This November, Houstonians will cast their vote in dozens of elections at the federal, state and local level, with many of these outcomes affecting the future of public education in Texas.

“It’s so important to not just how our communities function now, but how they’re going to be able to thrive 10, 20 years from now as the kids currently sitting in schools grow up and enter the workforce,” she said. “People who care about public education should be paying attention to each level of their ballot and thinking about how that connects to their public schools.”

Ensuring voters are informed about public education before heading to the polls is critical, as the state representatives and school board members who are elected have direct influence on the policies that govern local schools.

Ensuring voters are informed about public education before heading to the polls is critical, as the state representatives and school board members who are elected have direct influence on the policies that govern local schools, said Fernanda Marrero Hi, a Houston-based advocate with Raise Your Hand Texas.

“All elections are consequential for public education, but they’re not all treated with that same degree of seriousness,” she said. “When it comes to public education, state and local races are usually even more influential than national races.”

The state’s role in public education

Part of the challenge for organizations like Raise Your Hand Texas stems from the fact that state government in many ways is the most invisible layer of government, unlike local or national politics, Cohen said.

“Mayors are often very visible in communities, and your school board leader may be your neighbor,” she said. “Federal legislators or the president populate the evening news or your Facebook newsfeed. But oftentimes, state government isn’t showing up.”

Part of the work Raise Your Hand does is to elevate the visibility and awareness of state government, including the fact that these bodies of government are key decision makers when it comes to public education, which is an issue that touches people of all ages in concrete ways. However, many Texans may not know the state controls a multitude of policies surrounding public education, including the accountability system; teacher workforce issues like teacher pay; how much districts can raise their tax rates; and the amount of funding each student receives.

“The Texas legislature is the 300-pound gorilla in the room when it comes to making decisions about how public schools function in their state,” Cohen said. “Your local school board is figuring out how to operate in a context that’s set by the state, and the legislature plays a decisive role in crafting that legislation.”

Although many Texans may care about public education, the learning curve is steep when it comes to knowing which politicians and bodies of government play a role, and it is not always common sense, Marrero Hi said.

“There are definitely lots of connections between lower-level elections and public education that we need to be educating people on,” she said. “They are really the ones making the most impact on public education.”

From voter to public education advocate

For any Houstonians looking for more of a hands-on approach to local public education issues, the first and most important step is to vote and be an informed voter, Cohen said. There are a variety of resources for that, whether it’s League of Women Voters’ voting guides and Texas Educators Vote’s Who Does What in Public Education explanatory tool, or the Association of Texas Professional Educator’s Teach The Vote candidate profiles.

Beyond voting, advocacy is a year-round process, not something that just happens during election season or during the state legislative session. The first step to effective advocacy is finding people to do it with, which is where the Regional Advocacy Directors at Raise Your Hand Texas can be a real help, Cohen said.

“Our Regional Advocacy Directors [RADs] are encouraging and nurturing an engaged constituency all across the state, 365 days a year,” she said. “If you’re interested in figuring out how to plug into that work, we want people to reach out to those RADs.”

The team is composed of 13 directors across the state. They work to understand the challenges and accomplishments of public schools in their regions, educating them about public education policy and the policy-making process, and connect lawmakers and education stakeholders to one another. During legislative sessions, regional advocacy directors mobilize advocates to support or oppose specific legislation.

In addition to working with their regional advocacy directors, would-be education advocates may also look for existing local groups to partner with, including Parent Teacher Associations and various civic organizations such as chambers of commerce and Rotary clubs.

“Those [groups] can be a great avenue as well for saying, ‘How can we gather the resources and people assembled here and make sure we’re being supportive of our local public schools?’” Cohen said.

Before heading to the polls this fall, Marrero Hi urged voters to think hard about the policies and candidates who will work to improve working conditions for teachers, such as teacher salaries, staff shortages and classroom size.

“I’d say right now public education is in a crisis,” she said. “The working conditions of teachers have been very alarming with teacher shortages and large classroom sizes. When I was teaching last year, and my largest class was 47. That’s unacceptable, but if there’s not enough teachers, there’s not enough teachers. I hope voters will really think about policies that will improve working conditions for teachers, because they are the backbone of public education, and on a bigger scale public education is the backbone of society.”

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