Across the Lawn Oct. 20, 2022

Raise Your Hand Texas October Update | Thursday, October 20, 2022

The FOUR Things to Do and ONE Thing to Know

With elections right around the corner, we have flipped our typical four things to know and one thing to do format and instead are offering readers four things to do and one thing to know. Voting with public education in mind is the most important action you can take on behalf of public schools. We offer you a step-by-step guide for doing so below in this month’s Across the Lawn newsletter.

The One Thing to Know:

It’s Time to Measure What Matters

Raise Your Hand Texas heard from more than 15,600 Texans about our state’s accountability system for public schools during our Texas Voices campaign. Feedback from these parents, educators, students, and community members helped guide our Measure What Matters Assessment & Accountability Council to develop a series of policy recommendations for revamping how our public schools and districts are rated by the state.

These recommendations will be shared at a press conference at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 on the south steps of the Texas Capitol. The press conference will also be livestreamed on Raise Your Hand Texas’ Facebook page. Following the press conference, Raise Your Hand Texas will hold the fourth installment of its Across the Lawn series at noon titled Rethinking Accountability: Measure What Matters Council Findings & Recommendations, with a presentation of the Measure What Matters Report and a panel discussion.

You can register to watch the presentation and discussion virtually by clicking the button below.

An effort like this took advocacy, outreach, bandwidth, expertise, and a passion to make Texas public schools better.

It’s time to Measure What Matters.

Four Things to Do:

1. Important Election Dates

The Nov. 8 election is approaching fast. Make sure you are up to date on the important deadlines and events around this upcoming election.

• Monday, Oct. 24 is the first day of early voting in-person.
• Friday, Oct. 28 is the last day to apply for a ballot by mail.

• Friday, Nov. 4 is the last day of early voting.
• Tuesday, Nov. 8 is Election Day
• Tuesday, Nov. 8 also is the last day to submit a ballot by mail if your carrier envelope is not postmarked by 7:00 p.m. or Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 5:00 p.m. if the carrier envelope is postmarked by 7:00 p.m. at the location of the election on Election Day.
• Mail-in ballots for military members deployed out of the country have other deadlines.

Remember that public education is on the ballot every election, and the future of Texas is in our public schools.

2. Where can I vote?

If you plan on voting in person, either on Nov. 8 or during early voting, it is important for you to know where your polling place is. The Texas Secretary of State’s website provides polling locations on the site linked below.

To find all eligible polling locations, click Selection Criteria under the “Am I Registered?” panel. After choosing and submitting your criteria, the site will provide you a list of all polling locations you are eligible to vote at with addresses, times, and dates for each location.

3. Where to Find Public Education on Your Ballot

Important decisions about public education are made at every level of government. However, state governments arguably have the largest role to play. In Texas, 92% of public education funding is determined by the state legislature. The Commissioner of Education – who is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate – interprets and implements laws on a wide array of education topics. Thankfully, Texas Educators Vote created a tool to make it easy to understand which elected officials have responsibility for what public education decisions.

4. How to Research Candidates

Being an informed public education voter means not only understanding the issues, but also knowing where different candidates stand on the issues. There are a number of tools available to help voters learn more about candidates and their intentions with respect to public education. Raise Your Hand’s candidate look-up tool allows you to find information about the candidates that will be on your ballot by entering your address. Other resources like Teach the Vote from the Association of Texas Professional Educators and Vote411 from the League of Women Voters feature candidate responses to questionnaires on their views.