Raise Your Hand Texas® honors 100 legislators with inaugural Public Education Champion Award
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By Anne Lasseigne Tiedt, APR - Senior Director of Strategic Communications, Raise Your Hand Texas
Anne Lasseigne Tiedt serves as the senior director of strategic communications of Raise Your Hand Texas and connects policy, research, and her communications expertise to support innovative approaches to the challenges in education policy in Texas.
Throughout the 88th Legislative Session, many Texas legislators fought for the needs of Texas’ public school students and made decisions that were the very best for their communities and their schools. Raise Your Hand Texas has created the Public Education Champion Award, a first-of-its-kind award honoring the 100 Texas Legislators who stood alongside Raise Your Hand Texas, fighting for the needs of Texas’ 5.4 million public school students.
We are recognizing them for their outstanding achievement and steadfast commitment to Texas public education.
“When legislators are willing to go above and beyond for their public schools and the students and teachers in their local community they need to be recognized for their efforts,” said Dr. Michelle Smith, executive director for Raise Your Hand Texas. “Our Public Education Champion Award honors that steadfast commitment to the legislators’ local community when making decisions at our Texas Capitol.”
The inaugural Raise Your Hand Texas Public Education Champion Award was first awarded to Ernest Bailes on August 8, 2023, in Dayton, Texas. The complete list of award recipients includes:
- Representative Alma Allen, House District 131
- Representative Steve Allison, House District 121
- Senator Carol Alvarado, Senate District 6
- Representative Rafael Anchía, House District 103
- Representative Trent Ashby, House District 9
- Representative Ernest Bailes, House District 18
- Representative Keith Bell, House District 4
- Representative Diego Bernal, House District 123
- Representative Salman Bhojani, House District 92
- Senator César Blanco, Senate District 29
- Representative Rhetta Andrews Bowers, House District 113
- Representative John Bryant, House District 114
- Representative John Bucy III, House District 136
- Representative DeWayne Burns, House District 58
- Representative Liz Campos, House District 119
- Representative Terry Canales, House District 40
- Representative Travis Clardy, House District 11
- Representative Sheryl Cole, House District 46
- Representative Nicole Collier, House District 95
- Representative Philip Cortez, House District 117
- Representative Drew Darby, House District 72
- Representative Yvonne Davis, House District 111
- Representative Jay Dean, House District 7
- Senator Sarah Eckhardt, Senate District 14
- Representative Lulu Flores, House District 51
- Representative Erin Gámez, House District 38
- Representative Josey Garcia, House District 124
- Representative Charlie Geren, House District 99
- Representative Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, House District 120
- Representative Jessica González, House District 104
- Representative Mary E. González, House District 75
- Representative Vikki Goodwin, House District 47
- Representative R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, House District 41
- Senator Roland Gutierrez, Senate District 19
- Representative Ana Hernandez, House District 143
- Representative Herrero, Abel, House District 34
- Representative Gina Hinojosa, House District 49
- Senator Juan “Chuy” HInojosa, Senate District 20
- Representative Justin Holland, House District 33
- Representative Donna Howard, House District 48
- Representative Ann Johnson, House District 134
- Representative Jarvis Johnson, House District 139
- Representative Julie Johnson, House District 115
- Senator Nathan Johnson, Senate District 16
- Representative Jolanda “Jo”Jones, House District 147
- Representative Venton Jones, House District 100
- Representative Kyle Kacal, House District 12
- Representative Ken King, House District 88
- Representative Tracy O. King, House District 80
- Representative John Kuempel, House District 44
- Representative Suleman Lalani, M.D., House District 76
- Senator Morgan LaMantia, Senate District 27
- Representative Stan Lambert, House District 71
- Representative Brooks Landgraf, House District 81
- Representative Oscar Longoria, House District 35
- Representative Ray Lopez, House District 125
- Representative Christian Manuel, House District 22
- Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, House District 116
- Representative Armando “Mando” Martinez, House District 39
- Senator José Menéndez, Senate District 26
- Representative Terry Meza, House District 105
- Senator Borris L. Miles, Senate District 13
- Representative Joe Moody, House District 78
- Representative Penny Morales Shaw, House District 148
- Representative Christina Morales, House District 145
- Representative Eddie Morales, House District 74
- Representative Sergio Muñoz, Jr., House District 36
- Representative Andrew S. Murr, House District 53
- Representative Victoria Neave Criado, House District 107
- Senator Robert Nichols, Senate District 3
- Representative Claudia Ordaz, House District 79
- Representative Angelia Orr, House District 13
- Representative Evelina "Lina" Ortega, House District 77
- Representative Mary Ann Perez, House District 144
- Representative Mihaela Plesa, House District 70
- Representative Four Price, House District 87
- Representative Ana-Maria Ramos, House District 102
- Representative John Raney, House District 14
- Representative Richard Peña Raymond, House District 42
- Representative Ron Reynolds, House District 27
- Representative Glenn Rogers, House District 60
- Representative Ramon Romero, Jr., House District 90
- Representative Toni Rose, House District 110
- Representative Jon E. Rosenthal, House District 135
- Representative Carl O. Sherman Sr., House District 109
- Representative Hugh D. Shine, House District 55
- Representative Reggie Smith, House District 62
- Representative David Spiller, House District 68
- Representative James Talarico, House District 50
- Representative Shawn Thierry, House District 146
- Representative Senfronia Thompson, House District 141
- Representative Chris Turner, House District 101
- Representative Gary VanDeaver, House District 1
- Representative Hubert Vo, House District 149
- Representative Armando Walle, House District 140
- Senator Royce West, Senate District 23
- Senator John Whitmire, Senate District 15
- Representative Gene Wu, House District 137
- Senator Judith Zaffirini, Senate District 21
- Representative Erin Zwiener, House District 45
While out-of-state interests tried to convince state leaders that vouchers should be their number one priority for education this session, these awardees continued to stay strong and denounce vouchers (aka education savings accounts) – despite the well-established need to address school safety, teacher salaries and rising costs due to inflation. Saying no to vouchers is fundamental to protecting and preserving an education system that is committed to each and every student.
“In selecting Public Education Champion Award recipients, Raise Your Hand Texas reviewed legislation and votes during the 88th Legislative Session and identified 100 legislators who withstood intense political pressure and exemplified strong, courageous support for public schools, teachers and students.”
The 100 Legislators represent both the Texas House of Representatives and Senate, as well as rural and urban communities across Texas.
Working in the legislature can often be a thankless job. The Raise Your Hand Texas Public Education Champion Award recognizes legislators who went above and beyond for their public schools during the 88th Session. We believe this award validates their work.
Standing against vouchers
The Texas Legislature has rejected school vouchers for decades. Yet, Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to call another special session later this fall to attempt to pass school vouchers.
Texans express deep, broad-based support for their public schools. According to Charles Butt Foundation polling, the majority of Texas parents are satisfied with their child’s public school and would choose it again given other options.
- 89% of Texas public school parents are satisfied with the quality of education their child is receiving.
- 82% of public school parents would keep their child in their current public school, if given other public school choice options.
- When asked about school vouchers, a majority of Texans, 54%, oppose them.
Recent research on our country’s longest and largest voucher programs shows little to no improvement in student test scores or academic achievement over time, as well as a negative impact on college enrollment and completion rates for disadvantaged students.
With Texas more than $4,000 behind the national average in per-pupil funding and almost $7,500 behind the national average in teacher pay, Raise Your Hand Texas and our education champions understand the importance of investing in our public schools, teachers and students, not diverting more money from them.
“Right now, Texas public education leaders and legislators are fighting political forces and well-funded out-of-state organizations from across the United States that want to reshape public education with little or no accountability and transparency and a poor track record of performance in other states with voucher programs. These 100 legislators are doing the most for their communities and public schools,” said Smith.