I hope they will come back and just focus on solving the problems of how to pay for our schools and reduce property taxes, and not get distracted by special interest legislation.

People are glad that there's going to be a change.

If it's all about money, if our entire Texas Legislature is just kind of up for bid to who can put the most money into campaigns, that's sad.

There were many tie votes in the Texas House in 2005 on critical education bills, so a new Austin legislator could be the tiebreaker. We need a lawmaker who will consistently be on the side of public school parents and PTA leaders. Austin's new leader should have the courage to stand with parents and not succumb to pressure by power brokers promoting ideological education agendas.

School boards have to work together, so they're used to bringing all opinions to the table and trying to reach consensus.

We learned that if you organize at the grass roots, you can beat the big boys.