More than 200 educators from across Texas, including several from Garland, walked the halls of the Texas Capitol in Austin Feb. 21 to meet with their legislators and advocate on behalf of public education, their students, and their fellow educators.
The educators visited Austin as part of ATPE at the Capitol, a two-day training and advocacy event hosted for its members by the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE), the leading voice for Texas teachers and the state’s largest educator association with local units and members in nearly every corner of our state.
“It’s an honor to represent Garland teachers,” said Rebecca Mendoza, a teacher and ATPE member from Garland. She is pictured alongside her fellow area ATPE members Angel Mendoza, Esmeralda Sendejo, Anne Rojas, Alma Hernandez, Sulyana Guerrero, Dwight Davis, Jackie Davis, Socorro Fernandez, and ATPE State President Stacey Ward in the attached photo. “We came here with the hopes of establishing a stronger relationship with our lawmakers. Our goal is to help legislators understand what’s really happening in Texas classrooms and not be distracted by sound bites and talking heads. In the real world, teachers and parents are working together to benefit the 5.5 billion children served by Texas public schools.”
As the single largest line item in the state’s budget, public education and its funding have increasingly become a target for politicization.
Educators gathered to push back on proposed voucher legislation designed to extract state tax dollars from our public schools and drive a wedge between voters and public education.
With the growing threat to public school funding and political rhetoric stoking the embers of a burgeoning culture war, educators are more concerned than ever for the futures of their students, their own careers and of public education in Texas.
“The discussions surrounding school safety, vouchers, teacher compensation, and access to resources for their students have fired up teachers and ATPE members from across Texas to attend ATPE at the Capitol this year,” ATPE Executive Director Shannon Holmes said. “ATPE at the Capitol is one of the many ways that ATPE empowers educators to advocate for their students and the public education profession.”
For more information about ATPE’s efforts at the Capitol, visit TeachtheVote.org.
The Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE): The Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) is the leading educators’ association in Texas and has been a strong voice for Texas educators since 1980. With its strong collaborative philosophy, ATPE speaks for classroom teachers, administrators, future, retired and para-educators and works to create better opportunities for 5 million public schoolchildren. ATPE is the voice of Texas public education. Learn more at atpe.org.