State Rep. Alma A. Allen announced last week that she will retire at the end of her term in 2026, closing out more than two decades in the Texas House and nearly six decades in education and public service.
A lifelong Houstonian, Allen began her career as a teacher and principal in Houston ISD before serving over a decade on the State Board of Education. She later taught at Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M, carrying her classroom experience into policymaking.
Since her election to the Texas Legislature in 2004, Allen has been a consistent advocate for Texas students and educators. She played a pivotal role in advancing the 2019 school finance reform package, one of the most consequential education funding bills in recent memory. She has also stood firm against voucher schemes, warning that siphoning resources to private schools would harm public education.
Beyond finance, her legislative record includes reforms to disaster relief for school meal and transportation services, improvements to teacher retirement benefits, and measures strengthening behavior intervention plans.
Like too many other vital pieces of legislation, some of Allen’s most recent bills did not pass. Yet they stand as a testament to her vision of a Texas public education system that respects professional rights, prioritizes safe working and learning conditions, and listens to teachers and school staff.
She filed several remarkable House Bills (HBs) in 2025 in support of Texas AFT’s Educator’s Bill of Rights. Among them were these pieces of legislation that would have brought us closer to our union’s vision for thriving public schools:
- HB 2987: ensured educators have protected time for lunch breaks
- HB 3384: safeguarded duty-free planning and preparation periods
- HB 2336: strengthened protections against workplace violence in schools
- HB 2709: improved due process rights for educators facing disciplinary action
- HB 3358: expanded access to affordable health care for school employees
- HB 3702: mandated transparency and fairness in evaluation systems
- HB 3326: extended Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility to adjunct faculty
As Allen prepares to leave office, she has endorsed her son, Lawrence Allen Jr., a longtime educator and State Board of Education member, to continue her legacy.
“I think I left the world a little better than when I found it,” she reflected when announcing her retirement. For Texas educators, her decades of service stand as proof of what steady, principled leadership and a willingness to listen to educators can achieve.