A Message From Educate Texas: The Need for Change

June 4, 2020

We vow to do what is right and what is just to create a stronger and more equitable system that allows our Black, Latino, and underserved students to thrive.

Educate Texas stands in solidarity with the Black community and with our partners who are working to solve the systemic issues that have not equally valued Black people.

The protests of the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and loss of far too many Black lives have resurfaced the hurt in our hearts, the suffering of our families, friends, and colleagues, and the glaring inequities that exist in our communities. The raw emotions that we are feeling of sadness, anger, frustration, despair, and more will require time to heal. However, as we deal with this personally, we are resolute in one underlying belief: we, individually and collectively, must and will do more to address the historical biases and structural inequalities that have impacted our Black, Latino, and underserved communities.

The fight for racial equity and justice is a deep and complex issue that no one individual or organization can win on their own. Further, we recognize that with our unique strengths, our deep relationships across the state, and our ability to bring diverse perspectives together, Educate Texas must and can have a more defined focus for reshaping policies and systems that ensure our Black, Latino, and underserved students have better opportunities for college and career success. We will be unyielding in this focus for an equitable education system and will:

Advocate that our legislature and state agencies commit funding and support strategies that lead to equitable solutions
Partner with our district, community college and university systems to build a robust teacher and leader base that looks like the students in schools and to create strong supports and clear pathways so more Black, Latino, and underserved students attain postsecondary success
Engage corporate and philanthropic partners to prioritize, invest, and advocate for effective, equity-driven strategies and policies for reform
Collaborate with community partners to enlist the voices of Black, Latino and underserved communities so our practices and policies reflect the needs of our students.

We know we will not reach our desired destination overnight, but we vow to do what is right and what is just to create a stronger and more equitable system that allow our Black, Latino, and underserved students to thrive. We will hold ourselves accountable to doing what is necessary to solve this challenge and hope that you, as our partner, will stand side-by-side with us on this critical journey ahead of us.

With much humility, purpose, and conviction,

John Fitzpatrick, Executive Director, Educate Texas
George Tang, Managing Director, Educate Texas

Educate Texas is proud to be a strategic initiative of the Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT). Click here read a message from CFT's President & CEO, Dave Scullin on Addressing Inequity & Injustice to Make Tomorrow Better.

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