After sitting on Cy-Fair ISD’s board of trustees for 12 years and serving the Texas Association of School Boards for three, Bob Covey said he has learned a lot about public education.
Cy-Fair ISD Trustee Bob Covey launched Go Public Gulf Coast to promote the public school system.[/caption]
“I really thought I knew everything about Cy-Fair because of the elementary, the middle and high schools my kids went to—until I got on the board and realized how big and diverse it was,” he said. “The same thing happened on TASB with people from all over the state. Amazingly, [school districts] all face very similar challenges in educating kids for the future.”
Cy-Fair might be a fast-growing community, but other districts are not experiencing the same growth, Covey said. Instead of being in competition with one another, school districts should work together to achieve their goals, he said.
In January, Covey started Go Public Gulf Coast, a group dedicated to promoting the importance of public education. After distributing a survey to 50 gulf coast area school districts to gauge interest, 28 have jumped on board so far.
Covey said he was inspired by organizations, such as Make Education a Priority in Fort Worth and Go Public in Bexar County, both of which he said his group is modeled after.
“There’s been a lot of negativity about public school education for a number of years,” he said. “We wanted just to promote public schools and answer the negativity and misinformation that was getting out there.”
Seventy percent of Cy-Fair residents do not have children enrolled in the district, and Covey said these citizens learn about public education by word-of-mouth. By teaming up with other districts, the Go Public message will reach broader audiences, he said. Advertising efforts are being developed to reach constituents who might not have children enrolled in local schools, Covey said.
Covey said the organization is working toward a 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Marketing funds come from member dues based on each district’s average daily attendance with $18,000 being the most a district would pay annually. Local businesses have sponsorship opportunities as well, he said.
Because each district has its own specific needs, Covey said petitioning the state Legislature is not a part of the group's mission.
Even though Go Public does not lobby state legislators, he said it can still help groups that do by promoting public education. School choice is one of several issues where the importance of public schools in a community needs to be emphasized, he said.
“[School choice] may lose this session, but there’s enough people that have supported it in the Senate that it will be up next session,” he said. “It’s going to be an ongoing fight, and I think that’s why it’s important for us to get this message out.”
