What is Hold Harmless?
"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". (Raise Your Hand Texas - link directly below.)
What does that mean for PISD?
If there is no extension to fund schools based on historic attendance it is possible schools may not receive the much-needed funding they were counting on. In Plano ISD, this equates to approximately $10 million. The only way to offset this type of gap is to impact staffing and programs.
More Background on Why We Need Hold Harmless to Continue
Raise Your Hand Texas - www.raiseyourhandtexas.org - Article and Podcast
Time to Act Why We need the State to [Extend] Hold Harmless
https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/podcast/time-to-act-why-we-need-the-state-to-ho-ho-hold-schools-harmless-this-december/
Timeline of previous contacts with TEA & Plano ISD Legislative Delegation
House Members Urge TEA to Extend “Hold Harmless” Guarantee - On December 18th, over 80 members of the Texas House led by Representative Steve Allison (R-San Antonio) sent a letter to Education Commissioner Mike Morath urging him to extend the “hold harmless” to assure full funding to all school districts through the remainder of the school year.
Republicans – Including Representative Steve Allison, 36 Republicans signed the letter including Trent Ashby, Ernest Bailes, Cecil Bell, Jr., Keith Bell, Dwayne Bohac, DeWayne Burns, Angie Chen Button, John Cyrier, Drew Darby, John Frullo, Gary Gates, Sam Harless, Cody Harris, Cole Hefner, Kyle Kacal, Stan Lambert, Brooks Landgraf, Lyle Larson, Jeff Leach, Ben Leman, J.M. Lozano, Will Metcalf, Andrew Murr, Tan Parker, Jared Patterson, Four Price, John Raney, Hugh Shine, Shelby Slawson (Representative-Elect), Reggie Smith, John Smithee, Drew Springer, Lynn Stuckey, Ed Thompson, Gary VanDeaver, and James White.
Democrats – 45 Democrats signed the letter including Alma Allen, Rafael Anchia, Michelle Beckley, Diego Bernal, Cesar Blanco, John Bucy, III, Terry Canales, Sheryl Cole, Nicole Collier, Philip Cortez, Alex Dominguez, Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, Mary Gonzalez, Vikki Goodwin, Bobby Guerra, Roland Gutierrez, Ana Hernandez, Able Herrero, Gina Hinojosa, Donna Howard, Celia Israel, Jarvis Johnson, Oscar Longoria, Ray Lopez, Armando Martinez, Trey Martinez Fischer, Terry Meza, Ina Minjarez, Joe Moody, Christina Morales, Lina Ortega, Leo Pacheco, Mary Ann Perez, Richard Pena Raymond, Ron Reynolds, Eddie Rodriguez, Ramon Romero, Carl Sherman, James Talarico, Ed Thompson, Senfronia Thompson, Chris Turner, John Turner, Armando Walle, and Erin Zwiener.
Note Representative Matt Shaheen had previously sent a letter to Commissioner Morath on November 14, 2020.
Letter sent from coalition including TX PTA on 12/14:
https://tasanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/gr-gov-letter-holdharmless-2021.pdf
Letter sent from Plano ISD Council of PTAs’ President & Immediate Past President to Plano ISD Legislative Delegation on 12/19:
Article regarding response to letter from Legislators sent above: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2021/01/13/end-of-grace-period-leaves-texas-schools-at-risk-of-losing-millions/
Initial call to action from Raise Your Hand Texas:
https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/newsroom-article/raise-your-hand-texas-calls-for-extension-of-hold-harmless/
Initial call to action from TX PTA:
https://www.txpta.org/take-action
Sample Letters
Make a copy of the letter you choose, and edit to add your information.
Word Doc
Letter Option One - Plano ISD PTA Officers/Leaders - Word Doc (.docx)
Letter Option Two - PTA Member or School Parent - Word Doc (.docx)
Web Page Copy/Paste
Letter Option One - Plano ISD PTA Officers/Leaders - Links and copy/paste text.
Letter Option Two - PTA Member or School Parent - Links and copy/paste text.
