Dallas high schoolers question gubernatorial candidates on immigration, economy and more

Dallas excessive schoolers Aaron Thompson and Rosa Gutierrez needed the work they have been doing with the Pupil Voter Empowerment Coalition at Yvonne Ewell Townview Middle to be extra significant to the broader scholar physique.

Whereas the membership was centered on exploring coverage factors, its leaders needed to do one thing with a broader scope that may have interaction coming-of-age voters to take motion and head to the poll.

“I really feel prefer it’s actually vital in our society, particularly as youth since we’re the upcoming technology,” Thompson stated.

On Tuesday, that brainstorming got here to fruition.

With the assistance of fellow voter empowerment golf equipment, the student-led, nonpartisan group held a gubernatorial discussion board in Skyline’s auditorium, that includes two of the candidates on November’s poll: Libertarian Mark Tippetts and Democrat Beto O’Rourke.

Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t take part, as an alternative holding a enterprise roundtable in Richland Hills.

The candidates every took half in a 45-minute Q&A session in entrance of 500 highschool upperclassmen, answering student-created questions on a variety of points together with: reproductive rights, gender pay gaps, carbon emissions, ERCOT, sanctuary cities, DACA, educating race and racism in colleges, trainer pay, workforce coaching and gerrymandering.

“The truth that they’re prepared to guide is spectacular, but additionally vital,” O’Rourke stated after the occasion. “I can’t consider a serious second in American historical past the place younger individuals weren’t on the vanguard.”

The occasion got here almost a yr after lawmakers in Texas handed laws that restricted how educators might focus on present occasions on campuses and civics classes.

However SVEC is a student-led program that shaped from a wider initiative began by the Dallas-based nonprofit March to the Polls, whose mission is to extend voter participation, notably in traditionally underrepresented teams, like individuals of shade, those that are low-income and the younger.

“These are student-led golf equipment,” pressured Richard Marcus, March to the Polls founder. “They decide their very own actions. They decide every part that’s there. They usually’re completely nonpartisan. They could every have their very own views on numerous political occasions or actions, however the golf equipment themselves are nonpartisan.”

March to the Polls leaders say that their push to get younger voters concerned is a key cog in turning round Dallas’ sometimes woeful voter turnout, ranked as one of many nation’s worst amongst massive cities because it pertains to municipal elections.

The group can be the official voting registrar for a handful of North Texas college districts, together with Dallas, Garland and Richardson.

“Every time the scholars truly understand that they’ve the ability to make these big paradigm shifts, they turn into energized and engaged,” stated Desiree Rios, March to the Polls’ SVEC director.

Thompson — the membership’s president — stated that voting, politics and civics have been at all times pressured in his household. However he needed to be extra energetic after studying about gerrymandering and the way some communities have their voices minimized by means of that course of.

“I’ve to make use of my voice with a view to assist different individuals, with a view to make a change, with a view to empower and encourage others that your vote issues, your voice counts,” he stated. “As an African American male, I really feel prefer it’s vital for my voice to be heard — as a result of in so many different situations and circumstances, we might really feel like we’re being silenced.”

Thompson and Gutierrez served as moderators for the gubernatorial discussion board. Each stated the push for voter engagement is rooted in one thing private.

Coming from a household of immigrants, Gutierrez — the membership’s outreach coordinator — stated “politics has at all times impacted my life, very closely and really immediately.” And as a younger lady, the looming battle over reproductive rights within the state “drove me to turn into extra concerned,” she added.

Sometimes, SVEC golf equipment democratically determine what areas of curiosity to dive into; for Townview, college students chosen local weather change and gender equality. Over the course of the yr, college students developed coverage briefs on these points.

However the membership’s management needed one thing for a broader viewers. For inspiration, they checked out a mayoral discussion board held by a sister SVEC membership in Fort Price.

Whereas securing the candidates for Texas governor was the preliminary concern, essentially the most nerve-racking course of, Thompson admitted, was drafting the dozen or so questions used for the discussion board.

Townview’s membership reached out to SVEC teams throughout the district, asking fellow college students for options. From there, the membership labored with sponsors and lecturers to hone them.

“We needed to discover a option to form of pull out a deeper reply,” Thompson stated. “So we did plenty of analysis, [looked at] plenty of statistics, plenty of fact-based, data-driven questions.”

Johnetta Taylor, the Townview membership’s sponsor, stated the monthslong means of drafting questions was revelatory for the scholars. As a historical past trainer, she needed them to deal with the bigger context of what’s taking place in Texas and across the candidates.

“Watching them undergo the questions, and watching them must construct them up, they’re extra conscious of what’s occurring on the earth,” Taylor stated. “Not simply ‘Oh, I’m frightened in regards to the surroundings,’ however particularly why they’ve considerations.”

Earlier than he left to take selfies with college students within the lobby, O’Rourke stated backstage that typical knowledge tells politicians to avoid wasting their time and sources; don’t participate in occasions just like the discussion board as a result of younger individuals don’t vote.

“However I do know younger individuals will vote,” he stated. “You’ve bought to indicate up and hear and study from them.”

The DMN Schooling Lab deepens the protection and dialog about pressing training points vital to the way forward for North Texas.

The DMN Schooling Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with help from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Basis of Texas, The Dallas Basis, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Basis, Options Journalism Community, Southern Methodist College, Todd A. Williams Household Basis and the College of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning Information retains full editorial management of the Schooling Lab’s journalism.