Today is Election Day, and all across Texas voters will head to the polls to vote on approval of 10 constitutional amendments. Many voters will also have local elections and propositions to consider on their ballots, and there are even three special elections taking place today to elect new state representatives for three Texas House districts with vacant seats.

Of the 10 proposed constitutional amendments, a couple of the proposals have a direct connection to public education:

• Proposition 4 would alter the existing restrictions on implementing a state income tax. Currently, the Texas Constitution requires voters to approve any income tax legislators might attempt to create, and it specifies that one-third of the revenue from an income tax, if allowed by voters in the future, would be used to fund public education with the remaining two-thirds earmarked for property tax relief. Proposition 4 would remove those restrictions on the use of the funds and make an income tax even more unlikely by raising the number of legislators’ votes that would be needed to put the issue before voters statewide.
• Proposition 7 would change the way money is distributed from the state’s Permanent School Fund for instructional materials and other public education needs.

For a more in-depth review of these and the other proposed constitutional amendments, visit our Election Day blog post on TeachtheVote.org. 

You can find information on voting, including your polling location, via the Texas Secretary of State’s My Voter Page. You can also contact your county clerk. For more information about the election, including sample ballots and what you need to bring with you to the polls, visit votetexas.gov.

Together, we can stand up and show our support for public education.

Helpful links:

• VoteTexas.gov
• TeachtheVote.org
• TexasEducatorsVote.com
• League of Women Voters of Texas

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