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Thousands Rally in Austin to Call for Restoration of Texas Education Funding

Posted byHoumanitarian

Video: Austin KVUE Coverage

Morgan Smith, Texas Tribune
At a rally at the Capitol on Saturday, public education advocates accused lawmakers of strangling public schools with out-of-control high-stakes testing and funding cuts.

“There are 5 million kids in Texas waiting for this legislature to keep our forefather’s promises,” said John Kuhn, the superintendent of Perrin Whitt Consolidated Independent School District, in North Texas. “And to those who want to take away that promise, I’m with the moms and the trustees and local business people who will say what brave Texans have said before, come and take it. Just try to kill that promise of our Constitution.”

Educators, parents and students gathered at the event organized by Save Texas Schools, a statewide coalition formed during the 2011 legislative session to fight funding cuts. According to the group’s crowd count, about 3,500 people attended.

While 2011 might have been the Alamo for Texas public schools, said Kuhn, whose rural district of about 400 students is located northwest of Fort Worth, “this year is our San Jacinto.”

Several lawmakers attended the rally, including Sen. Kirk Watson and Reps. Elliott Naishtat, Mark Strama, Lon Burnam and Donna Howard. Rep. James White, from Hillister, was the lone Republican.

“The verdict is in, and it says the Texas school system is inadequate, unfair and isn’t even constitutional,” said Watson, referring a district court judge’s recent ruling in a lawsuit brought by school districts against the state.

Instead of moving restore funding in light of that decision now, he said, “the Legislature is sitting around like a litigious deadbeat dad waiting from a ruling from a higher court.”

Many speakers — including Diane Ravitch, a Houston native and former assistant secretary of education to President George H.W. Bush who is now an outspoken opponent of vouchers and high-stakes testing — called out Senate Education Committee chairman Dan Patrick by name.

The Houston Republican has made creating a scholarship program for students to attend private schools a priority during the ongoing legislative session. He also has introduced legislation, Senate Bill 2, that would dramatically expand the state’s charter school system.

Among Ravitch’s concerns was the senator’s attempt to pass a “parent trigger” law in which local school boards could vote to convert to a charter school. It would more aptly be called a “parent tricker” law, she said.

She urged members of the crowd to support efforts to roll back student testing in the state. “The testing vampire started here,” she said, referring to the Texas origins of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. “Kill it.”
(Read more of this story at the Texas Tribune)

MORE COVERAGE:
• Educators, Parents Rally for Reforms (Chron.com)
• Thousands Gather for School Reform Rally (KUHF Public Radio)
• 2,000 Rally in Austin to Demand That Legislature Restore Education Cuts (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

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