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It was March 2019 and early childhood education supporters, dressed in “pre-K purple,” flooded the State Capitol, asking legislators to “Stop the Yo-Yo” and fund full-day pre-Kindergarten for eligible 4-year-olds. We called it the Power of Pre-K Day.Thanks to this and the efforts of so many in the early childhood field, the yo-yo finally stopped bouncing. Full-day pre-K funding was part of the bipartisan House Bill 3 investment in Texas public education that passed in May 2019.Our latest Intersect Ed podcast episode, part of our legislative agenda series, explores why pre-K is more powerful than ever — for all the research-based reasons we’ve touted for more than a decade, combined with the urgency of closing pandemic learning gaps and supporting the state’s economic recovery.Listen as we hear from an educator, renowned researcher, statewide political leader, and sitting legislator about what it’s going to take to preserve pre-K funding in the face of budget challenges.And don’t miss our special dedication at the end of the episode. It sums up everything you need to know about why and how we should support our youngest learners.

This school year, due to the pandemic, Texas public schools have seen steep enrollment declines that could have impacted their budgets. Thankfully the state has stepped in, and rather than funding schools based on their average daily attendance numbers, they opted to fund schools based on historical attendance data, something called “hold harmless.”Unfortunately, the hold harmless funding model is set to expire on Dec. 31, and if it does, schools could be forced to make some pretty severe cuts.In our sixth episode of Intersect Ed, hosted by Raise Your Hand’s Tessa Benavides, we take an up-close dive into what “hold harmless” really means for school districts across the state and what effects schools will immediately feel if it expires.Throughout the episode you will hear from two superintendents and Bob Popinski, Raise Your Hand’s Director of Policy. This episode is part of a series laying out the biggest issues our schools will face in the coming year that Raise Your Hand Texas will champion during the 2021 Texas Legislative session.

In our fifth episode of Intersect Ed, hosted by Raise Your Hand's Alejandro Izaguirre, we want to give you a landscape view of what school budgets look like for the upcoming school year and how the economic recession may impact school districts in the 2021 Texas Legislative session.You will hear from Chief Financial Officers from school districts across the state, a facilities worker, a principal, and a bus driver on what it's like to run a public school during a global pandemic. Continued investment is one of the most important issues schools across Texas will face and one Raise Your Hand will champion during the upcoming session. This episode is the first in a new series laying out the biggest issues our schools will face in the coming year that Raise Your Hand Texas will champion during the 2021 Texas Legislative session.

In our fourth episode of Intersect Ed, hosted by Raise Your Hand’s Cody Huie, we’re giving you the opportunity to be a fly on the wall for two fascinating group conversations as school leaders from across the state planned, prepared, and reimagined school for the 2020-21 school year. While there are many unknown and unresolved challenges ahead, these internal conversations demonstrate that district and campus leaders are hard at work to create consistent, quality, and equitable instructional opportunities for all students. And they are not planning in isolation. School leaders across Texas are working together to analyze ideas and strategies for safely reopening schools. This is the core intent of the Raising School Leader’s alumni network – to strengthen connections and encourage collaboration between educators around the state.

When a high school senior walks across the stage to receive their diploma, it often feels like they are taking their first steps into adulthood. Jackie Peña planned to speak on that stage and pour her heart out to all the other students. She says she is “the first [in my family] to graduate in the top 10 of my class. So graduation for me was kind of like my perfect dream.”For the Class of 2020, however, that milestone ended up feeling very different. Proms were canceled, party plans altered and traditional graduation ceremonies were delayed and held in new socially distant ways. Despite the changes, principals, teachers, and school leaders worked tirelessly to ensure that their high school seniors' accomplishments were celebrated. In our third episode of IntersectEd, hosted by Raise Your Hand Texas’ Alejandro Izaguirre, we will hear from several members of the Class of 2020 in Houston about how school closures and emergency remote learning impacted their final semester of high school. School leaders and educators will also share the ways they tried to help these seniors navigate their final days of high school in the midst of a global pandemic.

When Texas schools closed in mid-March, teachers had to pivot almost overnight to a new model of teaching, while simultaneously dealing with crisis management. Over the following months, we saw social media posts of teachers serving meals, leading parades, holding up encouraging signs, or tutoring students across their lawn. As these social media moments began to fade, we wanted to learn more about what their daily work was like throughout the spring semester. In the second episode of Intersect Ed, hosted by Raise Your Hand’s Tessa Benavides, listeners hear from five teachers from across Texas. They share the challenges and successes they had dealing with a lack of access to reliable internet and technology, building an engaging virtual classroom, navigating student engagement through a crisis, and finding ways to meaningfully connect with parents and families.

For many teachers across Texas, the days before Spring Break marked the last time they would physically be in their classrooms and spend in-person time with their students. Since schools closed permanently for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year, teachers have been working non-stop to adjust to emergency remote learning. This episode hosted by Raise Your Hand’s Victoria Wang, focuses on one key question: How has this been pandemic been affecting teachers’ mental health?