Humble Association of Texas Professional Educators attend Lobby Day

The Humble delegates and legislative representatives are, in front from left, Brenda Rider, Janet Griffin, Allan Griffin, Tess Mustain, Melissa Crizer, Robin Zorkic, Stacey Ward, State Rep. Dan Huberty, James O. Ellis, Stephanie Baker, Emily Garcia, Gayle

Twelve Humble Association of Texas Professional Educators members recently attended ATPE Lobby Day on Monday, Feb. 11.

The event allowed ATPE members to discuss their educational concerns with state representatives and senators.

According to a press release from the Humble ATPE, "In individual meetings, the Humble delegates discussed educational priorities in the legislature this session. These priorities include returning all or part of the $5.4 billion in education funding cut during the 82nd legislative session, and improving the current testing and accountability system, including revisions to the STAAR/End-of-Course systems implemented two years ago. The Humble group also emphasized the impact of the 2011 budget cuts, including losing pre-K and tutoring/remediation programs across all grade levels, cutting 250 staff and increasing class sizes."

"I was pleased to hear so many public education issues are on the minds of the legislators," said Humble ATPE Treasurer Allan Griffin in the release. "It seems they have heard from their voters back home about the excessive testing and the lack of flexibility in graduation requirements and they are willing to make some changes. The real question is how much they will be able to do toward restoring the funding cuts from the last session."

For more information, call 512-467-0071, email atpe@atpe.org or visit www.atpe.org.

The Association of Texas Professional Educators is headquarted at 305 E. Huntland Drive, Suite 300, Austin.