Over a three-day period in February, defenders of public education descended on the Capitol twice to demand more funding from the state and to vilify vouchers as a proposed solution that they feel will only worsen the funding crisis for the state’s public schools. 

Over a thousand people assembled at the Family Life Center and First United Methodist Church near the Capitol building for the Save Texas Schools rally on Saturday afternoon. Attendees gathered to listen to speakers like U.S. congressman Lloyd Doggett, state representative Gina Hinojosa, state representative James Talarico and more.

And then two days later on Monday, a crowd of hundreds of students, parents, teachers, and other people gathered around noon at the front steps of the Capitol for Texas PTA’s Rally Day 2025.  A marching band and cheerleaders led the way to the front, where attendees were met with numerous speakers welcoming them to the Capitol and emphasizing what they were all there for.

For this week’s Tuesday Top 10, we are pleased to offer exclusive photos from both Capitol rallies with in-depth captions to give you a comprehensive look at the issues and the stances on those issues expressed at the rallies. 

One of the first speakers at Saturday’s rally was former McCallum teacher Nikki Northcutt who shared with the crowd her frustration towards Texas’s public school system.

“I loved the high school that I was at,” Northcutt said. “I had to leave because it was eating me from the inside–because I was in 18 years, and I can tell you every year I got more tasks, more students and less resources. Every year.”

Northcutt still teaches, but in a virtual public school classroom, where she said she is now able to give students more quality feedback and work 40 hours a week for the first time in 18 years of teaching.

“You need money to pay people and it’s a people-powered job,” Northcutt said. “We can’t just pretend that those people don’t need money just because most of them are women.”

Due to the large turnout, the 400-strong crowd filled the venue’s overflow room.

“I’m so heartened to see all your faces,” Northcutt said. “It’s very powerful. I don’t know what to do right now. It feels very hopeless, because unfortunately I think the stinginess of the state is a massive understatement. It’s not stinginess, it’s deliberate defunding and destruction.”

Caption and photo by Lillian Gray.

After the last speaker took their turn at Saturday’s rally, participants marched to the front steps of the Capitol, with the Eastside marching band leading the way. Rallygoers held signs in support of public education, many calling out the recent voucher bill that was a key issue discussed by the speakers.

Among those that joined in on the rally was LASA junior Luca Sims (center).

“We care about public education, we care about funding it, and we want to advocate,” Sims said. “And so here we are.”

Sims said he felt motivated to show up and support this cause after seeing the lack of students doing the same.

“I went to a hearing a few days ago because I was concerned about public education, and we were the only students there,” he said. “It was us and two other students in this room of maybe 30 or 40 people. What I took away from that is students need to be more involved in fighting for public education.”

Sims has helped start the Student Advocacy Alliance, which helps provide tools and resources to students so that they can advocate for a cause through ways like speaking to legislators. Sims encourages students to read and look into news sources that are student run, or provide more localized information. He suggested outlets like the Texas Tribune which has followed the voucher bill story.

“Once you know about it, then you can start to act on it,” he said. “That’s as simple as making a call, figuring out who represents you, which is something that we help out with at the Student Advocacy Alliance– calling a representative and trying to create that change, and even things like submitting public comments on bills.”

Along with staying informed on topics, Sims hopes that students will join the fight by joining groups like his.

“We are always looking to get more students involved in the process,” he said. “We are looking for dedicated students and students from all levels of engagement that want to see a change, regardless of what party they may identify the most with or what issues they care about.”

A PTA rally day is set to be held tomorrow from 8:30 a.m. until around 3:30 p.m. at the Capitol. This rally day will include speakers and a rally at the capital in support of public education, school funding, ending the voucher bill attempts, and more.

Caption by Lillian Gray. Photo by Wren Vanderford.

U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, spoke at the Save Our School Rally on Saturday. Doggett represents Austin district, 37, and shared his support for Texas public schools, especially due to his and his family’s enrollment and participation in them. Doggett also discussed the federal perspective on public education and how many of the issues being faced in Texas have become a threat on the national level as well.

“We’re here today because we are never ever going to give up on our public schools,” he said. 

“This ongoing effort to shut down the United States Department of Education has already resulted in the unjustified firings of many people. It has led to hundreds of millions of dollars that Congress appropriated being unlawfully held up and terminated for education research and future teacher training.”

Attempts to dismantle the Department of Education, Doggett says, will cause much more damage than some people may think.

“It’s not just about shuddering one building up in Washington, but it’s about the programs that that [department] would administer,” he said. “IEP which helps children with special needs, bilingual education, Title I, which offers more assistance to economically disadvantaged schools. And this financial assistance so that every child who goes through our public schools can go on and get all the additional education they’re willing to work for in order to achieve their full god given potential.”

Doggett also took time to reassure the audience that despite many threats to the education system, lawmakers in Washington are fighting hard to prevent national and regional harm.

“In Washington we are litigating, we are legislating, and we are trying to motivate and move across this country to protect our values, our freedoms and our democracy,” he said. “We have to say to [Gov. Greg] Abbott and [Lt. Gov. Dan] Patrick and all of their minions that want to kick these schools down, that there is too much at stake. Our future as Texans, the future of educational opportunities of these students are at stake.”

Caption and photo by Lillian Gray.

After U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett spoke at Saturday’s Rally For Our Schools rally, the next speaker was called to the stand. The crowd erupted into applause as 10-year-old Jose Bousson, who attends Becker Elementary School, took to the podium.

“They’re taking away the funding,” Bousson said, “but what does the funding affect? Who does the funding affect? The teachers and the students. Who are the students? Us kids, we’re the students. The adults help us, but us kids need to speak for ourselves.”

Bousson took the time to do just that, sharing with the crowd personal experience and struggles he has had in the public school system.

“My brother has ADHD, and when they take away the funding what goes away? Special care, small groups, teacher funding and the resources for schools. But now what happens when you take the resources?”

Bousson pivoted to the topic of school vouchers.

“They’re taking away the $8,000 to give to the families, so they can go to a private school,” he said. “How much does a private school cost? I don’t think it’s $8,000. So it’s like you’re monopolizing the education system to the point where nobody but the already rich people benefit. Because you cannot go to a private school with $8,000.”

Caption by Lillian Gray. Photo by Wren Vanderford.

An unidentified boy waves a U.S. flag during Saturday’s rally at the Capitol. Prior to the convening outside, the audience assembled in the United Methodist Church, where attendees heard speakers from around the state through video, even if they couldn’t be there to attend the event. One of these vicarious speakers was Bishop John Ogletree from Houston. He has a history working in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, and shared developments he witnessed in his time there. 

“Recently in our district, we have watched the cutting of corners due to the lack of funds to educate our children,” he said. “I’ve seen them taking books out of the library; I’ve seen our parents having to walk their children to schools due to the shut down of bus routes, and some of our children—elementary, middle and high school students—have to walk where there are no sidewalks and no paved roadways to get to school. I’ve seen that all the cutting and the fear and the despondency in our staff, and it was a time of fear and tension, but it was, for me, a shameful time. Because while we as a district, like other districts, were cutting corners and wondering how we were going to make it, our state was sitting on $35 to $40 billion in surplus.” 

As a Bishop, Ogletree further emphasizes how hurtful the defunding of public schools has become in his community and how his faith assists in a call to action. 

“Our defunding which every district went through did not have to be,” he said, “and I tell you as a man of God, this is immoral. This is immoral to deny student resources mandated by our constitution to educate our children. It is immoral to do this. This is our future workforce, these are our future educators, our future business owners, these are the future, and we need full funding. Jesus speaks of his care for children, he speaks of his love for children he says ‘Look the Kingdom of God is like a child, and you have to be like this little child to get into the kingdom,’ and then he says, ‘Whoever receives a little child like this in my name receives me,’ Every child is valued in the eyes of Jesus, every child. They are made in the image of God. I know when I was a child, I learned this song and I wanna sing it now: ‘Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, Black and white they are precious in his sight,’ Texas, governors, they all must realize that Jesus loved the little children of this world, and the children of this world deserve an education.” 

Caption and photo by Wren Vanderford.

Outside of the capitol during Saturday’s rally, an attendee holds signs reading “raise basic allotment” and “pre-k deserves 100% funding.” Before the rally goers gathered in front of the Capitol, they listened to speakers address the issues affecting public schools presently.

State representative Lulu Flores, a Democrat who represents east, south and southeast Austin, touched on many different topics, like public school funding and or lack of it in the state of Texas.

“We are here because Texas children deserve fully funded public schools, not a scam that drains resources from classrooms, the classrooms that educate 5.4 million Texas students,” she said. “Right now our schools are facing a crisis and the state has failed to raise the basic allotment since 2019, and inflation has eaten away at our school budgets. Our schools have been forced to remove programs, lay off teachers and close campuses just to make ends meet. Teacher salaries have fallen behind the rising costs, driving many dedicated educators out of the profession. I sat this morning with a teacher who has worked with a district for 27 years for public schools, and she can’t even afford to fix her car or fix her roof without having to dip into her savings and jeopardize her retirement years. That is shameful.”

Flores went into more detail about the money that the Texas government has access to and expresses her outrage about how the state is allocating it.

“And while all of this is happening, Texas sits on another massive budget surplus,” she said. “Last session the legislators had the choice to steer away from this crisis; instead, our state shamelessly chose to not invest any of that surplus into saving our schools. The money is there, we just need state leaders to demonstrate the will to invest in our students instead of pushing voucher schemes that benefit private schools at the expense of public education. This money is going to schools that can discriminate against students and families.”

This rally also had many younger students in attendance, and like the speakers before her, Flores wanted to touch the hearts of people, regardless of age, and motivated them to get involved by taking action and making their voice heard.

“Let’s be clear, vouchers do not serve working-class Texans,” she said. “They are a handout to the wealthy with no guarantee families of lower income will even get access. Every dollar spent on vouchers is a dollar that could go to our public school teachers and students’ programs. Vouchers, just as they took over other states, are coming for Texas unless we stop them, and we will. We won these fights before, and we will win again. We need to tell every Texan to call their legislators and demand real school funding. No more false promises, no more voucher scams. We will not stop fighting until every Texas school is fully funded.”

Caption by Wren Vanderford. Photo by Lillian Gray.

STARTED IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Texas Representative Gina Hinojosa, who represents central Austin and attended public school in the Rio Grande Valley as a child, spoke at Monday’s rally.

“Public school made me who I am today,” Hinojosa said. “I was on student council, I was on the tennis team, I was a cheerleader, I was in choir, all the great things that our public schools have to offer, and so I am a big believer in our Texas public schools A lot of people who work in the Texas legislature, they don’t have those connections to our public schools, so if you walk away here with one message in your mind, it’s to tell your story. Tell your story of something great that has impacted your life because of your experience in public school, I remember Mr. Harris was my history teacher, and he made us record Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats as an assignment, and that was back in the day we had cassette players, and we would record them, and it was such an innovative and fun way to learn about history, but that’s what our teachers do in our neighborhood public schools. They figure out how to connect so that they can enrich us and expand our world. And that’s just one story.”

Hinojosa got her start in the Texas house, simply as a mom who was upset with the system and had to fight to keep her son’s school open and to get him the help he needed.

“I am in the Texas House because I was just a mom who got mad because my son’s school was threatened for closure,” she said. “He was a kindergartener and I had searched for the right place to put my firstborn son in, and I put him in the perfect school, and then they wanted to close it. I just got mad, and I ran for the school board and I got elected. I was on the school board and I spent four years there and I loved it. Then, I got upset because there wasn’t enough money from the state to fund our neighborhood public schools, so I ran for the Texas House to work on getting more funding, and that was fueled by my own experience as a mother in our public schools. My son didn’t get a teacher in the fifth grade because there was nobody that AISD could find, not another teacher who would work for the pay and conditions that they were offering. They went to Mexico and found a teacher. These things are happening across the state. School districts are going to Mexico to find teachers now because we’re not paying enough. That teacher’s VISA failed, so my son didn’t get a teacher, and his whole class was consolidated with their already full classes, and it was way too much. Everyone struggled. They said that he couldn’t get tested for special education for a year because the school district didn’t have enough professionals hired to evaluate students for special education. So we ended up having to pay $2000 to get him evaluated. It shouldn’t have to be that way. As Texans, it should be your birthright, your heritage to have a strong public school education because that’s who we are in Texas.”

Throughout her speech, students listened attentively. She ended her speech by talking about vouchers and why she is against them. And she challenged the students in attendance to make their voices heard.

“Last session we were fighting what’s known as the Taxpayer Funded Voucher,” she said. “It takes money out of our public schools and invests it into private schools. Everywhere else in the country where this has happened that money goes to families who already have their kids in private schools. So it ends up being like a tax break for the wealthy. Public schools still have all the things that they need to pay for, just with less money. And we can’t afford to give any more than we’ve already given. I need you to tell your story to the legislators and the staff members. You don’t have to be an expert on the issues because you’re an expert on your issue, and nobody can tell you you’re wrong. I want to leave you with this: you might ask, why is this happening in our schools? The real reason why is that you all are coming of age in a time where there are big giant multinational corporations that are becoming more and more wealthy, and there is a movement to take money out of those public services that we all use and find a way to turn that into profit for these big companies. What you need to leave here also knowing is that real change doesn’t happen in the state Capitol. It happens in our communities, in our schools, in our churches, in our neighborhoods. We talk to the people of influence in our circles and say, ‘Hey did you know this is happening? You should know and you should get involved.’ Power builds and then constituents lean on us to do the right things because while you should always do the right thing, it helps a lot when the people who elect you tell you, ‘I’m not gonna elect you again if you don’t do right by us.’

Caption by Wren Vanderford. Photo by Lillian Gray.

RAISE YOUR VOICE: During Monday’s PTA rally, students on field trips from various schools gathered in the First Baptist Church to listen to speakers, among those students were advocates who chose to speak up for their school and were a part of a student panel that answered questions. 

The first question the student speakers were asked was how they were advocating for their school in 2025 and how they were lifting other people’s voices who may not get heard. Sophomore Anoushka Kolatkar, shared how her school, Marcus High School, was giving everybody a voice. 

“There’s a lot of people who get pushed into the background, and I think it’s important for everyone to have a social circle and somebody to talk to,” she said. “My school has done a good job of making sure that everyone has a program they can belong to, we have a ton of clubs and organizations so every student is involved in something.” 

Another student advocate, Eben Sebastian (speaking in the photo) traveled from Dripping Springs High School to speak. He shared a system he implemented to help lift voices in his school, including younger ones. 

“Dripping Springs High School is a 6A school, so it’s pretty big,” he said. “In a school as big as mine students can often fall through the cracks, so what a couple of other students and I did was start a freshman mentorship program called ‘Bridge.’ It started as a ragtag group last year, but this year it has been cemented as a school program. We have around 700 freshmen in our high school, and each freshman will be paired with an upperclassmen mentor just to have a buddy and give any kind of help that they may need. It’s more than just some older person who’s talking to you. It gives them a friend, and I know that’s something I would’ve wanted when I was younger.” 

Student panelists were then asked to identify the most pressing challenges facing Texas students today and to share any advice they had on fixing it. One student, Maynak Bharadwaj, who goes to Rouse High School, expressed his belief in students staying engaged. 

“The best answer to this question is civic engagement,” he said. “Everything is bigger in Texas, except for our student’s voices. There are around 500 students here today, so 0.01 % of all the students in Texas decided to take their Monday off and be here today. Amazingly, there are so many other students with passionate voices who get left behind. One thing that the PTA could do is have an active student emphasis on campus. It allows students to have leadership and ultimately report to their staff if they see something happening.” 

Kolatkar believes that students struggle under all the pressure of having to prepare constantly for academic life after high school. 

“I believe the most apparent issue is the sheer amount of pressure we’re under for college applications,” she said. “ Texas is one of the most competitive states in the entire U.S., and because of that college applications are looking not just at academics, but they’re looking for volunteer hours, community engagement, things like this rally, club involvement, and balancing all of this is nearly impossible because students are also trying to keep their AP grades up. I think if there was a way for graduation credits to be adjusted, we wouldn’t have to be almost drowning to accomplish all these things.” 

The student speakers were asked what their approach to civic engagement would be, and what platforms or methods they find most effective for advocacy. Sebastian explained how social media is a platform that the younger generation should take advantage of. 

“We are the first generation to have never known the world pre-internet, so we need to make use of it,” he said. “It can be pretty bad at times, but opportunities for harm also have endless opportunities to help. There are all these social media platforms to petition, to get involved, to connect with your legislators, and there are so many opportunities that we just have to take advantage of. I’ve seen a significant change in just some students who had a problem and decided to fix it, and they went online and took action. You don’t realize all the opportunities until you go online and just search it up, and it’s right there. Just taking the first step of going and looking can make all the difference.” 

 Sydney Sanders, a senior at Wylie High School, shared her outlook on the use of social media for advocacy, and how to get the word out in your community through it. 

“Social media is a tool,” she said, “so that means we need to use it that way. It’s not just a way for us to get dopamine through reels and TikTok, but it’s how most of our generation gets information. Students are in this room because they care about our public school system, and they want to advocate for themselves and their peers. People don’t usually listen to the school announcements, but they listen to social media. Post about events like this, real-time happenings, and make sure to get this to your social circles because that’s how differences will be made.” 

Finally, the students were asked if there was an area in Texas schools they would like to see improved upon and if there was anything that their schools have done particularly well. Bharadwaj chose to highlight the educators. 

“I love the teachers at my school,” he said. “They do amazing things, and they’re well prepared and make me so excited to learn, but sometimes the resources for them just aren’t there, and I don’t blame my school district or the education system, but unfortunately that’s the present we’re living in. My school district is well-funded, but still we’re having to cut teachers, and it hurts students. They do it because they genuinely love helping students, and they deserve the funding. When I think about vouchers, I don’t think the math makes sense. I think the proposal for vouchers only helps the students who are already attending private schools. If you have a $30 million surplus, that money should be going to fund the five million students who need it the most.” 

Caption and photo by Wren Vanderford.

Following Monday’s rally in front of the Capitol, attendees entered into the extension of the building to listen to state representatives and ask questions. State representative James Talarico, D-Austin, was one of the speakers, who answered audience questions during the 30-minute time slot. Many of the questions during his time were from elementary school students, and one student asked why people would want to dismantle public education. 

“In this country we have a separation of church and state,” he said. “At least we used to. And public schools are great because they serve all of us, whether you’re Christian or Muslim or Jewish or Hindu or Buddhist or an atheist. We are all able to come together and learn together. But people want to get rid of that. They want to close public schools and replace them with private religious schools. They basically want to build something called a biocracy which you probably haven’t learned about in school yet but you will one day.”

Talarico explained that that was just one of the reasons, and continued to discuss the financial benefits that he believes motivate proponents of privatization.

“There are people that want to make money off of school,” he said. “There’s a lot of money to be made here if you want to profit off our students. Some of them own private schools, so if you get a lot of government money into private schools, something that makes them operate. It’s often people putting their own interest over your interests. Whether they have an extreme religious view, an extreme political view, or they just want to enrich themselves and their billionaire buddies.”

After describing why individuals may be trying to dismantle the public school system, he went on to describe how they have planned and are actively doing so.

“I mentioned that Texas loves their public schools,” he said. “If you’re one of these billionaires and your goal is to dismantle public schools, then you somehow have to find a way for people to discredit their public schools, so what you’ve seen is before these billionaires pushed vouchers, they were pushing book bans, calling our librarians groomers. They discredited teachers by saying they are indoctrinating kids. They sewed division in school board meetings, all of that was very intentional. It was kind of a two step. Discredit public schools, defund public schools. Because you cant jump right to defund if people love their schools, you got to do the discrediting first. We have to pay attention to how this is all connected and funded by the same special interest if we’re going to counteract it effectively.”

Caption and photo by Lillian Gray.

A crowd of hundreds of students, parents, teachers, and other people gathered around noon at the front steps of the capital on Monday. A marching band and cheerleaders led the way to the front, where attendees were met with numerous speakers welcoming them to the capital and emphasizing what they were all there for. 

One of those speakers was Jennifer Easley, the Texas PTA president. In an interview with MacJ following her speech, she reiterated the importance of students up to date and staying connected with issues impacting public schools.

“I just don’t want [students] to take for granted what they have,” she said. “We are very lucky to have many strong school districts, and we want them all to be strong and that may take more funding and to just assume that it’s going to always be there may be a bit dangerous. Right now we need to all be paying attention and speak up for what we think is right.”

When asked what Easely hopes students would know, she said she would “tell them that their voices matter.” She also acknowledged the importance of school choice, and how the public system has allowed that to happen and make it more accessible to more students.

“A well-educated society is hugely important to all of us, and although we want to have options on how our students are educated, our public school districts are dedicated to providing magnet school options and other more flexible options,” she said. “I think high quality free public education is critical to keeping our society thriving.”

Caption and photo by Lillian Gray. Reporting by Mira Patel and Sofia Saucedo.