A crowd in excess of 3,000 people, according to the event organizers, attended the Save Our Schools Rally on Saturday April 5, at the south steps of the Texas State Capitol. Ralliers joined together to support issues including increased school funding, stopping the voucher bill and a raise in the basic allotment.

The morning began with rally attendees marching around the Capitol building chanting “Whose schools? Our schools!” 

McCallum English teacher Amy Smith was one of the many educators who participated in the rally. After seeing the crowd of people and some familiar faces, Smith was reminded why the work she does every day—and what she was doing at the Capitol—is so important.

“I was very overwhelmed at first,” she said. “I show up to teach every day because I care about this. I show up because I really like what I do, and I really believe in what I do. I was so emotional about the rally because I believe so strongly in public education.”

Smith has been a teacher for over 35 years and is currently in Austin ISD, a district that has a $100 million budget deficit. She is concerned that the attention focused on “school choice” and the possible passing of the voucher bill this session will negatively affect public schools.

“I feel so strongly about the issue of not taking money away from and services away from public schools. It makes me really angry that [Gov. Greg] Abbott wants to take money away from the neediest children,” she said.

Like many opponents of vouchers, Smith believes that vouchers will negatively affect poorer students because the value of each voucher will not be enough to cover private school tuition fully and that students with special needs will be hurt by vouchers because private schools can have selective admissions.

Having been in the education system for decades, Smith says she has seen a lot of progress throughout the years but is worried about falling behind.

“I remember the days when we underserved children in high needs populations and when children got overlooked, and I don’t want to go back to those days,” she said.

Throughout the rally numerous speakers and musicians took to the steps of the Capitol building to show their support for many of the issues that drew the crowd together. One of those speakers, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who serves in District 37 in Austin, connected the state level issues to similar issues in the federal government.

“How fitting,” he said, “how very appropriate that Gov. Abbott was up there with President Trump in Washington signing his overreaching executive decree since both of them are committed to undermining public education.”

Doggett told the crowd that although many attacks on federal aid to education are important to focus on, vouchers represent a greater danger. After his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order establishing the principle that every federal education dollar that could be shifted to private academies should be reallocated.

“The same extremists that want to oppose vouchers here in Texas, that don’t show respect for our public school teachers, are seeking to supplement the Abbott plan with a federal voucher plan,” he said. “That’s a plan that will direct $10 billion of tax credits to cover private schools.”

Doggett emphasized the vast impact of a voucher system.

“It’s almost as if they have a plan to encourage people to leave public education,” he said. “When I opposed [vouchers] last year at the Ways and Means Committee, I didn’t quote Democrats, I relied on Republican state legislators from some of the reddest parts of the state because our public schools don’t only educate, they bind communities together.”

Donna Howard who serves in the Texas House of Representative representing District 48 in Austin also spoke against vouchers.

“The voucher scam is a calculated distraction, a proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing, masquerading as parental choice, when the choice of the majority of parents, grandparents and Texans is to fully fund our neighborhood schools,” she said.

Howard went on to underscore the larger risks of the voucher bill.

“I am not a conspiracy theorist,” she said, “but I have awakened—or dare I say I’m ‘woke’—to what can only be described as an attempt to dismantle our very foundation of democracy, and that is public education.”

She then described specific policy initiatives that she feels threaten to undermine public education.

“From banning books and eliminating any reference to DEI—diversity, equity and inclusion—so that ‘DEI’ now stands for discrimination, exclusion and inequality. To starving our schools of funding and resources while sending money to unaccountable private schools, I cannot help but conclude that some are on a mission to set our schools up for failure by using our kids to justify the privatization of education.”

Howard has introduced HB595 in this legislative session. The bill would catch funding up to 2019 levels and put in automatic increases for inflation. If passed, it would mean that protesters would not have to continue to come back year after year to beg for more money, she explained.

“Raising the basic allotment not only provides desperately needed resources for our students, it also decreases property taxes and decreases recapture. It is a win, win, win,” she said.

Maplewood Elementary librarian and former Gullett Elementary teacher, Mindy Bass, echoed many of the concerns that were voiced from the podium.

“I think the voucher scam is wrong,” she said. “I don’t want public education to go down the tube. I’m a lifelong educator, and I want kids to have a chance in this country.”

Seeing so many people show up and so many leaders speak out for the issue she cares so much about was moving.

“It’s nice. It’s invigorating. It gives me hope,” she shared.  “It makes me glad that it’s not just gonna happen, and people are gonna roll over and do nothing. I think if nobody speaks out, then it’s just gonna happen. [Legislators] need to know that their constituents don’t want it to happen. We need to speak up to make a difference.”

Seeing not only statewide but federal budget cuts worries Bass that the future of teachers in Texas and access to basic materials won’t be guaranteed.

“I’m a librarian now, and so we might not have jobs in a year and a half because of the budget cuts,” she said, “and then children will not have access to books and reading materials. I think it’s really important for the kids to get the education they deserve.

Throughout the rally attendees called for a $1,300 per student increase in the basic allotment. Bill HB351, sponsored by Rep. Goodwin and Bill HB595, from Rep. Howard aim to do just that. As of now both bills are filed and moving through committees. The 89th Legislative Session ends on June 2.

Crowd estimates for the rally in media reports ranged from “hundreds” to more than 3,000. In an email message after the April 5 rally, the group Austin Voices for Education explained that the media was underreporting the crowd size. To get an accurate count, the group passed out dot stickers and counted how many they passed out to try to get an accurate count, which they reported was more than 3,000 protestors.