Sarah Adams / Staff writer
On Tuesday Feb. 5, Del Mar students traveled to Austin in order to discuss issues concerning community college funding with local elected officials.
DMC students met in the Harvin Center around 4 a.m. where they were given id badges and loaded three charter buses. Once students arrived at the Capitol, the Student Legislative Meeting was conducted in front of the building where leaders from The Texas Association of Community Colleges were introduced. The rally was to encourage students from DMC and other community colleges to get involved with their local government officials.
After the rally, schools gathered in for group photos in front of the Capitol then proceeded to have lunch on the lawn. Each school was assigned to specific rooms in the Capitol to meet personally with the representatives from their district.
Abel Herrero, Democratic State Representative of District 34, was the first to speak as well as take questions from students. The main topic was state budget funding, even more so of cutting the funding to both public schools and community colleges across Texas, but there were also other issues such as allowing concealed handguns on college campuses and the question of what was going to be done with the state’s $8.8 billion surplus for the last fiscal year.
Herrero has been recognized for his commitment and advocacy of public education with the purpose of insuring student priorities to further promote the districts success rate in all areas of life for Coastal Bend residents. Herrero encourages all students, and other residents in the district, to contact him by phone, email or in person so that he can have a greater impact on legislature to better represent the public.
“At the end of this, it is your involvement that is most important,” said Herrero.
DMC president Mark Escamilla introduced Representative Todd Hunter of the 32nd District (Nueces County) who is also the Chair of Calenders. This position is significant to Corpus Christi because Hunter is in charge of dictating whether or not a bill should make it to the floor to be voted on.
Hunter and Herrero emphasize the very important message for community involvement so they can both aim in better representation of the county. To contact either representative on upcoming or current issues, visit their websites. Todd Hunter: electtoddhunter.com and Abel Herrero: abelherrero.com and both are on Facebook and Twitter.
