Vote to help public schools
It’s unrealistic to continue repeating the same action and expect a different result. However, Texas educators and parents will be deluding themselves if they once again sit out today’s election or vote against the best interests of their professions, their students and their children.
There are more than 700,000 public school employees across 8,600 campuses across Texas and millions of parents of school-age children, a potentially significant voting bloc. Yet, Texas has one of the lowest voter participation rates in the country. According to research conducted by the University of Texas at Austin, Texas ranked 47th in voter turnout and 44th in voter registration out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia during the 2016 election.
Many educators and parents have been staying home on Election Day, and many who have voted haven’t based their electoral decisions on which candidates are best for public education.
It is no coincidence then that Texas consistently ranks in the lower tier of states in per-student funding for public schools, that Texas teachers are paid $7,300 less per year than the national average, students are stressed from testing and many classrooms remain overcrowded and inadequately equipped. And while active educators and retirees dig deeper into their pockets to pay for classroom supplies and rising health care costs, elected representatives in Austin keep attempting to reallocate tax dollars to private school vouchers for a handful of kids.
These problems are the consequences of recent elections. They will be repeated and compounded next year if educators and parents don’t vote in large numbers today and vote for state legislators who will advocate for public education and
give educators and their students more than lip service.
Politics is a bad word to many educators and parents. But if you are a teacher or other employee in a public school, your career is directed by politics. Political decisions determine how much you are paid, the quality of your benefits and retirement, your teaching load, the length of your school day, the curriculum you teach and the quality of your workplace and working conditions.
If you are a parent, your children’s school days are set by political decisions made by elected policymakers. These include the length of the school year, the quality of curriculum choices, the quality of instructional materials, promotion and graduation requirements and how much time is spent on preparation for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test. A political decision to cut education funding led to an illegal cap on special education enrollments that denied essential services to thousands of children. Following a public outcry, the cap was removed, but funding still is lacking.
The size of your school property tax bill also is largely determined by policies and budgetary decisions made by elected officials in Austin.
I respect everyone’s right to base his or her vote on any issue of his or her choosing. But if educators and parents don’t vote in the best interests of their profession, their students and their children, if they don’t vote for education first, who will? If you think your vote isn’t needed, think again. An important pro-public education legislator was elected only a few years ago with a four-vote margin.
If we desire the great public schools Texans deserve, we have to vote and elect people who will deliver.
Candelaria is president of the Texas State Teachers Association.