Hello!

We would like to invite you to an important meeting on 7/25 at 6:00 PM at Jonathan’s house (5416 Edinburgh Dr).  The purpose of the meeting will be to share some information with you about a group that is working to elect candidates to the Texas Legislature who support all kids by supporting public schools. See below for some background information. If you could reply to this email with a quick "yes" or "no" to let us know whether you are coming or not, that would be super helpful!

– Jonathan Grant & Ashley Bean Thornton

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The Texas Legislature is responsible for funding and regulating public schools.

As you all know better than anyone, decades of inadequate funding (made even more inadequate by inflation) have been starving our public schools of the resources needed to educate all our kids.  For years now teachers and other school personnel have been rolling up their sleeves and trying to make up for the lack of resources the best they can. They have learned new technologies; they have taken on new responsibilities for special needs students and students with mental health and behavioral challenges; they have taken on more and more students as class sizes have grown; they have gone into their own pockets to buy needed supplies.  But bit by bit even the most dedicated teachers and public school employees are being stretched too far.  The lack of funding is having a negative effect on our schools in every area from academics, to morale, to student behavior and discipline, among others.

The current full court press by some legislators for school vouchers is an especially bad sign. It is as if some of our legislators, having starved our schools of resources, are giving up on public schools all together.  It is as if they are saying, “Let’s just save what few students we can, and too bad for the rest.”

No!

We cannot afford that!  We cannot afford to educate only the few and to give up on the rest!  We can’t build the communities we want, the state we want, the economy we want, the world we want by just educating the few. We need to do what’s best for all our kids!   Other states and other countries have figured out ways to do a great job educating all their kids.  If they have done it, we can too.

Texas has the second biggest economy in the country and the eighth largest economy in the world.  We could have the best public school system in the country, but we have to fund it.  We need to work together and insist that our legislators prioritize funding public schools.

Does all this politics talk feel overwhelming?  It doesn’t need to be!   With a bit more organization and planning we can find the votes to elect people who will prioritize public schools.  Many hands make light work. If we work together, we can get ourselves, our friends and our colleagues informed about important issues related to public school.  With that information in hand, we can get out the vote this November for candidates who support public schools!    Far from being draining, this work can be fun and a great chance to get to know each other! If we are smart about it, it doesn’t have to take up a lot of our precious time.

That’s what this meeting is about –  finding practical, doable and even fun ways to inform and mobilize teachers, school personnel, parents and everyone else who cares about all kids, so that we can vote for all kids in November.

Please join us – we need your ideas, your experience, your enthusiasm, your connections and most of all your care for ALL kids!  See you on July 25 at 6 PM at Jonathan’s house (5416 Edinburgh Dr)!

If you could reply to this email with a quick "yes" or "no" to let me know whether you are coming or not, that would help us know how many chairs to put out and how many hand outs to bring!

Thank you!

Jonathan Grant & Ashley Bean Thornton