On August 7, during a Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, Judge Lina Hidalgo, brought many children with her as part of an effort to advocate for a proposed tax initiative to support early childcare programs.
Hidalgo is pushing for the proposal to appear on the ballot in November, “We need three votes so that we can put this on the ballot,” Hidalgo said during the meeting, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. “What I’m going to do is bring the kids here and ask each member yes or no.”
During the session, Hidalgo encouraged the children to ask commissioners Tom Ramsey, Lesley Briones and Adrian Garcia, regarding what they planned to vote on the proposal. According to the Houston Chronicle, the meeting turned chaotic, prompting the commissioners to consult the county attorney’s office to restore order.
Lindsey Dionne, a family attorney and former employee of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), expressed concern about the use of children in the meeting.
“I just imagine that those kids, at least some of them, were in foster care, and that made me really concerned for how they were brought into this kind of situation,” she said to the Houston Chronicle. “I didn’t see parents. I just saw teachers with these groups of kids, and it didn’t seem appropriate for a field trip or anything like that. It just seemed like a chaotic political stunt.”
She added that there could be consequences for the two day care centers involved and stated, “if anything happened to them, Lina Hidalgo and her office bear a responsibility to everyone involved.”
Shelia Chatman, owner of Right Fit Kids Academy — one of the child care centers involved— told the Houston Chronicle that she had been invited to court meetings before and thought this session was similar. She confirmed that parents had signed permission papers for the outing.
Chatman said that previous funding her center received as part of the county’s childcare program made a “tremendous” difference. She expressed uncertainty about how the loss of that funding would impact her day care and the children.
