This is an absolutely critical time to weigh in with legislators. House Bill 100, the school finance bill that the Texas Senate has turned into a voucher-and-school-finance bill, is headed to a conference committee. Our concern is that the bill will come back from conference with vouchers attached, forcing members of the Texas House to take a vote on this issue.
Send messages to legislators
First, our friends at Raise Your Hand Texas have created a quick and easy link where you can plug in your address and it will send a short and direct email to your local legislators. You can customize the email text if you would like. Please click here to send these emails — you can be done in less than a minute. We also encourage you to share the link on your social media accounts.
Action Steps for Educators and Allies
Next, we want to contact the members of the Texas House, and focus specifically on providing support for the Republican legislators who stood against vouchers earlier this year during the House budget. They are under significant pressure to support a far-reaching voucher program and we need to encourage them to stand strong.
1.Phone Call to State Representatives
Call your representative’s office at the Texas Capitol today and tell them, “Thank you for supporting public education. Please do not support any ESA voucher program for private schools. Taxpayer dollars should stay only with public schools that educate all students.”
You can find contact information for your local legislators here.
If you have already contacted your local legislators, please also consider contacting the pivotal Republican State Representatives below. These are legislators who have stood strong with public schools and we need to thank them and encourage them to continue standing by our students and teachers against vouchers.
2. Social Media Posts
Please also tag legislators on Twitter with a similar message. You tag someone on Twitter by entering their Twitter handle so they see the message. Sample message to post with the graphic below: Please continue to support public education, @KingForTexas. Do not support any ESA voucher program for private schools. Taxpayer dollars should be in public schools educating all students. #txlege
Rep. Steve Allison, San Antonio. steve.allison@house.
Rep. Trent Ashby, Lufkin. trent.ashby@house.
Rep. Ernest Bailes, Shepherd. ernest.bailes@house.
Rep. Keith Bell, Forney. keith.bell@house.
Rep. DeWayne Burns, Cleburne. dewayne.burns@house.
Rep. Travis Clardy, Nacogdoches. travis.clary@
Rep. Drew Darby, San Angelo. drew.darby@house.
Rep. Jay Dean, Longview. jay.dean@house.
Rep. Charlie Geren, Fort Worth. charlie.geren@house.
Rep. Justin Holland, Rockwall. justin.holland@
Rep. Kyle Kacal, College Station. kyle.kacal@house.
Rep. Ken King, Canadian. ken.king@house.
Rep. John Kuempel, Seguin. john.kuempel@house.
Rep. Stan Lambert, Abilene. stan.lambert@house.
Rep. Brooks Landgraf, Odessa. brooks.landgraf@house.
Rep. Andrew Murr, Junction. andrew.murr@house.
Rep. Angelia Orr, Itasca. angelia.orr@house.
Rep. Four Price, Amarillo. four.price@house.
Rep. John Raney, College Station. john.raney@house.
Rep. Glenn Rogers, Graford. glenn.rogers@house.
Rep. Hugh Shine, Temple. hugh.shine@house.
Rep. Reggie Smith, Sherman. reggie.smith@house.
Rep. David Spiller, Jacksboro. david.spiller@
Rep. Gary VanDeaver, New Boston. gary.vandeaver@house.
Or you can look up the Twitter handle for any member of the Texas Legislature here.
Social Media Resources
Social media graphics to share (click image to download):
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