Rally Draws Charter School Supporters to the Texas Capitol
Austin, Texas – May 4, 2011 – With more positive public charter schools bills moving through the 82nd Legislature than at any other time in state history, more than 1700 parents of charter students returned to the Capitol Wednesday to encourage lawmakers to complete their work and send the bills to the Governor’s desk.
Bills to lift the state imposed cap on new charters to allow for managed growth, to grant charters access to state backed bond guarantees for school construction, and to support dropout recovery charter schools have all passed the Senate.
“We are here today to encourage House members to finish the job, and pass these reforms to help my daughter. There is nothing more important to me to be here today fighting for charter schools because I’m lucky my child got into one, but not everyone is as lucky. We have to raise the cap so more students get this chance,” said Cassandra and Freddy Rodriguez from San Juan, Texas. Their daughter is a first-grader at IDEA Public Schools in the Rio Grande Valley.
David Dunn, executive director of the Texas Charter Schools Association said, “Charters have come a long way in a relatively short time, and the amount of legislation we have moving in both Houses is an indication of that. Since last legislative session the financial and academic news about Texas charter schools has been strong. And since last session, our grassroots support has grown steadily.”
Parents traveled from Houston, San Antonio, The Rio Grande Valley, Dallas, Fort Worth, and locally from Austin to rally for legislation that helps their children and strengthens overall charter school policy to benefit all charter schools statewide. May 1 -7, 2011 is also National Charter Schools Week, a time dedicated to raising awareness for more than 4,900 schools serving over 1.6 million students nationwide.
Texas legislators welcomed the charter school parents to the Capitol and reassured them that public education was a top priority this session. Senator Shapiro told the crowd, “You know what being here today tells people inside this building? You matter! It says, your children’s education in a public charter school matters!” Legislative speakers included: Representative Rob Eissler; Senator Leticia Van De Putte; Representative Mark Shelton; Representative Harold Dutton; Senator Dan Patrick; and Senator Florence Shapiro. Jerel Booker, Executive Director of Stand for Children, also spoke about the need to advocate yearround for education and give children a voice in the political system through effective statewide grassroots advocacy networks.
TCSA has created a membership strand specifically for charter school parents to stay involved and engaged. To find out more information please call TCSA at 512-584-8272.
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