Jquery to get value from Server Tag data bind

Hi I am using jquery to get the values from my server tag in ASP.NET. All that javascript are on the same page. I have tried this

 <asp:TextBox ID="LastNameTextBox" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("LastName") %>' />

and the jquery

$("#<\%=LastNameTextBox.ClientID%>").val()

notice I have to escape the % so that the whole quote will be a string. I don't know why this is like that; the examples I saw did not need to escape the %. I also found in another post that I should use the class so I did this

<asp:Label ID="LastNameLabel" runat="server" Class = LastNameClass" Text='<%# Bind("LastName") %>' />

and the jquery is this

$(".LastNameClass").val()

This got me further but it returned me the function not the value. I change val() to text() nothing. I am thinking that it because I am binding the data and that the tags are in a template that I am using in a form? Any insight or advice on what I should try next?

Edit: Here is the Code

<form id="form1" runat="server">
    <asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" />
    <asp:LinqDataSource ID="LinqDataSource1" runat="server" 
        ContextTypeName="SchoolDataContext" EnableUpdate="True" EntityTypeName="" 
        TableName="People">
    </asp:LinqDataSource>
    <asp:FormView ID="FormView1" runat="server" AllowPaging="True" 
        DataKeyNames="PersonID" DataSourceID="LinqDataSource1">
        <EditItemTemplate>
            PersonID:
            <asp:Label ID="PersonIDLabel1" runat="server" class="PersonalIDLablel1" Text='<%# Eval("PersonID") %>' />
            <br />
            LastName:
            <asp:TextBox ID="LastNameTextBox" runat="server" class="LastNameClass1" onBlur="textBlur();"
                Text='<%# Bind("LastName") %>' />
            <br />
            FirstName:
            <asp:TextBox ID="FirstNameTextBox" runat="server" 
                Text='<%# Bind("FirstName") %>' />
            <br />
            HireDate:
            <asp:TextBox ID="HireDateTextBox" runat="server" 
                Text='<%# Bind("HireDate") %>'  />
            <br />
            EnrollmentDate:
            <asp:TextBox ID="EnrollmentDateTextBox" runat="server" 
                Text='<%# Bind("EnrollmentDate") %>' />
            <br />

            <asp:LinkButton ID="UpdateButton" runat="server" CausesValidation="True" 
                CommandName="Update" Text="Update" />
            &nbsp;<asp:LinkButton ID="UpdateCancelButton" runat="server" 
                CausesValidation="False" CommandName="Cancel" Text="Cancel" />
        </EditItemTemplate>

        <ItemTemplate>
            PersonID:
            <asp:Label ID="PersonIDLabel" runat="server" class="PersonalIDLablel" Text='<%# Eval("PersonID") %>' />
            <br />
            LastName:
            <asp:Label ID="LastNameLabel" runat="server" class="LastNameClass" Text='<%# Bind("LastName") %>' />
            <br />
            FirstName:
            <asp:Label ID="FirstNameLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("FirstName") %>' />
            <br />
            HireDate:
            <asp:Label ID="HireDateLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("HireDate") %>' />
            <br />
            EnrollmentDate:
            <asp:Label ID="EnrollmentDateLabel" runat="server" 
                Text='<%# Bind("EnrollmentDate") %>' />

           <hr/>
            <asp:LinkButton ID="EditButton" runat="server" CausesValidation="False" 
                CommandName="Edit" Text="Edit" />
        </ItemTemplate>
    </asp:FormView>
</form>

Solution

You can use either text() or html().

<asp:Label runat="server" ID="LastNameLabel" Text="This is a text" 
  ClientIDMode="Static"></asp:Label>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.9.1.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function () {
        var text = $("#LastNameLabel").text();
        alert(text);
    });
</script>

Update:

Make sure to use ClientIDMode="Static" since LastNameLabel's Id is not available outside of FormView.

Then you can just use #LastNameLabel in jQuery selector.