A top legislative priority of the Texas PTA is to advocate for fully funding Texas public schools. PTA opposes diverting public tax dollars from public schools to fund education at private entities. Private schools, not parents, choose which students are admitted, while public schools must educate all students. Private schools are not held to the same transparency and accountability standards and "if a goal of ESAs is to extend private school access to new families, the substantial tuition increases they produce may limit access." 

THE ASKS
1. Sign the petition to support public schools.
2. Consider joining a PTA today and becoming part of the more than 500,000 collective voices advocating for Texas public schools.  
3. Call your Representative today and ask him or her to:
(Find my representative: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home
*Please fund public schools first! Our neighborhood schools shouldn't be shortchanged while state leaders push a voucher program. The basic per-pupil allotment, set at $6,160, now needs an additional $1,340 per student to keep up with inflation. Eighty percent of Texas public schools are operating in a deficit because Gov. Abbott withheld the $4 billion allotted to public education during the last legislative session.

*Hold voucher programs accountable. Any taxpayer-funded education program must meet the same transparency and accountability standards as public schools. Right now, public schools are funded based on attendance, while private school vouchers are funded based on total enrollment—that's not a level playing field.  

*Let Texans decide! Vouchers would use public tax dollars for private education. Texans deserve a voice in this decision. Please urge lawmakers to put the measure on a statewide ballot and let the people vote!

Despite a $33 billion surplus, Gov. Abbott has refused to spend a penny on public schools, starving our schools of much-needed resources.  Twenty three thousand McKinney kids and 5.5 million Texas kids are counting on us to keep public dollars in public schools!

Please join McKinney PTAs, PTOs, educators, parents, and citizens in ask our Representatives to fund public schools first and vote no on vouchers.