Welcome to our first enewsletter! We hope that we can use this medium to keep you informed about the great things that public education is accomplishing every day, and what Friends of Texas Public Schools is doing to promote the positives and strengthen the public's faith in Texas public schools.

We at Friends of Texas Public Schools believe that the people and businesses of Texas have a right to know that their money is being spent wisely in our public schools.

There has been a surplus of energy spent over the years focusing on what is wrong with our public schools when the reality is that our public schools, while not perfect, have never been more successful than they are today. It’s time to stop kicking sand in the faces of our educators. It’s time we took a stand for public education in Texas, to show our teachers and educational leaders the respect, appreciation and recognition that they have earned.

Rather than continue to throw unfair criticism and unsubstantiated accusations of failure at them, we need to change the conversation about our public schools from one that has been predominantly negative, counterproductive and de-motivating to one that is predominantly optimistic, motivational and productive. It’s time to celebrate the tremendous progress we have made in our public schools over the last 100 years.

Our goal is to raise morale and bring a sense of optimism back to Texas public schools. By doing so we hope to stimulate parental and community involvement and attract and retain the kind of teachers whose passion for teaching profoundly and positively impacts students. Celebrating achievement and continuing to improve are not mutually exclusive. We invite Texas to join the celebration.

New York state has the best school accountability system in the country, according to Testing the Testers 2003: An Annual Ranking of State Accountability Systems, released by The Princeton Review. Massachusetts ranked second and Texas was third.

Accountability systems encompass state testing programs and the policies that surround them. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, federal education law requires annual testing in grades 3-8 to measure student learning and hold schools accountable for the results.

As a 501c(3) organization, Friends of Texas Public Schools relies solely on the tax-deductible contributions from individuals and businesses joining our Network of Friends.