so important because public education is one of few professions that is almost exclusively determined by elected officials’ policymaking. Elected officials decide almost everything about your job as a public educator and the impact the system is going to have on your students. Your best way to influence and interact with that is by voting for people who are going to be in your corner.”

If public education advocates want to see more success, the way there is clear: Vote.

Texas Parent PAC’s Miller offers a stern warning: “Our freedoms, the quality of our life, and [the ability] for everyone to have equal opportunity are what public education provides, and if we don’t stand up for this institution, we’re going to lose it to the profiteers, the privatizers, and the monetizers.”

Our kids deserve the educator vote, according to TEV’s Yeager.

“Every day educators devote their lives and work to make a better world for kids, and the one additional thing they can do that will really bring better opportunities for kids is to be a voter,” she says. “I really appreciate the sacrifices of educators—it’s a real public service. To multiply that would be to be consistent voters and think about the kids when voting.”

2020 ELECTIONS CALENDAR

Primary Elections

• First day of early voting: February 18
• Last day of early voting: February 28
• Primary Election Day: March 3

Local Elections

• Voter registration deadline: April 2
• First day of early voting: April 20
• Last day of early voting: April 28
• Uniform election date for local elections: May 2

Primary Runoff Elections

• Voter registration deadline: April 27
• First day of early voting: May 18
• Last day of early voting: May 22
• Primary runoff election date: May 26

General Election

• Voter registration deadline: October 5
• First day of early voting: October 19
• Last day of early voting: October 30
• General Election Day: November 3

VOTER RESOURCES

• ATPE’s TeachtheVote.org has the latest Texas education news and candidate profiles so you can research the education positions of elected officials and candidates.
• VOTE411.org lets you build a personalized ballot before you head to the polls and so much more.
• The League of Women Voters of Texas Voter’s Guide at my.lwv.org/texas/voting-elections/voters-guide allows you to compare candidates and other ballot measures.

These resources are nonpartisan and public-facing. For more information on the organizations mentioned in this piece, visit texaseducatorsvote.com, txparentpac.com, pastorsfortexaschildren.com, and my.lwv.org/texas.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Texas has open primaries. Any eligible registered Texas voter can vote in either of the two primaries.
• Local elections often include school board races and bonds, and have little, if anything, to do with the primary elections.
• You can vote in a primary runoff election even if you didn’t vote in the primary itself. If you did vote in the primary, you must vote in the same political party’s primary for the runoff.
• For each race on the November general election ballot, voters can choose any candidate—Republican, Democratic, independent, or affiliated with a third party—regardless of whether or how they voted in the primary.
• Starting with the 2020 general election, "straight ticket" voting is no longer an option. Voters who previously chose the simplicity of a straight ticket—voting for all candidates on the ballot representing the same party—must now make individual choices in each race.