Equity Center Radio

You can email your questions about school finance and equity for answer on the air to ECRadio@EquityCenter.org.

Today’s podcast features, Bobby J. Rigues, the Vice-President of the school board of Aledo Independent School District, and its Superintendent, Don Daniel. Bobby and Don discuss AISD’s unique and inspiring grassroots efforts to reach out to the local community. But what started out as a local effort by Aledo ISD’s board members to educate their constituency about how the “target revenue” system of funding public education was hurting their community, in general, and, in particular, their school district and its students’ educational opportunities, has now turned into an state-wide effort of school board members to obtain fair and equitable funding for all public school systems. The effort climaxed with yesterday’s mass email to school board members throughout the state calling for immediate action, including signing petitions and passing a resolution calling on the legislature to fix the broken system. By getting individuals and board members all across the state behind a common message to make education a priority, they want to work with the legislature and state leaders and influence state policy. The Equity Center applauds their leadership and agrees that an overhaul is necessary and long overdue. You can read their resolution, more about their project, and review their “Board Member” call-to-action email at www.schoolpriority.com.

Bobby J. Rigues

Don Daniel

In 1988, Bobby J. Rigues gave up the duties of teaching and coaching high school students for the pursuit of self-employment. Over the years, the memories of being a positive influence to the students that crossed his path grew with value. In 2004, Bobby rekindled his passion for student education from a different position. Today, into his 7th year as an Aledo ISD Board Trustee, he currently holds the position as Vice President.

Don earned his Master’s in Education from Tarleton State University and his Bachelor of Science from Texas Wesleyan University. He has also done post-graduate work at UCLA and at Lamar Universities. He began his career in education as a teacher/coach at Crowley ISD, ultimately becoming its Assistant Superintendent. He became Superintendent of Aledo ISD in 1999. He lives by the motto “Do not see the child for what he is — See him for what he can become!”

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You can email your questions about school finance and equity for answer on the air to ECRadio@EquityCenter.org.

We are honored to have Mayor Bill White as our podcast guest today. Bill White
is the Democratic candidate for Governor of Texas and a supporter of public schools. Today, he speaks with Wayne Pierce, Executive Director of the Equity Center, about issues that are important to Equity Center members. They discuss the inequities of the current school funding system and the Target Revenue Hold Harmless.

Mayor White emphasizes the importance of every child in Texas having access to a high-quality education. He also expresses his disapproval of the state forcing school districts to spend their fund balances to cover the statewide budget shortfall. Mayor White also talks about his support for pre-kindergarten programs and his goal to make public and higher education the top priority if he is elected Governor.

Bill White grew up in San Antonio, where both of his parents were public school teachers. Mayor White’s civic involvement began when he led voter registration drives on the San Antonio’s West Side almost forty years ago. He was elected Houston’s Mayor in 2003 and was re-elected twice with margins of 86% and 91%. During his time as mayor, the Houston area led the nation’s cities in job growth, adding more jobs than thirty-seven states combined. He believes that public education is the most important business of state government because investments we make in students now will determine the economic future of our state.

*Note: The Equity Center also invited Governor Rick Perry, Republican candidate for Governor, to be a podcast guest. We were notified on July 28 that he declined the invitation. The invitation, however, remains open and we are hopeful that we will host Governor Perry on Equity Center Radio in the future.

Bill White

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To find out more about the Equity Center and the important work that it performs for the school children of Texas and its member school districts, please click on www.equitycenter.org.