Educating Lawmakers–The Legislative Session
by Kelly Browning, Co-Founder and President
The Experience of Being an Educator and Mother
After our meeting with Middleton in December, the 89th Texas legislative session began. Every two years, the state of Texas holds a regular session which lasts 140 days. Nearly all state laws, budget, and regulations are done every other year within that short window. We knew we had to get to Austin toward the start of the session to see where lawmakers were with their work for public education, specifically on the items we, Parents for Public Education, educated Middleton’s office about back in December.
To our shock, Middleton’s office asked for us to come by in the morning to meet with staff before we met face-to-face with Senator Middleton.
During the morning meeting, they informed us that they authored a bill to provide paid parental leave to all Texas teachers and were seeking our feedback on a few particular pieces of the legislation. Deidre, Melanie, and I all looked at each other like, “Are they really asking us for our opinion?” We left the office that morning feeling so encouraged and had to all but physically pick our jaws up off the floor after seeing that something we shared–our stories–moved a lawmaker so deeply that he authored a bill to solve the problem. What? Even typing that feels unbelievable.
Educating Lawmakers on Teachers' Struggles
We went about the rest of our day, having eight meetings with legislative directors and chiefs of staff across our state. Deidre described how, after a decade of teaching, she saved enough PTO and had the luck to plan for her first son to be born in May. Despite going on bed rest due to a health concern a couple of weeks early, Deidre is the only educator we know of who had a baby without having her pay docked. Even her husband, also a teacher, lost pay because he took 4 days off when their son was born, exceeding his ten days of leave for the year. Deidre grew up in a big family and always wanted more than one kid, but after the birth and early daycare days with her firstborn, she feels discouraged, uncertain if her family can afford another child now that her PTO bank is nearly empty.
She shared how she feels forced to choose between a career she’s dedicated her life to and her own family, a choice no parent should have to make.
Kelly shared her story of becoming a foster parent over and over again. She became a foster parent after being employed by our local school district for over nine years. Her daughter had complications at birth and was in the NICU for her first three weeks of life. Later, she became very ill with RSV, which required them to spend a week in the PICU. Kelly quickly ran out of leave and started being docked pay.
Fast forward to January… Middleton’s office reached out to us to let us know they were working on a bill to provide teachers the same parental leave benefits that are available to all other state employees. We were thrilled to hear that and also skeptical given our newness and advice from many others to expect nothing to actually happen . . . and then we went to Austin . . . . To be continued!
A Better Future for Educators
How can we expect families, especially families that have one or more parents as teachers, to adopt children out of foster care, when they are financially punished for caring for the most vulnerable of our population?
Shouldn’t teachers, who already have a proven love and passion for caring for children, be encouraged to foster children? Instead, they are financially penalized for doing so.
Something has to give, and Parents for Public Education is doing exactly that. We have raised and reimbursed teachers in our community over $6,000 in docked pay. We have relentlessly reached out to lawmakers to author and support SB1722, authored by Middleton, which provides paid parental leave for birth, foster, and adoptive parents. This would have been life-changing for Kelly and her family. It could still change things for Deidre and other Texas teachers fighting to love their own children while educating and caring for the kids in their communities.
Kelly Browning, M. Ed. -- mother, educator, co-founder
Kelly is a mother, educator, and co-founder of Parents for Public Education. You can read more about her on the Meet the Team Page, or reach out to her at kelly@parentsforpubliceducation.org.
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