The Texas House Public Education Committee will take on House Bill 3 tomorrow during a public hearing. The primary pushback against HB3 stems from its creation of vouchers, which would allow taxpayer funds to be used for private school tuition, homeschooling resources and specialized educational services. 

The House public education committee will hear public testimony on the legislation tomorrow. Because of this fact and because of other public education legislation on the agenda for this session, hundreds of people gathered on the front steps of the Texas Capitol this afternoon to protest the bill and rally for more school funding.

The Texas American Federation of Teachers provided transportation to educators from all over the state, including David Clayton, a journalism teacher at Clements High School in Sugar Land, who joined today’s rally to oppose the voucher bill.

“It’s important for teachers to come out and share their voice because right now they are trying to take money out of the school fund and give it to private schools which is a big danger for our public education,” Clayton said.

Despite hundreds of people showing up to show their support, Clayton had hoped for a larger turnout.

“I wish we had a lot more people because of what’s at stake because this is a big danger to public education in Texas right now,” he said. “This is a very important issue. … Our education is at stake. We can’t afford to take a back seat right now. We can’t just wait to see how this turns out. We have to make our voices heard.”

Clayton has around 20 years of teaching experience, and sees HB3 as a threat to the public education system.

“Money is going to be going up to wealthier people from the poor people and that doesn’t seem right to me,” he said. “It really makes me angry especially when Gov. Abbott holds our funding hostage. He basically held the students’ funding hostage the last term through the special sessions because he couldn’t get his way on student vouchers for his big donors who were wanting this bill to pass for some reason.”

Sarah Hall, who is a part of Texas AFT, helped coordinate the event and make it possible for individuals like Clayton to be bussed with other educators to the rally. Over 12 school districts of educators—many from the Houston, Dallas and San-Antonio area—attended the event.

“The message they are trying to get across is that public education is the backbone of our society,” Hall said. “Most people here were publicly educated. There is a lot to be offered from public education and private education, and vouchers to get people into private schools just takes away funding from public schools, and it makes it less inclusive. I wish that people knew that it was our government pushing it, that it was mostly the conservative representatives pushing it and that the people of Texas don’t really want it.”

A primary goal of today’s rally was to band together behind a shared cause, but another priority was for teachers and supporters joining the movement to be seen and heard.

“Texas seems to forget teachers,” Hall said. “Statistically teachers’ pay right now at this point and time is actually less than what it was 10 years ago taking into account the cost of living. Unions are important to speak on behalf of people who feel that they don’t have a voice.”

Hall explained that teachers joined today’s rally for a variety of reasons. Some came to oppose vouchers; others wanted to argue for an increase in teacher pay, and some just feel underappreciated and fear losing their funding. As for students, Hall said that there are upcoming opportunities where they can get more involved with supporting the public education system.

“Students could have a very powerful role,” she said. “If they went to local town halls where their representatives are speaking and speak out on behalf of students, I think that’s incredibly powerful that representatives here from their youngest constituents.”

As the rally began, speakers took the stage to support public schools and to oppose HB3. One speaker was student Alyssa Sandrani, a Cy-Fair ISD student and an organizer in the group called Students Engaged in Advancing Texas.

“I’m here today because I’ve seen firsthand what happens when our schools are underfunded and when our educators are undervalued,” Sandrani said. “When teachers are overworked and underpaid, it is harder for them to keep up the individual work for the community. When classrooms are overcrowded, it is harder for us to learn and thrive, and when schools are undervalued, it’s harder for us to dream big about our futures.”

She also told a story about seeing her English teacher working late after school and feeling that her teacher should be home spending time with her family, not at school grading papers.

“Despite these challenges, I’ve also seen the incredible resilience of my educators,” Sandrani said. “My teachers show up every day with passion and hope. They inspire us, they challenge us, and they believe in us, even when the system fails them. They remind us that education is more than the scores or budgets. It is the unlocking potential and building a better future.”

After laying out many issues Sandrani has seen first hand, she focused on what people like her can do to prevent them.

“We deserve a system that invests in our future, not one that cuts corners and leaves us behind,” she said. “So to every educator here today, thank you. Thank you for showing up even when it’s hard. Thank you for believing in us, even when the system fails you. Thank you for fighting for those like me who don’t have the say in my own education. And to every elected official listening, we’re watching, we’re voting, and we’re holding you accountable.”

A little later in the rally, an elementary student named Lucca Candina asked the event coordinators if he could share something with the crowd.

“I just feel kind of sad and bad for my teachers, because they just always work for me,” he said. “When I just finish my math, I walked up to the teacher and she’s like sometimes busy. I normally figure out that she’s trying to do something for the class.”

Candina then turned the spotlight to his fellow classmates as well and how they have helped him and his class become better students.

“And the way that my other classmates are helpful, it’s that they help me when they check my work for me and they are generous,” he said. “I like that they get along together. And how was the way we got so smart? It was school.”

After Candina spoke, a crowd member, Billy Sanders, cheered him on and praised him for what he had said. After the rally, Sanders told the Shield why he participated in the event and what it was like to attend.

“It’s about the future of the kids right now, supporting the kids,” Sanders said. “We’re here to support everyone who’s in the education experience. It means a lot when a lot of people get together. There’s power in together. I think a great statement has been made today, and I’m thankful that I came out to support.”

Sanders is a retired head custodian in the Dallas Independent School District and has continued his support for public education even after his retirement in 2013.

“I’ve been coming to lobby day for the last few years and I’m thankful God has allowed me to be a part of this great day,” Sanders said. “It means a lot for everyone to be here because it means a lot to the people who are fighting and lobbying for the kids. The fight is not over. This is a long fight and this is a spiritual fight. The fight is not over, we’re gonna fight, we are not going back.”

Many attendees showed up to primarily focus on opposing vouchers, but some also were there to advocate for the Educator’s Bill of Rights. The Educator’s Bill of Rights was created by 66,000 Texas AFT members who are not bringing it to the Texas legislature this year. Speaker Charlie Bates, who is a sixth-grade reading and language arts teacher at Cy-Fair ISD, supports the Bill of Rights.

“I need an Educator’s Bill of Rights because it is right and it is what is fair for our students in public education, because we love our public schools,” Bates said. “The state of Texas can afford to give me those things, but instead of talking about that, about the real crisis I live every day, I have heard the governor and lawmakers in this building, take more money away from schools, and give it to private schools instead.”

Bates also mentioned the teacher pay raises that have been proposed in the legislature this year, but said that they are “insulting” because they are either too little, are tied to the teachers’ performance in the classroom, or leave out people in the support staff.

“I want to be clear,” Bates said. “Texas teachers cannot do what we do without our support staff, and we are a team. We are a team. All of the classroom aids and custodians and food service workers and bus drivers in our schools deserve respect and a significant pay raise from lawmakers, just like I do. Without them, our public schools do not run and without our public schools, our communities will not survive.”

With the Texas House Public Education Committee hearing tomorrow at 8 a.m., Bates encourages the legislature to support causes like ones found in the Educators Bill of Rights.

“I am urging this legislator to put its money where its mouth is,” she said. “Raise the basic allotment, guarantee us our right to fair wages, fund our schools to respect our right to safe working and learning conditions and fund our schools to thrive because we are a team. We love our public schools.”