Child advocacy groups closely watching agenda for upcoming Texas special session

DALLAS - With the Texas Legislature’s special session just more than a week away, child advocacy groups are preparing for what might be on lawmakers’ agendas.

The organization "Children at Risk" spoke to their partners on what was accomplished during this year’s legislative session and what still needs to be done.

Child advocates say although they made some gains during this legislative session, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Child advocacy groups say they made some headway on childcare and healthcare for families during the 2021 legislative session. Now, they’re looking ahead to the special session and beyond with a lot of unknowns. 

"What we’re waiting for now is the governor’s call. In a special session, he will announce what will and what can be addressed in those 30 days and he hasn’t done it yet," explained Mandi Kimball with Children at Risk.

Governor Greg Abbott has talked about revisiting Critical Race Theory after signing a law that sets guidelines for teaching history and current events. Republican critics say it did not go far enough.

That opens the possibility lawmakers could seek even more restrictions on teaching controversial topics in schools, including racism in America.

"When we think about the needs for our children, what they need, education-wise and in regards to support services, we don’t have room nor should we have time to really go into that," Kimball said.

Instead, Children at Risk would like to see more focus on improving education in light of historic learning loss suffered during the pandemic. 

"It isn’t just let’s try to catch them up. It’s let's meet them and really give them those quality learning opportunities, time on task, tutoring, support," Kimball said.

And they’d like to see state agencies evaluated on racial equity and how they serve the public. 

Advocates say there are still millions in federal dollars that need to be allocated from the CARES Act and American rescue plans that could go towards education and helping children and their families. 

"Let’s focus on fixing the electric grid," said North Texas Commission President Chris Wallace. "Let’s focus on workforce pipeline and funding public schools and higher education."

The special session starts next Thursday, July 8. 

Advocacy groups say they expect we’ll be seeing an agenda from the governor in a matter of days.