Amplifying Community Leadership

Aurelio Montemayor Intercultural Development Research Association

for Funding Equity & Curriculum Quality

6.4 Billion in Cuts to Public Education

In the spring of 2011… Texas lawmakers cut $6.4 billion for public education. They left the rainy day fund untapped. That summer… 12,000 teachers got pink slips. In the fall of 2011… Our children went to school with more crowded classrooms. Qualified college students lost scholarship funds.

Fair Funding Now! Campaign

Partners: League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Mexican American School Board Members Association (MASBA) and Texas Center for Educational Policy (TCEP).

Analytical tools and Resources

Analysis and Tools/Infographics

News Aggregators

Analysis Community Voice

Texas School Finance Crowdmap

Regional Convenings San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, McAllen, Austin

“NAACP Partners with IDRA The Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches has formed a partnership with the Intercultural Development Research Association for fair funding of the school systems in Texas. Members of the Education Committee of the San Antonio Branch NAACP met with IDRA, along with the State Representatives, in strategies sessions intended to bring attention to the losses of each school district in Texas. Bexar County was denied more than $235 million as a result of the budget cuts during the 82nd Legislative Session.”

Envisioning

Engaging with Media

• $4 billion in school funding restored in 2013

• Funds run through formulas to improve equity of distribution

• $1.2 billion restored in 2015 • Inequity/inadequacy remains

Historic Ruling: “The school finance system is constitutionally inadequate,

unsuitable and financially inefficient.” - Judge John Dietz, 2014

Symposium: New Research on Funding Secondary Education for ELLs

Texas Changes Graduation Plans #AllMeansAll launched

• On June 10, 2013, Texas significantly changed the requirements for high school graduation, graduation planning and testing in Texas.

• Completion of the new graduation plan will not automatically qualify students for the Texas’ Top 10 Percent Plan public college admission or the Texas Grant Program unless they earn a “distinguished level of achievement.”

• Algebra II was removed as a requirement, except in two circumstances: for students seeking the STEM endorsement or the “distinguished achievement” designation.

“…The notion that not all students are college material or that our school system should not have a college expectation for all students is not something that is coming from African-American and Latino parents.” former state Rep. Dora Olivo “We support including Algebra II as a graduation requirement for all endorsement tracks to ensure that all students have the best available options for college education and career opportunities upon graduation.” - Ramiro Cavazos, President & CEO of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Curriculum Quality and Access: #Allmeansall

All means all “All of us want all our children to be ready for college. Anything else is unacceptable.” – Lourdes Flores,

President, ARISE at Mesa Comunitaria Educativa, pictured here on FM 88.1 Brownsville

Equal Voice-Rio Grande Valley Red –

Grupo de Trabajo de Educación Encuesta de la

Comunidad sobre 5

Curriculum Planes de

Seguimiento de Proyecto

de la Cámara: Principales

conclusiones

Junio 2015

Door-to-Door Family to Family Survey

1600+ Respondents

Results to be delivered at Mesa Comunitaria, convened by family and community leaders with schools on August 14, 2015

City of San Antonio calls for “Distinguished as Default”

“Mi sueño es ver a mis hijos en el colegio, ver su graduación, que estén ejerciendo lo que estudiaron. [En mi sueño,] los veo llevando una vida muy diferente a la que a nosotros nos ha tocado vivir.” [My dream is to see my children attending college, see them graduating from college, applying what they studied, and living a life much different from the one we had to endure.] - San Antonio Parent, 2014

Intercultural Development Research Association Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, President & CEO 5815 Callaghan Road, Suite 101 San Antonio, Texas 78228 210-444-1710 • contact@idra.org www.idra.org Assuring educational opportunity for every child

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