With the cold weather moderating just a bit, organizers of the Save Texas Schools rally are finding room for more rally goers and making last minute tweaks to their program.
“We’ve got more space,” Allen Weeks, executive director of Austin Voices of Education and Youth and one of the principal organizers of the rally, told the Chronicle. “We had the First United Methodist Church Family Life Center, which seats about 400, and now we’ve got the sanctuary as well, which seats 800, so we’ve got room inside for 1,200. And we’ll be live streaming in there and we can overflow outside. Then, at 12:30, our speakers will finish and we’ll march one block to the Capitol and wrap up the rally on the south steps.”
The Save Texas Schools rally will bring parents, students, and supporters of local schools to Downtown Austin on Feb. 22 at 11am to pressure lawmakers to increase funding for the state’s public education system. Weeks had planned to bus in school supporters from across the state for the rally but cancelled the buses because of this week’s cold snap. The rally will now be broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook for those who can’t come in person. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett will speak, along with state Reps. Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico and Austin ISD trustee Lynn Boswell, among others. Groups representing school employees will attend – the American Federation of Teachers, the Texas Association of School Boards, and Education Austin. And there will be grassroots groups – Texans for Public Education, Fund Schools First, and the Austin Council of PTAs.These groups all agree that our public school system is in crisis. Lawmakers haven’t increased school funding since 2019, and in the ensuing six years inflation has significantly lowered the buying power of the money that schools receive. A Statesman analysis found that, adjusted to 2024 dollars, per-student funding from state and local sources is down by 12.9%. Weeks pointed out that districts across the state, including many in Central Texas, are facing budget deficits. Austin ISD recently announced that its ongoing deficit has deepened from $92 million to $110 million. Eanes ISD just voted to close schools – they’ve got a $6 million budget deficit. Leander ISD’s $34 million deficit is compelling it to lay off teachers.
“It’s real,” Weeks said. “School districts are cutting teachers. They’re closing schools.”
“The rally is about Texas, but it’s also about what’s going on nationally. And the only thing we can do right now is stand up and say, ‘No, this is not America. This is not Texas.’” – Allen Weeks
Daphne Hoffacker, advocacy chair of the Austin Council of PTAs, has promoted the rally in emails, social media, and talks at area schools over the last month. She stresses that state lawmakers have plenty of money to fund public education this session. In January, the comptroller announced a $24 billion surplus in the general revenue fund and another $28 billion in the Rainy Day Fund. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recently declared, however, that the state doesn’t have enough money for a substantial bump.
“They say that the state is too poor to even keep up with inflation,” Hoffacker said. “And it’s offensive. It’s frustrating. It’s also disconcerting, because these are the people responsible for the future of our children. They are the leaders whose sole job is the welfare of the people in this state. And I would say that they have been derelict in their responsibilities to our children, and we just keep letting them off the hook. We have the money!”
As Patrick questions whether the money is there, he and Gov. Greg Abbott are pushing relentlessly for the creation of a new government entitlement – a school voucher program they call “education savings accounts.” The program would allow parents to take money out of local schools to spend on private, usually religious, schools. If passed, the plan would cost taxpayers $1 billion in its first two years but serve only 100,000 students – less than 2% of the 5.4 million kids who currently attend public schools. The state’s own researchers predict that if the plan becomes law the $1 billion price tag will balloon to $5 billion by 2029.
Weeks said organizers are planning to reschedule the large, outdoor version of the Save Texas Schools Rally for April 5. But he hopes the smaller version will provide rally goers information on how to talk to legislators, speak at hearings, and organize their communities to oppose vouchers and support public schools. He noted that Donald Trump recently praised Patrick and Abbott for pursuing the voucher plan and that Trump is reportedly crafting an executive order to abolish the Department of Education, though some Texas schools receive 10% or more of their funding from the department. He hopes the rally will help people connect the dots.
“I really feel like what’s happening in Washington and what is happening in Texas are very much aligned – this blatant withholding of funding from public education,” Weeks said. “Obviously, there’s a long game here of gradually reducing the viability of public schools. And it’s being funded by billionaires, both within and outside of Texas.
“So the rally is about Texas, but it’s also about what’s going on nationally. And the only thing we can do right now is stand up and say, ‘No, this is not America. This is not Texas. This is not where we want to go.’”
This article appears in February 21 • 2025.