Good evening PTA leader,

Rally Day 2025 Legacy in Action lived up to its name. While we don't have an official headcount, the attendance appeared to be an all-time high and the energy was palpable. 

Our sincerest thank you goes to every local and council leader who made it such a success. 

Whether or not you were able to attend, there are several ways you can carry on the energy of the day:

It is an honor to serve and represent you. Thank you for all you do!

Sincerely,

Since 1957, Texans on both sides of the political spectrum have consistently rejected vouchers. Yet once again, lawmakers are attempting to push them through via SB 2 and HB 3.

While we appreciate the House Public Education Committee hearing HB 2, the school funding bill, before hearing HB 3, the voucher bill, the amount of funding being proposed in HB 2 for public schools does not make up for inflation and enrollment shortfalls and there is no room for a voucher bill.

Voucher programs in other states have exploded beyond their initial budgets, draining resources from public schools. Worse, vouchers do not improve student achievement and, in many states, lead to a decline in achievement. Furthermore, the reality is that vouchers are not about “parent choice” because the only choice in a voucher program belongs to private schools that can hand-pick their students and are not accountable to taxpayers or the state. Texas parents already have school choice, and vouchers undeniably funnel public tax dollars away from our already-strained public schools.

Governor Abbott has prioritized vouchers this session, and while reports suggest a slim House majority supports the initiative, voters are growing increasingly frustrated with the relentless push. Lawmakers are now facing backlash in their home districts for backing legislation that threatens the stability of our public schools—the backbone of our communities.

Five weeks ago, Texas PTA issued a Call to Action on SB 2, urging you to contact your legislators about vouchers. The response was record-breaking, proving how deeply Texans care about protecting public education.

Now, the House Committee on Public Education will hear HB 3 on Tuesday, March 11—and we need you to act NOW. Tell your representatives to stand with Texas families, not special interests. Our public schools depend on it.

Take time now to tell lawmakers:

On February 2, 2025, the Governor gave his State of the State address in which he announced his emergency items for the session. Emergency items are exempted from the constitutional restriction on legislation being considered within the first 60 days of a legislation session (before March 14th). Here is the complete list.  Four of the seven items would affect Texas education:

Although not in the governor’s emergency items, HB 2 by Representative Buckley increases public school funding and teacher pay. The House Public Education Committee held hearings on HB 2 March 4th and 6th. Jennifer Easley testified in support of this bill and made several requests.

Key Provisions of House Bill 2

Senator Brandon Creighton, chair of the Senate Committee on Education K-16, filed this session’s Senate version of the voucher bill, SB 2, named “The Texas Education Freedom Act.” Representative Brad Buckley, chair of the House Public Education Committee, filed HB 3, which would establish an “education savings account” program. Both House and Senate filed versions of the budget bill have earmarked $1 Billion to these ESAs, which if approved, would begin in the 2026-27 school year. Both bills propose universal eligibility--students could be entering school for the first time, already attending a public school or enrolled in a private school.

Voucher plan costs estimated to quadruple in four years

Bills must have a “fiscal note” attached to them before they are debated in committee.  This financial analysis is done to advise the legislature how much a proposal will cost the taxpayers. The Legislative Budget Board prepares the non-partisan fiscal note.

The fiscal note for SB 2 estimated that the cost of the Texas Senate’s “school choice” bill would nearly quadruple in four years. The analysis projected that costs would rise annually until reaching $3.75 billion in 2030. The total estimated cost of four years under SB 2 would be $11 billion, according to the LBB. Sen. Creighton said lawmakers would have control over the cost of the program. “We as a body would have to approve the growth of the program as appropriators and on the Senate floor.”

The fiscal note for HB 3 has not yet been released.

The Senate’s Voucher bill was filed, heard, and passed—all in one week

Timeline on ‘school choice’ bill in the Senate:

         Filed in the Senate: 1/24/2025

         Heard in Senate Education k-16 Committee: 1/28/2025

         Debated and passed by the Senate: 2/5/2025

After passage, SB 2 was sent from the Senate to the House. However, it appears that the House will first have hearings on its own voucher bill, HB 3. 

The bills proposed to reduce property taxes, HB 8 and SB 4, are the response to one of the governor’s emergency items.  Both bills would provide a property tax cut of approximately $3 billion, but in different ways.

The Senate’s version of tax relief, SB 4, is a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the current homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000.  The state would then have to make up for that lost local property tax revenue.

In HB 8, the House has proposed a different method, a direct compression of local property taxes. It would spend $3 billion for 6.8 cents of additional rate compression through existing mechanisms.

In 2023, the 88th Legislature passed a $100,000 homestead exemption, and 10.6 cents of rate compression, creating an ongoing cost to the state of $26.3 billion.

This session, Texas lawmakers are poised to spend at least $51 billion to maintain existing tax cuts and to provide these new ones over the next two years. In previous sessions, the legislature has used large state surpluses to fund these tax cuts. Some observers have warned that the state might not be able to maintain those cuts should an economic downturn occur.

Another one of the governor’s emergency items, a teacher pay raise, has already made a quick trip through the Senate.  Filed on February 18, and passed by the Senate on February 26, the bill is now awaiting hearing in the House.

SB 26 would set up a $4.3 billion pot of money that is separate from the basic allotment. As passed, teachers automatically receive raises in their third and fifth year teaching.

The proposed raise would kick in next year, and would give a $2,500 raise to every teacher with three years teaching experience and $5,500 to those with five years’ experience. Teachers at small districts with less than 5,000 students would get more - $5,000 and $10,000 respectively.

The bill also expands eligibility for the state’s teacher merit pay program and increases bonus pay. 

As filed, HB 4 proposes redesigning the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness standardized test as early 2026. This legislation would instruct the Texas Education Agency to modify the test by reducing its length and prioritizing post-secondary preparation. The bill’s goal is for the new test to ensure that within 15 years Texas ranks among the top five states in preparing students for post-secondary success.

Senator Huffman filed SB 260 which would double the per-student and per-campus safety allotments from 2023. The bill would increase the per-student safety allotment from $10 to $28, and the campus allotment from $15,000 to $30,000. Senate Bill 260 was heard in Senate Finance committee on March 5th.

Stephanie Holdren, Texas PTA Director at Large, testified in support of this bill and encouraged the committee to continue working to fully fund public education.

Finally, there is only one more week of bill filing remaining before the March 14th deadline. As of this writing, 6,500 bills have been filed.  There are 889 bills affecting public education and children in the Texas PTA bill tracker. 

Texas PTA wants to hear public school funding shortfalls have impacted your family and your children.

Continue recruiting members. Our influence is directly related to the number of members we have when speaking to legislators.

How are your membership efforts going? What about others in your community? Check the Local Roster!

#EveryMemberCounts