Things have been really happening in April! On April 6^th, we had our biennial conference virtually. Terry Whaley, our Vice-President of Programs and her committee have been planning it for several months and pulled off a very interesting conference. I want to thank Margaret Carlson, Pat Rehm, Margo Johnson, Diane Claiborne-Carr, Sara Wood, Betsy Calabro, Cheryl Fuller, and Cheri Butler for serving on that committee. Terry was able to get two AAUW Fellows as keynote speakers which made it extra special for us. Each of them had received funding from AAUW to complete their graduate studies. Terry is doing a report on the speakers so I will not bore you by repeating my kudos about all five of them, but each was excellent.

The idea of having Watch Parties was an excellent one. It produced 126 members who watched the conference together, led by North Harris County with 20, followed by North Dallas and Georgetown with 15 each. There was a wonderful side effect of the Watch Parties. Members enjoyed getting together and just visiting with no business or responsibilities attached. The total who attended Watch Parties was 126, which when added to those who watched from home added up to 199. Yahoo! This greatly exceeded those who attended the last conference.

The new officers were introduced and will take office on July 1, 2024. Please consider how you may assist them as they work for you at the state level of AAUW. The board has several appointed positions that I wish you would consider taking by volunteering to engage with our organization more fully.

The bylaws changes all passed and take effect at the beginning of the 2024 – 2026 biennium, July 1, 2024.

Something we should all celebrate is our finances. Since we have moved to a managed account, Margaret Carlson, our Financial Officer, reported that AAUW Texas has made money even though we have spent $17,000 paying for branches to have Zoom accounts this past year, for 2 branches to have grants, $7,000 to send members to the Regional Conference in St. Louis, Mo., and $4,000 for students to attend the leadership conference at the University of Maryland last May called NCCWSL. On Thursday, the Board voted to spend $9,565 to assist a total of 17 students to attend the NCCWSL conference this year, including: Georgetown Branch (1 student), Betty Anderson Branch, Lubbock (4 students), AAUW San Antonio, Inc. (2 students), Northeast Tarrant County Branch (3 students), West Harris County Branch (2 students), and Texas A&M (5 students).  

NCCWSL Update

o   Registrations = 413 (this time last year the number was 275) – 140 registered by branches

o   Agenda = https://www.aauw.org/resources/programs/nccwsl/agenda/workshops-panels/

The Open Membership Vote: If you did not receive the critical email with your election ballot from National on April 3rd, you should crack open your Spam folder and look for it. The sender is AAUW, and the subject line is AAUW Election 2024. Emails can also fall into other places, so search for the subject line in the previous sentence. Found it? Now vote! You have until May 15^th to get in your vote. Texas was terrible in the amount of votes we turned in in 2021- less than 34%. Your Board of Directors wants you to VOTE. We will leave it up to you to choose the way you wish to vote but be heard. VOTE!  

AAUW National Election - as of April 12, we have 7,861 votes in. Open membership is currently passing at 66.7. Some additional details:

o   The current number of votes already cast represents 19.1% of membership. 7,753 electors voted in last year’s campaign in total and we have already surpassed that number.

There are many places to gain more information about why you should vote one way or another. 

In the spring of 2024, AAUW members around the country will be voting on a proposed National bylaws change that would fully open up AAUW membership by removing the requirement for a college degree. Many AAUW members see this as an equity issue that needs to be addressed. Members may go to https://openupaauw.org/ to learn more about the evolution of AAUW membership requirements since the organization started and about prior campaigns to open membership. 

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wednesday, May 15 – Voting closes for national bylaws changes for open membership at 12 p.m. ET.
• Tuesday, June 11 – Joint Zoom meeting - Programs VP (old and new board) at 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, June 18 – Joint Zoom meeting – AAUW Funds VP (old and new board) at 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, June 20 – Joint Zoom meeting – Public Policy Comm. (old and new board) at 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, June 25 – Joint Zoom meeting – Membership & Finance (old and new board) at 7:00 p.m.

AAUW Texas Membership Matters

As we welcome the arrival of spring in Texas, we trust your branch is doing well and gearing up for the final stretch of the fiscal year. Hopefully, you all were able to join us for our virtual AAUW Texas conference, "Charting a Course through the Challenge of Change." Lots of great ideas on recruiting and retaining members were shared and should prove valuable in the future.

Congratulations to all branch members recognized by their branches as nominees for the membership awards! Every nominee exemplifies what it means to be a hardworking, dedicated AAUW member. Hat’s off to our award winners, Chauncy Stafford, 2024 AAUW Texas Outstanding New Member, North Dallas branch and Margo Johnson, 2024 AAUW Texas Outstanding Member, Ft. Bend County. You ALL are amazing!

April 1 marks the beginning of our membership dues collection process for Fiscal Year 2025. Our National dues remain the same: Annual National $72, Students $18.81 and Lifetime $1,440. AAUW Texas dues also remain $13. Beginning in January 2024, all National dues are now fully tax deductible.

As Membership and Finance officers know, we now have a system of “rolling” membership expiration dates that vary, depending on when a member joins. Keeping track of membership renewals can be a challenging task. If you need some assistance, please plan to attend our joint Membership and Finance Zoom meeting on June 25. We will share the Zoom link as we get closer to the meeting date.

We recognize that your time and resources are valuable and we thank you for all the ways you support AAUW’s mission. Renewing your membership with AAUW is an excellent way to keep making a positive difference for women and girls. We hope you'll continue to be a part of our work to promote equity and education for all!

AAUW Funds

The April 2024 AAUW Texas convention featured recognition for those branches who exemplify AAUW’s mission and goals through their annual donations. One award features the ten branches who have given the most money. The other lists the ten branches whose members (per capita) have given the largest average donation.

Since the convention is held biennially, awards are given for the two years just past. In this case, branches were recognized for both 2021 - 2022 and 2022 - 2023.

Public Policy Report

AAUW Texas members selected five priority public policy topics to monitor during the 88^th Legislative Session in 2023: Women's Healthcare and Reproductive Choice, Educational Issues, Free and Fair Elections, Reducing Gun Violence, and Equal Pay. Kate Kuhlmann and her staff at HillCo Partners in Austin monitored bills relating to those issues and kept us informed. The Public Policy Advisory Committee sent frequent legislative alerts for members with opportunities for appropriate action, and we presented quarterly Zoom meetings to allow our members to discuss and share information with advocates in other branches. 

From now until the General Election on November 5^th, a major concern is getting out the vote. Individuals can become Voter Deputy Registrars by contacting your county election office for training information. VDRs can go to public places, like store fronts and mall entrances, libraries, or high schools (with their permission) to offer registration and voting how-to information.  VOTE411.org is the League of Women Voters' helpful voter guide online.

Currently the legislative chambers are preparing for the 89^th Legislative Session in 2025, and the filing of proposed bills will begin in the fall. On April 24^th, HillCo reported that Lt. Governor Dan Patrick made a series of charges to the Senate and expected that they would be ready at the start of the 89^th Regular Session next year. He has spotlighted School Choice as one of his selected priorities. 

Other topics, according to the HillCo report, will be turned over to senatorial committees, including Health & Human Services for Children's Mental Health, State Affairs Committee for Maintaining Election Security and Social Media & Protecting Children, Business & Commerce Committee for Artificial Intelligence, Criminal Justice Committee for Stopping Child Predators, Higher Education Committee for both Innovation and Technology in Higher Education and Public Junior College State Finance Program, Education Committee for Reading and Math Readiness, Testing Reform, and COVID-19 Funding Oversight.  The Education Committee will monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Education and passed by the 88^th Legislature, as well as relevant agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction. This committee will also make recommendations for any legislation to improve, enhance, or complete implementation of the following: measures ensuring public school safety; oversight of public school library procurement and content policies; and high-quality instructional materials and open-educational resources for public schools. AAUW Texas members will be kept aware of future legislative information regarding our priorities.

The next quarterly Zoom for public policy advocacy issues and opportunities will be presented on June 20^th at 6:30 PM, and the link will be available well ahead of time. Please contact Pat Rehm at rooster.rock11@gmail.com for information or link, if you haven't attended before.

Elected Officers  

Mary Smith

Terry Whaley

Sara Wood

Margie Poole

Margaret Carlson

Lucy Barrington

Elected District Representatives

Betsy Calabro

Cheryl Fuller

Cheri Butler

Standing Committees

Brenda Van Derbur

Pat Rehm

Appointed Positions

Shirley Selz

Margo Johnson

Chasity Crawford

Communications Team

Malinda Gaul

Janani Janakiraman

Jerrilyn Woodard-Entrekin

Contact at:https://aauw-tx.aauw.net/about/leadership/

President

Program VP

Membership VP

AAUW Funds VP

Finance Officer

Secretary

South District

Central District

North District

West District

Bylaws/Parliamentarian

Public Policy

SHARE Grants

Branch Services

Inclusion and Equity

UWT Editor/Email Communications

Website

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