Texas lawmakers urge supporters at Parent Empowerment Day to back House Bill 3

Speaker Dustin Burrows and other state elected officials used a Parent Empowerment Day rally to press supporters to back House Bill 3 and to show up at the Texas Capitol to register or testify in favor of school choice.

"These are your elected representatives who are about to make school choice a reality in Texas," Burrows told the crowd, urging parents to sign in as supportive at the House committee hearing. He framed the measure as expanding options for children with different learning needs and said parents know what is best for their children.

Burrows also asked supporters who could not stay for testimony to nonetheless register as supportive and to contact state representatives: "If you can, if you have the ability, go make your voice heard. Go over there, register to testify, and if you can't stay... just put your name down as being supportive of parent empowerment and school choice in state of Texas." (Speaker Dustin Burrows)

Another speaker at the event pushed back on common opposition arguments, saying school choice would not defund public schools and that the session would end with record-high funding for public education. "We will end this session with all time record high funding for our public schools," the speaker said, and added that Texas can have both strong public schools and school choice.

Speakers sought to counter specific concerns about curriculum by emphasizing parental control over instruction: "If you homeschool your kids, if you're going to choose school choice and send your child to a private school, the state of Texas will not dictate the curriculum that you use to teach your children," one speaker said.

Organizers thanked groups that helped arrange the rally, including Americans for Prosperity and the Libre Initiative, and urged a concentrated grassroots push. At one point speakers called on attendees to become a "tsunami" of support at the Capitol, visiting representatives' offices and registering in committee.

The event closed with a logistics announcement that the governor would take photos with attendees before many were expected to go to the Capitol to advocate for HB 3.

The transcript records no formal votes or official legislative actions at the event; speakers' statements and cited rankings (including a claim that Florida ranks No. 1 nationally for education and has the largest school-choice program) appear as speaker assertions in the rally rather than independently verified findings.