John,

Governor Abbott and the Texas Education Agency released their guidelines for back to school - and I’m very concerned. It seems like the Governor is letting the politically-motivated demands coming from Washington drive his decisions to reopen schools instead of listening to the concerns of Texas teachers and parents. Given the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, our local school boards are the ones best suited to make the decision to reopen - not the Governor.

The current guidelines don’t allow for the flexibility we need to make smart, science and data-based decisions about when to reopen.

When we reopen is critically important to protecting our students, their families, our teachers, and our community. I care deeply about this issue, and I’ve sent a letter summarizing my concerns to the Governor.

In addition to my concerns with the current plan, it's critical that Texas seek a waiver of federal testing mandates and cancel STAAR testing for the upcoming school year. We must empower our teachers to teach and keep the focus on learning and development.

I’m monitoring developments on this closely, and won’t stop fighting until we have the necessary guidelines in place to protect our educators and our children.