Richardson, Texas, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- More than 100 International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas) Charter School students will travel to Austin today (Monday), to sing for state legislators in the Capitol Rotunda. Details are as follows:
EVENT: International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas) Choir Performance
LOCATION: Capitol 1st Floor Rotunda
DATE: Today, Monday, 2/13/2023
TIME: 12:25 PM - 12:55 PM
SPONSOR: Rep. Carl Sherman
EXPECTED # OF PERFORMERS: 125
EXPECTED # OF ATTENDEES: 175
ILTexas students will be singing “God Bless America” as well as “Life Every Voice and Sing” in honor of Black History Month.
At ILTexas, all students learn English, Spanish and Chinese as part of their everyday curriculum, as our mission is to prepare them for exceptional leadership roles in the international community. Students will also perform “Mo Li Hua,” a traditional Chinese folk song, and “Ciento Lindo” in the Rotunda.
ILTexas continues to follow several key educational bills that have been filed this session. To arrange interviews with ILTexas leaders/staff to speak on the following issues, please contact Ally Crutcher or Caitlin Madison.
- Senate Bill 472 / House Bill 1707 – ILTEXAS DIRECTLY AFFECTED - Companion Bills to Address Municipal Discrimination Against Charter Schools
- Relates to the applicability of certain laws to open-enrollment charter schools
- These bills propose a city shall consider a charter school a school district for essentially all purposes surrounding growth and expansion: zoning, project permitting, property development projects, and land development standards, among others. In other words, a charter school should be able to build new schools in the same process a school district can, AND on the same timeline.
- These bills propose a city shouldn’t be able to take any action against a charter school that it can’t take against a school district, when it comes to serving and educating within that city. Regardless if the charter school owns or leases the property, it should be able to operate a public school campus or one of its facilities the same way a school district can.
- ILTexas is directly affected when it comes to zoning in particular. We are currently in litigation with the City of Dallas, as this is our second attempt to open a school in Dallas. We own a portion of land and have requested to build a campus on University Hills Blvd near Wheatland Rd. However, city staff have cited school density, more traffic, and wider roads needed as reasons to not get on board. We believe zoning shouldn’t be a barrier to offering more educational options to parents and their children; nor should competition.
- Senate Bill 90 – WE OPPOSE. Further blocks new charter schools from being approved
- Makes the process more difficult to get new charter schools into our communities
- The bill spells out layers of notices, impact statements and rounds of approval - a multi-step vetting process that takes 6+ months
- The bill specifies to notify each school district from which the proposed charter school is likely to draw students from, and to each member of the legislature representing the area
- Shouldn’t the priority be to offer another educational option to the community, rather than notifying the competition?
- The bill also states the Texas Education Agency (TEA) shall prepare a report noting the potential revenue loss for each affected school district in the 10 years following a new school being built
- 58,000+ students are stuck on public charter school waitlists, and yet, the Veto Rate was 80% in 2022, with just a 4% Final Approval Rate
- House Bill 1572 – WE SUPPORT. Fair Facilities Funding
- Public charter schools currently receive 94% of funding received by ISDs; an average of $700 less per student
- A 2017 formula was built to calculate the average funding for charters, plus $60 million. The $60 million is what has been used. We are asking to go back to the formula, which would increase funding from $175 per charter school student to about $900 per charter school student
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About International Leadership of Texas
International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas) is a free public charter school serving more than 22,000 K-12 students at 21 campuses in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Cleveland and College Station areas.
Our mission is to prepare students for exceptional leadership roles in the international community by emphasizing servant leadership, mastering the English, Spanish, and Chinese languages, and strengthening the mind, body, and character.
At ILTexas, education is taught from a global perspective, where all students are given the opportunity to learn the English, Spanish, and Chinese languages, and graduate with the necessary tools for future leadership and success in Texas, the U.S., and internationally.
