Ready for Thanksgiving? Gobble up this week's education news from the ATPE Governmental Relations team! We wish you a happy Thanksgiving and will post our next weekly summary on Dec. 6, 2019.

• Election update
• How did your legislator vote on education bills?
• ATPE members: take a quick survey!
• TEA releases new "HB 3 in 30" video

ELECTION UPDATE: Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives have launched a new PAC with the help of GOP strategist Karl Rove, and a new round of poll results show President Donald Trump shouldn't take Texas for granted. Read more in this week's election roundup from ATPE Lobbyist Mark Wiggins.

A runoff election date of Jan. 28, 2020, has been set for special elections in House Districts 28, 100, and 148. Unless you live in those districts, your next opportunity to vote will be the primary elections on March 3, 2020. Check to see if you are registered to vote here. If you're not, the deadline to register to vote in the primary by Feb. 3, 2020! Visit TexasEducatorsVote.com to get involved, find activities you can do to drive more participation in elections, and sign up for voting updates.

You may be familiar with your legislators' position on public education, but do you know how your state representative or senator actually voted on education bills this past session? ATPE lobbyists have carefully hand-picked key education votes from the 86th legislative session and uploaded them to all state legislators' profiles on our Teach the Vote website for your review.

This collection of recorded votes aims to help Texans find out how their own lawmakers voted on major public education issues and ATPE's legislative priorities. We invite you to use our search page to gain insight into incumbents' views on public education. Share the information with your friends and family, too, to help inform decisions at the polls during the critical 2020 election cycle. Also, read up about our featured education bills in the first of a two-part blog series by ATPE Governmental Relations Director Jennifer Mitchell on the record votes and their significance within the broader legislative process.

The candidate filing period for those seeking a place on the ballot in 2020 recently opened. Once filing period ends, ATPE will be updating our Teach the Vote website to include profiles of all the candidates vying for seats in the Texas Legislature or State Board of Education. Stay tuned!

Do you think the state places too much emphasis on standardized testing? Is there another issue you wish the state would address? Tell us about it in our short, three-question survey. This survey is meant to gather ATPE members' opinions on education issues, including results of the last legislative session. Don't worry if you didn't follow the last session too closely, as the ATPE lobby team still wants to hear from you so that we can best represent your voice at the Texas Capitol.

Take our new "Your Voice" survey on ATPE's Advocacy Central. You must be signed into the ATPE website as a member to participate in the survey, so call the ATPE Member Services department at (800) 777-2873 if you've forgotten your password.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has released a new video in its "HB 3 in 30" series explaining the various (and plentiful) aspects of the 86th Legislature's omnibus school finance bill, House Bill (HB) 3. This week's video dives into K-2 diagnostics, including streamlining of kindergarten readiness instruments, first and second grade diagnostics, dyslexia screening, and professional development. The video gives an overview of new requirements, optional tools and supports, and practice considerations.