Publish Date: May 19, 2025 2:33 pm Author: Texas AFT
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Friday, May 16, 2025
Public education on the brink
Emboldened by Gov. Abbott’s voucher bait-and-switch in Texas, Republican leadership in the U.S. Congress is trying to fast-track a national school voucher plan through the budget reconciliation process.
The Educational Choice for Children Act would funnel public dollars into private schools through tax credits, without the accountability or standards public schools must follow. You know the drill. The national legislation, if passed, would force school privatization on states where voters have rejected vouchers at the ballot box.
As AFT President Randi Weingarten told The Hill, “Voucher schemes are transparent attempts to diminish parental choice by siphoning money away from public schools to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”
With more money in the bank than most states — and even some nations — Texas lawmakers are at a standstill over school funding. The political tug-of-war between the Texas House and Senate over House Bill 2 and public education finance is barreling toward critical legislative deadlines. If no agreement is reached soon, Texas public schools may face even more severe financial shortfalls for the 2026-27 budget cycle.
?Take Action: As negotiations between the Senate and House continue, our public schools need us all contacting both our senators and representatives to make HB 2 better as the session winds down.https://bit.ly/ImproveHB2
Texas AAUP-AFT and Austin Community College AFT members join Texas Students for DEI, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, Black & Brown Dialogues on Policy, and the Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition for a press conference on Thursday, May 15.
We are at a critical point with Senate Bill 37, the “Death Star” bill for higher education. It’s currently pending in the House Higher Education Committee, with a little over a week until the deadline to pass it from committee. Since the bill was filed on March 14, our higher education members have been in the Capitol almost every day to educate legislators on the importance of academic freedom and true shared governance, as well as what’s really going on in our classrooms.
Since then, the bill has undergone a lot of changes — for better (if only slightly) or for worse.
A sweeping new report from the Texas Education Leadership Lab at UT Austin reveals alarming trends in Texas public schools’ long-term failure to comply with federal special education law. The report highlights deep and systemic issues across school districts, from inequitable access to services to troubling demographic disparities.
Money-starved schools. School employee layoffs. Student program cuts. Educators heading for the exits.
That’s the reality right now for Texas public schools and the 5 million+ kids they serve. And that’s the backdrop for the 89th Legislature.
Join Texas AFT for a special May Day edition of our livestream legislative updates as we report back to you what’s happening at the Capitol, what it means for your school, and what you can do to advocate for yourself, your kids, and your community.
When Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) was founded in 2007, the group claimed to represent progressive values in education: fighting for better funding, stronger public schools, and equal opportunities for all students. But increasingly, its agenda has taken a hard turn away from public schools and toward vouchers.
? The Lege’s ‘Big Government Intrusion’ into University Academics. Expanding on last session’s anti-DEI campus crackdown, some Republicans in the Legislature are now going after gender and ethnic studies programs and faculty independence. (Texas Observer, April 24)
? The Shocking Billionaire Plot to Dismantle Public Education. Texas is on the verge of passing a law that could defund public education. Vouchers send public taxpayer dollars to private schools. It could cost taxpayers $10 billion by 2030. And it could destroy Friday Night Lights. (More Perfect Union, April 22)
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