ATPE Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter has the following statement on House Bill (HB) 177 by Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D–Austin):

“While top state leaders are pushing various voucher proposals, a group of lawmakers in the Texas House has put forward a plan that would invest $40 billion in our public schools across the state—the amount needed just to get to the national average on per-pupil spending.    

“The plan doesn’t only propose spending. These lawmakers also identify what our local schools could do if Texas schools had even just the national average in education funding. With this funding, we could: 

• Raise teacher pay by $15,000;
• Provide more one-on-one attention for students with reduced class sizes; 
• Address the student suicide and mental heath crisis by hiring more school counselors; 
• Truly provide for all kids by eliminating the special education funding gap; and 
• ​Protect our state’s most precious population by dramatically increasing school safety and mental health funding. 

“We know Texans want these things for their own children and all 5.4 million public school students. Unfortunately, the governor, for all his bluster about parental rights, is not listening to parents. The sad reality is that he isn’t likely to listen to what parents or educators want for Texas kids until we say it from the voting booth. We must vote in March and vote in November for leaders who want what is best for Texas kids, and we must vote in large enough numbers that the message is too loud to ignore.” 

About the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE)
Founded in 1980, ATPE is the leading educators’ association in Texas with approximately 90,000 members statewide. With its strong collaborative philosophy, ATPE speaks for classroom teachers, administrators, and future, retired, and para-educators and works to create better opportunities for Texas’ more than five million public school students. | atpe.org