March 22, 2013 Dear Madame President, I believe that the LULAC Resolution passed at the 2011 Ohio

LULAC National Convention only supports the idea of Charter Schools as an option, with NO funding mechanism or fiscal note attached. For those that do not understand this language, it means that the Resolution language did NOT include support of Charter Schools IF THERE WERE TO BE AN EXPENDITURE OF ANY MONEY to support this corporate model of milking the PUBLIC EDUCATION DOLLARS from school districts. The Resolution ONLY STATED that Charter Schools were an option. Additionally, the LULAC National Platform on Education in paragraph 3 specifies that LULAC "strongly opposes vouchers" or any funding method that will limit the public education dollars available to our public students anywhere. In Texas, Senator Patrick, TEA Commissioner Williams, and ALL Republican state elected politicians have publicly supported Charter Schools and Vouchers (also known as scholarships or tax credits). With the LULAC letters from State Director Mendoza and Deputy State Director Tafoya, our Texas LULAC leaders have NOW taken a partnership position to support SB 2and dragged the entire Texas LULAC organization with them. SB 2 will eliminate the cap on Charter Schools applications and will also allow these corporate entities to access our public education dollars, effectively limiting the money available to public school districts and negatively impacting our students which in Texas means over 50% of all enrolled students. This is a clear violation of our LULAC Platform and our LULAC Constitution. SB 2 will change current TEA language to accommodate Charter Schools and their need to access public education dollars so that Charter Schools can continue to operate. THIS is a CLEAR violation of LULAC National policies. As you can read in the attached SB 2 language, TEA rules will also be changed to force school districts to inventory all unused AND underutilized public facilities, force school districts to spend their already limited revenues to report this data to TEA, and then force those public school districts to rent those school buildings and campuses that were built with our PUBLIC EDUCATION DOLLARS to Charter Schools for ONLY ONE DOLLAR! SB 2 will also require the creation of a 7-member oversight committee that will include: 1. 4 appointments by our Republican CHARTER SCHOOL and PRO VOUCHER GOVERNOR; 2. 1 appointment by the Republican CHARTER SCHOOL and PRO VOUCHER Texas Education Agency Commissioner; 3. 1 appointment by the Republican CHARTER SCHOOL and PRO VOUCHER Lieutenant Governor; and 4. 1 appointment by the Republican CHARTER SCHOOL and PRO VOUCHER Governor appointed State Board of Education Chair. This plan would cause the COMPLETE and UTTER DESTRUCTION of the Public Education System in Texas. As we continue to fight against the growing RACISM and DISCRIMINATION against people of color and of poverty, the racists in Texas have joined together to destroy any and all systems that provide ALL of our community members access to opportunities that will take them out of the cycles of poverty and ignorance. These include access to quality public education and the health system in Texas. Although Texas Latinos are

growing in population, we are NOT in control of changing inherently racist systems without the support of our publicly elected legislators. In Texas, that means that the elitist, classist, and racist politically empowered Republican party members MUST destroy the public systems to continue to control the educational, economic, and social systems in this state. For those that have been quick to believe that what Elia Mendoza and Marcelo Tafoya have done is legal...IT IS NOT. I am no attorney, but there is NO resolution that supports Charter Schools getting access to ONE PUBLIC EDUCATION DOLLAR! They can continue to operate as they always have, by providing an education to the rich wealthy children of rich wealthy parents who do NOT support inclusion or integration or mixing of the economic classes. That is exactly what is happening here. The racists and elitists of Texas have found a new source of money and it is called our PUBLIC EDUCATION DOLLARS. These CORPORATE Charter School owners have discovered a NEW CASH COW! Talk about POVERTY PIMPS who go after government dollars after screaming that we need LESS government interference while demanding those very government dollars! If there are unenlightened and uneducated community members that have bought into this private education model as an educational opportunity to teach our Latino students how to become elitists and bigots, then let them do this ON THEIR OWN DIME...WITHOUT using our public tax dollars legally and constitutionally allocated to provide ALL Texas students to a quality public education! Let these corporate owners spend THEIR OWN MONEY to buy the land, construct the buildings, hire their teachers, recruit their students, and operate their schools...exactly as they have throughout history. Remember private schools are an ancient creation to keep the HAVES from sharing with the HAVE-NOTS and to circumvent the requirement that the needs of ALL students MUST be addressed, be it through Bilingual Education, Special Education, or the provision of additional students resources and supports by QUALITY QUALIFIED teaching professionals. This is EXACTLY why LULAC was created!!! Our founding fathers stated that LULAC supports PUBLIC EDUCATION and EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES. LULAC's history, reputation, and creditability exists because of its commitment to level the educational, economic, legal, and social systems for the benefit of our community. It is up to us to educate our LULAC members AND our LULAC leadership about what is happening to our organization. It is time to get back on track and do what LULAC was originally founded to do...EDUCATE!!! I still support our public education system, our teachers, students, and our community and am unwilling to give it up to private corporations who only see us as an opportunity to increase their bottom line. Those ROGUE members of LULAC that are easily influenced, have hidden agendas, and are bought with their "pieces of silver" CANNOT continue to destroy OUR LULAC. If Mendoza and Tafoya DO NOT IMMEDIATELY RESCIND their letters and replace them with signed letters approved by Texas LULAC Board, ON LULAC STATIONARY, that OPPOSES SB 2 and any other legislation that will limit our public education resources IN ANY WAY.... I call for their IMMEDIATE IMPEACHMENT and CENSURE. I ask that the LULAC National President Margaret Moran, the LULAC National Executive Board, and our LULAC NATIONAL ASSEMBLY be notified immediately of these ILLEGAL actions on the part of our Texas LULAC leadership and that THEY BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE IMMEDIATELY! I ask that the Texas LULAC State Board be made aware of all that has occurred and that an

immediate emergency meeting be called with only ONE AGENDA ITEMthe immediate removal of Elia Mendoza and Marcelo Tafoya for purposely violating our LULAC policies, Platform, and practices. This is an impeachable offense and they must be held responsible. They must also be held accountable for knowingly writing and sending these letters without approval of the Texas LULAC Board and acting in violation of our Texas LULAC legislative agenda, legally adopted by the Texas LULAC Board. I was present at the March meeting of the LULAC State Board and there was NO discussion or motion made to support SB 2. As a matter of fact, there was LOTS of discussion about our LULAC opposition to any kind of VOUCHER system and plenty of time to have brought this matter up during the meeting. There are currently several pieces of legislation that call for the creation of VOUCHERS in Texas (which I have included in the attachments above); and Charter School supporters need these public education dollars to create and operate their CORPORATE schools. BOTH Mendoza and Tafoya were present for this meeting and were present for the years of previous State Board meetings where our legislative agenda AND supporting documentation by education and legal experts was presented to assist in the development of our LULAC State's positions. BOTH Mendoza and Tafoya are in public support of the Republican Party's agenda of destroying the public school system via corporate privatization of Education as addressed in the attached letters to Senators Patrick, Lucio, and Van De Putte. Due to the time sensitive crisis in Texas, I ask that immediate action be taken on my requests and hope for a written response within 24 hours. It is my understanding that legislative action on SB 2 is scheduled for Monday, so time is of the essence. Texas LULAC has fought to negate decades of damage thrust upon our communities of color and poverty. Texas LULAC has worked diligently and legally to provide EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES to our Latino students. We cannot and we WILL NOT allow this work to be undone. All for One, One for All, Cynthia Valadez LULAC Council #85 President Austin, Texas