At this month's meeting, Herb Krasner will give a talk on "Explaining and Exposing The School Choice/Voucher Situation: What We Might Get If We Don’t Act". Herb’s professional career can be seen online by googling his name.  Since he retired in 2017 from his senior faculty position at UT, he has been involved with several community oriented projects that he has found interesting and challenging to work on. These include projects such as: 

1. Making sure that everyone in the Texas Hill Country has access to high speed broadband internet  (aka ConnectedBurnetCounty)
2. Writing and consulting on the problems of poor quality software/IT/computer systems 
3. Providing community support to help feed the local disadvantaged
4. Serving as a state certified election poll watcher
5. Taking care of his family (which includes his 4 teenage granddaughters*)
6. Fixing some of the political problems here in Texas 😊 ha!
7. Solving World Peace J  ha ha!

This presentation is meant to expose the facts and data behind the current controversy known as either:  “school choice” or “school vouchers”.  

• The talk will start with a review of the STAAR test results over the last 6 years as an indicator of what has transpired.
• The talk will then discuss what an education savings account (ESA) is supposed to be in contrast with how our state leaders are planning to implement it in Texas; and will then look at all the other states who are implementing similar programs.
• The presentation will then look at how this type of program has caused chaos in most of the other states that have tried to implement it. Two specific case examples are discussed in detail:  Arizona (which served as the model for proposed legislation in Texas) and Florida (who copied AZ is now struggling similarly)
• The current Texas public school budgetary crisis will then be examined and explained using the hard data from our state, with a critical eye towards understanding why it is happening.
• The current political dialog and legislative timeline for the next year will be overviewed for context
• The speaker will then discuss his conclusions based on the evidence that was uncovered and analyzed; and what that implies for us as citizens.
• The speaker will then explain the three elements of the scam: “school’s choice”, “Robin Hood 2.0” and “Why its on the ballot”.
• More specific local issues and implications will then be identified and discussed with regard to the upcoming election.
• The speaker will then discuss his sign, tshirt and grassroots effort to raise awareness and understanding of these issues.
• Thirty eight public+ references are also provided for anyone who wants to duplicate this research and analysis.  
• This will be followed by open audience Q&A/Discussion

A copy of the presentation can be downloaded here:

Sarah Limon of the Highland Lakes Equality Center (HLEC) will speak at the July 25 meeting of HLDW at
Meadowlakes Hidden Falls Bistro.  The meeting begins at 11:30am with registration at 11:15.
 
Please RSVP to [email protected]m

Lunch will be served at a cost of $20

               MENU: Pizza Buffet with Salad

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING BACK-PACKS TO MEETING

Sue Barrick, Former President of Texas Democratic Women will speak at the May 23rd meeting of Highland Lakes Democratic Women in Meadowlakes Hidden Falls Bistro.  The meeting begins at 11:30am with registration at 11:15.
 
Please RSVP to [email protected]m

Lunch will be served at a cost of $20

               MENU: Pizza Buffet with Salad

Sue Barrick was born and raised in rural eastern Iowa literally on the banks of the Mississippi River. Those beautiful natural surroundings and the rhythm of the farming year in the fields around imbued her with a sense of awe and wonder that would lead her to study geology at the University of Iowa. Riding the bus to attend Davenport public schools, she became aware at an early age of the injustices of income inequality among her classmates.

She absorbed meeting etiquette, Roberts Rules of order, and a lasting sense of civic responsibility and efficacy during her nine years as a 4-H member. She volunteered in the district office of her local congressman in Davenport and later went all in for the Mo Udall campaign as a student at Iowa. She and husband Jim married in the summer of the nation’s bicentennial, 1976. By 1981 they were the parents of two growing boys and living in Lubbock where he was teaching at Texas Tech University. While mothering and home making were her primary occupations, she worked in an interesting variety of part time jobs and volunteer settings, and pursued postgraduate education, finding her calling as a research editor fairly late in life.
 
The excellent women of the League of Women Voters of Lubbock claimed Sue when she first moved to Texas and humored her for the years it took to overcome her absolute terror of public speaking and serve the group as a board member and officer, and LWV-TX as natural resources chair. When Republican Party interference in the Florida recount put George W. Bush into office in 2000, however, she vowed to be nonpartisan no more. She has since served as a Democratic Party precinct chair, county chair, and SDEC committee member, as well as a founding member and officer of TDW of the South Plains, and as a TDW board member at large, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and President.
 
ART TO BE AUCTIONED AT THE MEETING
This butterfly picture will be auctioned:

On Saturday, April 13, HLDW won 2nd place in the Burnet Blue Bonnet Parade out of 150 entries. The theme for the float was 'Vote Like Willie' in honor of Texas legend Willie Nelson. Participants included Highland Lakes Democratic Women, Llano County Democrats, and Burnet County Democrats.

The Llano County Democratic Party held its precinct convention on March 23 at the Kingsland Branch Library. Attendees had the opportunity to vote on delegates and alternates to the state conventions, as well as elect new chairpersons for local parties and discuss local party resolutions.

Highland Lakes Democratic Women members Patty Kane, Mary Kane, Annette Maddern, and Fran Day attended.