Advocacy

The Texas Legislature is meeting, and they are considering a wide range of laws that impact our state’s public schools, students and families. The Austin Council of PTAs is working closely with Texas PTA and other organizations to make sure you have solid facts, support to educate families on your campus and opportunities to speak up and get involved.

Texas PTA Rally Day Feb 25 | Texas State Capitol 

Austin, Let’s Show Up for Texas PTA Rally Day on February 25 . Check out these resources for your AISD PTA and school community

 

There are many ways for your PTA and campus community to learn more and to speak up for issues that you care about:

LEARN

Get informed on the Texas PTA Legislative Priorities (in English and Spanish). ACPTA members have identified five legislative priorities that matter most to campus communities in Austin:

  1. Public School Funding System Reform
  2. Student Mental Health
  3. Literacy by 3rd Grade and Pre-K Funding
  4. Juvenile Justice
  5. Special Education Funding

 

  • Join Make It Matter Mondays Live!
    • Meet up with Austin-area PTA members advocating for public schools during “Make it Matter Monday LIVE” to be held on the first Monday of every month February through May. First one is March 4, 2019 from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Austin Public Library’s Carver Branch (1161 Angelina St, Austin, TX 78702).
    • Theme: “Public School Finance”. Guest Speaker will be from JustFundItTX.  Come connect with others, learn about legislative issues and how to plug into actions, and get resources to take back to your PTA.

ACT

  • Encourage your campus to send students to Rally Day for a field trip. Field trips must follow a set of guidelines and must include a lesson plan. Here’s a great lesson plan for Capitol field trips that was written by AISD Teacher Amy Price, that’s suitable for students in middle and high schools.
  • Invite a free speaker from a local group to your campus to share information about any of these important issues. See the 2019 Legislative Resource Guides, available in English and Spanish. These groups would love to come to your campus during the session or any other time to talk about fun ways to promote literacy, supporting student mental health, support for families whose students need special education, juvenile justice issues and school funding.
  • Legislators – District Map and Contact List. Contact information for Texas state legislators that are in Austin ISD and surrounding area. Use these for post-card writing campaigns or sending emails.
  • Sign up for Make It Matter Mondays emails. These are weekly messages on key legislative priorities public education, with a focus on Austin ISD schools.  A simple way for everyone to activate. Send a message to Sonya Kaleel at advocacy@austincouncilpta.org to sign up for Advocacy Google Group.