Ready to show up? Here’s how

If you want to do your part and show up big for public education, take the following steps:

1. Understand your House district.

Gerrymandering during redistricting is one of the ugliest truths about politics. Every 10 years, the U.S. government conducts a census, and based on new population numbers, each state’s legislature redraws its legislative districts. The prevailing party in each state at that time (in Texas’ case, the Republican Party) has the upper hand as districts are redrawn. New district lines are created that will ensure the prevailing party remains in power and that most incumbents are protected. In Texas, this means very few districts are competitive in the November general election when Republicans and Democrats run against one another. In most cases, the person who wins the prevailing party’s March primary will easily win the November election. In many cases, primary winners are unopposed in November, and often when there is a challenger the opposing party has so little support in the district that victory is a foregone conclusion.

This means that if you want to make your vote count, you will vote in the primary of the prevailing party in your district, whether that’s Republican or Democratic. There are very few “swing” districts that could go either way in November. Texas has open primaries, so you don’t have to register as a Republican or a Democrat. Under an open primary system, you choose which party’s primary you want to vote in, and your commitment to that party only lasts through the primary runoff, if there’s one in your district. You may vote for anyone you wish in November and switch to the other party’s primary the next election cycle.

Now, if you view yourself as a diehard Republican or a diehard Democrat, the very idea of voting in the other party’s primary might make your skin crawl. And that’s understandable. But consider this: In the 2016 Republican primary, former Rep. Byron Cook (R–Corsicana)—a strong public education ally—defeated pro-voucher opponent Thomas McNutt by only 225 votes. During the subsequent legislative session, Cook was critical in protecting public employees’ right to pay professional association dues via payroll deduction. Those 225 voters protected your constitutional rights to association and free speech. If they had voted in the Democratic primary, your voice at the Legislature through your professional association would likely have been greatly diluted.

So consider prioritizing strategy over party affiliation and voting in the primary that will actually determine your House representative—the person who will cast important votes about school funding, including your compensation. And prepare yourself for the worst consequence of cross-party primary voting: a lot of junk mail and robocalls.

2. Vote between Feb. 20–March 1 or on March 5.

Barring severe illness or unexpected travel, there are almost no valid excuses for not making it to the polls. Early voting is a two-week period when you can vote ahead of time at the location most convenient to you. There’s almost never a line, and you can fit it in your schedule when it makes sense. On Election Day, you may be required to vote in your specific precinct, and you might face a line. So take our advice: Vote early. Visit votetexas.gov to link to your county’s voting information.

3. Ask your friends and family to vote with you.

If we want to make the Texas Legislature a friendly place for public schools, we need our friends and family to help. Ask them to vote with you. This could mean you all go to the polls together, but what it really means is that you’re all voting for pro-public education candidates. ATPE’s TeachtheVote.org contains candidate profiles and voting records you can review to make your decisions. Be sure to write them down; you can’t use a cell phone in a polling place. Make sure your friends and family understand what it means to be pro-public education from the perspective of an actual educator. Nearly all candidates call themselves “pro-public education”—but to be truly pro-public education, a candidate should understand that diverting taxpayer dollars to a private school in the form of a voucher reduces the resources we have to educate public school children in safe learning environments and to staff public schools with certified adequately compensated professionals.

In other words, identify the public education-friendly candidate you’re going to vote for, and ask your friends and family to support you by voting for them, too.

4. Help the ATPE Political Action Committee (ATPE-PAC) support pro-public education candidates and officeholders.

Back to the money: We know ATPE-PAC—the tool ATPE members can use to pool their resources in support of candidates who support our legislative positions—is not likely to receive a single $6 million donation. (Hey, our ATPE Governmental Relations team can dream.) But again, let’s look at the numbers:

• ATPE has nearly 90,000 members.
• If each of our 90,000 members invested just $5 a month in ATPE-PAC, we would have $5.4 million in our coffers (when you think about it, that’s about $1 per Texas public school student, which is kind of neat).

This level of funding would allow ATPE-PAC to show further support for pro-public education candidates and officeholders who rely on PAC donations to place radio ads, send out mailers, and pay for yard signs.

If you’ve made it this far in the article, we hope you are fed up but also inspired to show up. (And that your brain doesn’t hurt from all the math.) We can do this—as long as we show up. We must show up for our students, for our families’ financial well-being, and for the future of Texas.