Every week, Texas AFT compiles important news, updates, and information on public education policy in Texas. The Hotline covers a wide range of topics, including statewide education news, updates from the legislative session, and our current union campaigns.
Friday, October 10, 2025 Read the full story from ProPublica ‘Empty School Buildings’ If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter – even if you’re not a member of our union – there is one thing we know about you: you care about Texas public schools. (If you don’t, then maybe this isn’t the email for you ...) Amid...
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Friday, October 3, 2025 What the shutdown means for Texas The federal government has shut down, and that is bad news for Texas. As the Texas AFL-CIO notes, our state is home to the third-most federal workers in the country and the highest number of American Federation of Government Employees...
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Friday, September 26, 2025 Hands Off! Texas politicians can’t help themselves but meddle in our public school classrooms (and our college and university classrooms too). The past two weeks of needless hysteria — firing professors for doing their job or launching a witch hunt for teachers and faculty who...
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Friday, September 19, 2025 Freedom of Speech The headlines this week have been jaw-dropping. Educators in K-12 and higher education were subjected to baseless online smear campaigns, one university president resigned, and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) now keeps a list of educators reported for their social media posts. Within...
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Friday, September 12, 2025 Nickels and dimes Every back-to-school season, public school teachers and staff across the country spend hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket on food and classroom supplies for their students. This year is no exception — and the burden has been made more acute by recent federal cuts. ...
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Friday, September 5, 2025 The No STAAR State On Wednesday, the Texas Legislature closed out its second special session by passing a bill that will replace STAAR with a through-year testing regimen that will mean more but (allegedly) shorter tests for students. Lawmakers have begun their celebratory pronouncements. Rep. Brad...
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Friday, August 29, 2025 This coming Monday is Labor Day, an annual recognition of union members who make up the American labor movement and who have worked tirelessly over decades to build a fairer, safer, and better country for all. This year, we feel a profound sense of urgency...
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Friday, August 22, 2025 The Ten Commandments There is never a back-to-school season without chaos, at least not lately. But this year, the number of policy changes and overall uncertainty that educators, parents, students, and districts are contending with is off the charts. One source of that uncertainty has...
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Friday, August 15, 2025 The Grift Is On If you read this newsletter regularly, you know that the education landscape is changing, and not necessarily for the better. Over the next year, Texas will prepare to implement Gov. Greg Abbott’s long-sought private school voucher program. Just this week, we...
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Friday, August 8, 2025 The Future of Texas Public Over the next year, this state’s leaders will plan and implement a private school voucher program. The ripple effect of this third taxpayer-funded school system (after public schools and charter schools) will be enormous. Just this week, reports surfaced of...
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Friday, August 1, 2025 We fight. We win. Last week, Texas AFT joined over a dozen school districts, parent groups, and educator unions in a lawsuit against the Trump Administration's attempt to withhold $6 billion in funding set aside for our nation's schools and students. Our pushback paid off....
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Friday, July 25, 2025 Don’t Agonize. Organize! One of these years, we desperately hope we’ll have an uneventful – dare we hope, even boring – back-to-school season. But that is not going to be this year. News breaks every day that has broad, often concerning, implications for our schools,...
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Friday, July 18, 2025 Two Federal Threats to Public Schools This week, Texas AFT hosted the first session of our Summer School briefings for public school employees and parents, trying to make sense of all the state and national changes affecting our schools, colleges, and universities. On the call,...
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