Texas lawmakers hear from educators in Longview

LONGVIEW – According to our news partner KETK, Longview ISD hosted a town hall meeting for educational leaders and Texas lawmakers to make sure their voices are heard, and needs like funding are understood. Basic allotment, which determines how much money public schools get for each student, hasn’t been updated in half a decade.

The meeting comes ahead of the next legislative session, after the previous session didn’t pass house bill one which would have provided more money to schools. Major topics of the discussion that created the most buzz were school choice, basic allotment funding and the mental health of students and faculty. Local representatives heard from districts firsthand, and hopefully can apply what they learned in January at the next legislative session.

For Longview superintendent Dr. Marla Sheppard, funding is something she says her schools and others need in order to continue providing a quality education.

“Money, we all need money,” Sheppard said. “Right now, we are in a crisis as far as funding is concerned, we’ve not had an increase in five or six years and so for us with inflation, teachers needing raises, children becoming more costly to educate, then we all need more money.”

Sheppard hopes that lawmakers will be able to hear the needs of educators.

“We can hear each other’s voices,” Sheppard said. “I think it’s always good, it doesn’t matter whether we agree or not it’s always good to hear the voice of those who may agree with you and those who don’t agree with you.”

“We’ve been laying out on the table, what all was in that bill. Now the discussion is what do we do moving forward, or what does the bill needs to look like in the future,” said State Rep. Cody Harris (R – Palestine).

“Some controversial topics that people are very passionate about on either side,” Harris said. “And there’s been a lot of misinformation put out there about what was included last session verses what was actually in those bills.”

“Today is an excellent opportunity for us to make sure that if they don’t understand our voice, they can hear it today,” Sheppard said. “So that they can make sessions at the session with our voices in mind.”