Speak up for the children of Texas

Visit www.fundtexasschools.org and sign this e-petition demanding that the Texas Legislature provide the resources necessary to give every Texas child an excellent education.

• Texas has declined from 32nd to 40th in spending on education in the last 5 years
• Texas now spends $1,500 less per student per year than the national average
• Texas teachers now are paid $6,800 less per year than the national average

Please tell your friends to go to www.fundtexasschools.org and support Texas' schools.

Nearly everyone chips in to pay for it. Most of us have direct, first-hand experience with it. Depending on who you may be listening to, it’s either in crisis or doing pretty well. And just about everyone agrees it’s one of the most important components of our society.

So why is it that so many citizens are content to accept sound bites or headlines as their primary sources of information about our schools? The amount of opinions, studies, viewpoints, proposals and information has long since reached a saturation point, and are typically by-products of special interests, financial interests and political interests that have some stake in public education.

This four-part series is intended to help the RISD community better understand the fundamentals of their schools, and is a joint effort of The Dallas Morning News, Friends of Texas Public Schools and Richardson ISD.

Perhaps some of the elementary students that signed up for the SMRT Camp (Science, Math, Reading and Technology) at Socorro High during spring break thought they were going to attend some kind of academic boot camp. Instead, they discovered the camp to be a fun-filled week of learning and discovery.

Check our
Volunteer page for more ways that you can help Friends.