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Raise Your Hand Texas is building a stronger future for every Texas student by uniting individuals and local communities to advocate for thriving public schools.
In 2006, Charles Butt and a group of Texas business and community leaders founded Raise Your Hand Texas with the belief that all Texas children should have equal access to high-quality education. Raise Your Hand Texas is committed to developing a diverse group of community advocates equipped to educate, engage and advocate for thriving public schools and Texas students. We are proud of our record of advancing investments in public schools and our teachers, driving reform of our state’s testing and accountability system, and investing in high-quality pre-K and whole-child initiatives.
We are building a movement of local leaders and advocates for public schools in communities across Texas. Our statewide advocacy team works in communities throughout the state to raise the voices of parents, teachers, community leaders, business owners and students who care about the future of public education.
We are focused on two core issues that impact every student, educator and campus in Texas: school funding and the A-F accountability system.
Raise Your Hand Texas is transforming culture, seeding hope and building advocacy power to drive real change for Texas public schools.
Since its founding, Raise Your Hand has consistently sought to ensure that thriving public schools are a priority in the Texas Capitol. Our legislative efforts have focused on early childhood education, innovative school models and practices, an appropriate emphasis on standardized testing within our accountability system, and overall school funding. For many years, Raise Your Hand was also a consistent opponent of vouchers.
Beginning in 2019, our organization also started a focused effort to cultivate grassroots public education advocates throughout the state. Our regional advocacy team has equipped thousands of advocates to participate in the legislative process in new and focused ways, while deepening their understanding of education policy and facilitating relationship-building across lines of professional, geographic, and political differences.
We believe that strong public schools are foundational to strong communities and a strong Texas. Our deepened focus on building committed teams of community advocates is an expression of our commitment to make every legislative session a public education session.
Raise Your Hand Texas approaches all of this vital work with five values in mind.
We approach every conversation with unwavering honesty and respect. We recognize the current challenges faced by our school communities, the people who lead them and the elected and appointed officials who craft policy. We aim to serve as an essential resource for all stakeholders in school improvement.
We believe in government of the people, by the people, for the people. A robust democracy is led by duly elected leaders and is responsive to the input, needs and aspirations of the community it serves. This means democracy is a hands-on process for all of us, and we seek to constantly bring more hands to that work.
We work on behalf of all Texas students, even in the face of criticism and uncertainty. We will not back away from an insistence on a high-quality education for every child.
We advocate for every student to be treated with kindness and respect, free from racism, classism and other forms of exclusion, and to receive the specific resources required to find success during their pre-K-12 education and beyond.
We approach each challenge knowing that our work is complex, progress is incremental, decisions are rarely clear-cut and winning is sometimes hard to define. Our desire to improve the lives of all public school students causes us to press onward with determination and humility.
Improving public education begins with you. We are here to make sure you understand the issues before voting and ensure your voice is heard in your corner of Texas and at the Capitol.
We are right Across the Lawn from the Capitol. If you want to stay in touch with us, please sign up for our Across the Lawn newsletter or be added to our Across the Lawn events list. If you want to join us in making an impact on public education, please contact your regional advocacy director, who can connect you with our advocacy efforts.
The future prosperity of our state hinges on the success of every public school, school leader, educator and child. Join us and let your voice be heard — because the future of Texas is in our public schools.