The Final Countdown!
Parents, teachers, students: The challenge is ON! Use these last-minute tips to get as many people from your school to the rally as possible:
Participate in Spread the Word Day: Tuesday, March 8
Schools across Texas are participating. Here’s what to do:
- Print out our postcard-sized fliers with English on one side, Spanish on the other (Click here for English. Click here for Spanish. Both print four to a page).
- Organize volunteers to hand out the fliers to parents during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. Make sure to print enough for every family in your school.
- Consider calling your local TV news channels to cover the story.
- If your school can’t hand out fliers on March 8, just pick another day ASAP to distribute the flyers. The sooner, the better so families have time to plan and attend.
Email your PTA/PTO email list
If they haven’t done this already, ask your PTA/PTO president to inform all families at your school about the rally using our suggested text (below) as a start and attaching the STS informational flyer for reference. (Click here for English. Click here for Spanish.) Feel free to personalize the email for your school. Encourage forwarding to help make the rally info go viral! Please do this as soon as possible.
Send fliers home with teachers & students directly
Ask if you can put them in student’s take-home folders and in teachers’ mailboxes. If this isn’t possible, ask to keep a stack on the office front counter.
Hang posters around campus
Print the STS 11×17 poster. (Click here for English. Click here for Spanish). Hang it around (or near) the school grounds. Think telephone poles, trees, etc.
Put the March 12 event info onto your school’s marquee
If your school has one, this is a great way to get the word out to both school families and to the neighborhood.
Hold a sign-making party
Aim for any afternoon or evening before the rally. Include your kids. Working together will help everyone feel empowered and involved. Then bring these signs on March 12 to show your school spirit and support for Texas public education. Click here for slogan ideas!
Sponsor a bus to the rally
It’s not too late to organize this! A school bus will get many more people there that otherwise couldn’t or wouldn’t come. Ask your principal or office to look into it or point you in the right direction. If cost is an issue, consider asking for per-rider donations, or hold a fundraiser after March 12 specifically to cover the cost (bake sale, car wash, etc.). And if you’d like, please email us your info for posting on the Caravans & Buses page of our website.
Organize a carpool caravan to the rally
Have everyone meet at your school and leave together on the morning of March 12. You can do this with our without a chartered bus. Hold a mini-rally of your own prior to leaving, and ask your local news stations to come cover it. See the Rally FAQs page for parking ideas. Just be sure to get to Austin on-time! Leave plenty of time for the drive – downtown will be crowded.
More tips, ideas and resources
Visit our Spread the Word page and our Be Your School’s Rally Captain page for even more ideas.
Email for families on PTA/PTO email list
(Please personalize as you like)
Dear Parents,
Hopefully you’re already aware of the upcoming Save Texas Schools March & Rally happening in Austin on Saturday, March 12 from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at the State Capitol Building. If not, please take a minute now to visit www.savetxschools.org to learn more about this important event.
Save Texas School’s main goal is to help keep our schools open and our teachers in their classrooms by demanding that our elected officials maintain public education funding to the maximum degree possible during the current state budget crisis.
To succeed, the March 12 event needs to be the biggest ever held at the TX Capitol complex. With enough voices, the message will be so loud that the legislature cannot ignore it.
Save Texas Schools has challenged us to get as many people from our school as possible to attend the March 12 event.
Please plan now to attend this historic, nonpartisan, family-friendly event!
We are supporting Save Texas Schools with several school-based efforts between now and the rally. Please stay tuned for more information.
In the meantime, visit www.savetxschools.org now to get more informed, help spread the word and to plan your day at the Capitol. Also see this Save Texas School flyer for more information (Click here for English. Click here for Spanish). Finally, forward this email to all your friends in Austin and across Texas to help spread the word.
Together we can make a difference!
Thank you,