Coastal Bend school leaders seek ways to advocate for schools

With nine months until the next regular session of the Texas Legislature, Coastal Bend school leaders feel there isn't any time to lose.

For five hours Friday, superintendents and school board representatives from across the region met for an advocacy summit, discussing the best ways to ensure public education priorities are taken seriously by lawmakers in 2025.

The Coastal Bend Public Education Advocacy Network unites the urban Corpus Christi ISD to one-high-school suburban districts and small rural districts with only a few hundred students. The districts vary in size, demographics and wealth, but still, they share many concerns.

On Friday, attendees discussed topics like property tax reform, public school funding, mental health and private school vouchers. The event took place at the Henry Garrett Center in Corpus Christi. Speakers included state lawmakers Sen. Morgan LaMantia, Rep. Todd Hunter and Rep. Abel Herrero, a representative of education advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas and Nueces County Tax Assessor/Collector Kevin Kieschnick.

Attendees represented school districts such as Corpus Christi ISD, Kingsville ISD, Flour Bluff ISD, Gregory-Portland ISD, Ingleside ISD, Port Aransas ISD, Aransas Pass ISD, Orange Grove ISD, Pettus ISD, Taft ISD and Ricardo ISD.

"The key thing that I will say is that we're all in this together," Corpus Christi ISD Superintendent Roland Hernandez said.

Funding and accountability

The advocacy network came together only a few months ago in the fall, launched by school board members in Corpus Christi ISD in the midst of a wave of disappointing legislative setbacks. Last spring, Texas lawmakers failed to increase public school funding that might have alleviated local budget concerns and boosted teacher pay after a voucher-like program to use state funds to subsidize the costs of private school education was tied to public school funding efforts.

There has been no increase in the basic allotment, the state's per-student contribution to public schools, since 2019. According to U.S. Census data, in fiscal year 2022, per-student funding in Texas was $11,803, including state, federal and local dollars. The nationwide average was $15,633.

The spring 2023 regular session was followed by several special sessions in the fall, but public school funding remained stalled.

Attendees expressed feelings that the voucher debate would come back.

"If this is going to be the case moving forward, what is is that we're expecting in return?" Hernandez said.

During the same time the state was debating vouchers, many school districts banded together across the state to oppose the rollout of a new state school accountability system that public schools say is unfair. The state was expected to announce A-F letter grades for each public school campus and school district in the state months ago. Under the A-F refresh, schools expected to see their A-F ratings drop even if they improved.

Kingsville ISD led the charge in filing a lawsuit against Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath. The ratings have yet to be released.

Across the Coastal Bend, schools have been impacted by property tax challenges in different ways.

In some districts, such as Orange Grove ISD and Flour Bluff ISD differences in the ways that the Texas Comptroller and local county appraisal districts determine property values have led to school funding gaps, with the state supplementing local school revenues based on property value studies that do not reflect the actual amount of local property tax revenues collected.

In Corpus Christi, some of the largest taxpayers in the community have disputed steep increases in their property values, resulting in million dollar impacts for Corpus Christi ISD and other local taxing entities.

Nueces County Tax Assessor Collector Kevin Kieschnick said that there are efforts to address these challenges through state legislation.

Advocacy efforts with lawmakers

State Rep. Todd Hunter, a Republican representing part of Nueces and Aransas counties, state Rep. Abel Herrero, a Democrat representing part of Nueces County, and state Sen. Morgan LaMantia, a Democrat representing the southern coast of Texas, answered questions submitted by Corpus Christi ISD.

State Sen. Chuy Hinojosa had also planned to come, but was not in attendance.

"We're seeing more and more school districts come together to make those fights and arguments," LaMantia said. "If we continue to do that and we continue to push schools, school districts, teachers and parents to be that voice and be that singular voice saying that one message strongly across our state, that's when we'll really get started seeing those changes."

Each of the lawmakers present said they support increased funding for public schools. The lawmakers called on attendees to remain engaged with decision-makers and speak with a unified voice.

The lawmakers also shared their thoughts on the importance of mental health. Hunter credited Coastal Bend students as the driving force between Mental Health Awareness Month in Texas, giving an example of successful advocacy.

Hunter said that mental health funding should not be the sole responsibility of schools.

"We've got to find it so the burden of funding is not coming out of your pocket," Hunter said.

Herrero proposed providing incentives for mental health professionals who work in schools. LaMantia added that there has to be a pipeline for those professionals to enter the field and incentives for professionals to train the next generation of mental health workers.

Hunter said that in order to see legislative successes, advocacy groups should not give lawmakers any excuses not to act. Though he has heard from local school districts, education groups and associations focus their efforts on education committee members, Hunter said.

"You come talk to all of us," Hunter said. "You make every elected official feel good or uncomfortable. If you don't go talk to them, you're giving them the key to vote against you."

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Coastal Bend schools align on advocacy, legislative priorities