How do you
change a dismal record of voter participation and how does that impact public
education? For Laura Yeager, Director of
the Texas Educators Vote program, the answer to the first question is “one
voter at a time”; the answer to the second question is that more than 5.4
million Texas public schoolchildren are counting on us to step forward and
focus on their needs, not the needs of donors who back many in Austin
supposedly elected to serve us.
A little more than two years ago, Laura began
an effort to create a culture of voting in the education community. She had been shocked to learn that Texas was
last (or near last) in voter turnout, and that primary election turnout was
especially low. It shocked her that the
number of people voting (and determining the outcome of many key statewide
elections) was smaller than the number of people working in Texas public
schools! Laura studied the reasons for
low voter turnout and found that citizens don’t always know why their vote is important or understand which elected
positions make decisions that directly affect them.
Teachers might
be frustrated that their schools are underfunded, that their students are over-tested
and more, but not make the logical connection that by voting, they choose the
people who make these decisions. Laura
thought that by teaching educators the importance of (1) registering to vote,
(2) researching candidates and the function of various elected officials, and
(3) encouraging them to vote and model civic engagement for students, Texas
Educators Vote could help improve voter participation among educators and
students alike, thereby strengthening the Texas democracy.
What Laura
recognized and acted upon is that the more than 700,000 educators in the State,
including teachers, administrators and board members, have the power to
dramatically impact the outcome of the next primary and general elections. Because many races are decided in the March
primary, she felt a sense of urgency to begin changing this trend … one voter
at a time.
Over the past
couple of years, many organizations have come together as partners in the Texas
Educators Vote initiative; click here
for more information on TEV. Laura,
being idealistic, thought everyone would support increased civic engagement, a
stronger democracy, and the Texas constitutional obligation to provide and fund
public education. She did not anticipate
the pushback and challenges from Sen. Bettencourt, Empower Texans, the Texas
Public Policy Foundation, and their allies.
Texas Educators Vote is a grassroots movement
and if we have learned anything over time, it is that those movements have the
potential to have the greatest impact.
Through establishing the TEV web site to participating in meetings with
various groups and individuals to periodic calls among TEV partners, Laura’s
has consistently been a voice for our children.
As one of the partners in this grassroots movement (Make Education a
Priority), I am proud to call Laura a friend and to acknowledge her
tremendous contributions to public education advocacy.
The
pro-public education movement continues to gain ground and mind share among
those impacted by our public education system.
But the ultimate need is for a strong turnout at the polls to elect
those who support public education.
Laura clearly has seen the opportunity to promote a voting culture and
her efforts are certainly focused on
making education a priority.
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