ATPE - Association of Texas Professional Educators

01/29/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/29/2025 14:00

State’s largest educator association reacts to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priorities

Association of Texas Professional Educators
<p>The <strong>Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE)</strong>&mdash;the largest public educator organization in Texas&mdash;releases this statement from <strong>Executive Director Shannon Holmes:</strong></p> <p>&ldquo;We are dismayed that school funding is not among Lt. Gov. Patrick&rsquo;s top 25 priorities for the 2025 Texas legislative session. We certainly knew and expected a school voucher program to be one of his top priorities, but we had retained hope that public school finance would also be on his list. Of course, this probably shouldn&rsquo;t be a surprise given that the first meeting of the Senate Committee on Education K-16 solely focused on private school vouchers. After last session, it&rsquo;s clear that simply putting money into the budget bill does not equate to prioritizing passage of the bills that will allow that money to be spent.</p> <p>&ldquo;In our meetings with the lieutenant governor&rsquo;s office, as well as with the governor&rsquo;s office and the House speaker&rsquo;s office, the ATPE lobby team has carried forward our members&rsquo; numerous funding-related concerns. Our teachers and other public school employees need financial relief to stay in the profession. Our school districts can&rsquo;t cover the cost of the meaningful safety reforms implemented by the Legislature. They also can&rsquo;t keep up with the cost of special education for our most vulnerable students.</p> <p>&ldquo;Even if school funding makes it into Patrick&rsquo;s priorities 26 through 40, the lieutenant governor has already made it clear that he prioritizes vouchers over every other Texas priority, including the needs of more than 5.5 million Texas public school students.&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>For more information about ATPE Governmental Relations, please visit <a href="~/txlege">atpe.org/txlege</a>.</strong></p>

State's largest educator association reacts to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's priorities

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The Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE)-the largest public educator organization in Texas-releases this statement from Executive Director Shannon Holmes:

"We are dismayed that school funding is not among Lt. Gov. Patrick's top 25 priorities for the 2025 Texas legislative session. We certainly knew and expected a school voucher program to be one of his top priorities, but we had retained hope that public school finance would also be on his list. Of course, this probably shouldn't be a surprise given that the first meeting of the Senate Committee on Education K-16 solely focused on private school vouchers. After last session, it's clear that simply putting money into the budget bill does not equate to prioritizing passage of the bills that will allow that money to be spent.

"In our meetings with the lieutenant governor's office, as well as with the governor's office and the House speaker's office, the ATPE lobby team has carried forward our members' numerous funding-related concerns. Our teachers and other public school employees need financial relief to stay in the profession. Our school districts can't cover the cost of the meaningful safety reforms implemented by the Legislature. They also can't keep up with the cost of special education for our most vulnerable students.

"Even if school funding makes it into Patrick's priorities 26 through 40, the lieutenant governor has already made it clear that he prioritizes vouchers over every other Texas priority, including the needs of more than 5.5 million Texas public school students."

For more information about ATPE Governmental Relations, please visit atpe.org/txlege.