Publish Date: November 14, 2025 9:42 am Author: Texas AFT
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Friday, November 14, 2025
See you at TribFest
For the third year, Texas AFT is a proud sponsor of The Texas Tribune Festival, the breakout ideas and politics event that has brought 300+ local, state, and national leaders and change-makers to downtown Austin this weekend.
Among the 100+ sessions, Texas AFT is sponsoring two relevant to the work and concerns of our members, both available free to the public tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 15) as part of Open Congress:
Will Higher Ed Survive?Four inside perspectives on the challenges facing colleges and universities in the Trump era.
The State Board of Education (SBOE) will convene in Austin on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 9 a.m. CT, and meet through Friday, Nov. 22. At this regular meeting, the board will take up several important items, most notably, a framework for the anticipated social studies content area revision.
It’sbeen a busy week for higher education with another onslaught of attacks, from the clamp-down on alleged “race and gender ideology” in the classroom by the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) Board of Regents, and the expansion of legislative oversight of campus speech for both faculty and students. For educators committed to the freedom to teach and the freedom to learn, these shifts raise urgent questions about the future of teaching and the mission of our public universities and community colleges.
The Texas Education Agency has introduced a new statewide resourceto support students and families facing housing instability. The Texas Education for Homeless Children and Youth (TEHCY) program features a toll-free hotline to provide real-time connection with experts and access to direct support resources.
TEHCY Support Hotline
Callx: 1-855-85TEHCY (1-855-858-3429)
Hours: Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT
Additionally, through anew web-intake form, parents, caregivers, and educators can submit questions and requests at any time.
Education Austin member and Austin ISD teacher Rachel Preston represented her union this year at the Friends of Texas Public Schools summit in Waco. Here, she shares her reflections on the experience.
As educators, it’s important to remember that we are not alone. Across the state, groups in our communities want to support our public schools, our students, and our work in making a better future for them.
This week, at the Friends of Texas Public Schools summit and the 21st annual Friend of the Year dinner in Waco, Texas AFT members like me were able to hear from fierce public school advocates and participate in building community around our common goal: providing a high-quality public education for every Texas child.
Education news from around the state and nation that’s worth your time.
📖 Trump’s compact would put UT’s academic excellence at risk.In the 1957 U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed academic freedom as a First Amendment right, Chief Justice Earl Warren likened the restriction of it to a straitjacket imposed upon an unwilling faculty by an outside force.Nearly 70 years later, the University of Texas appears on the verge of putting that straitjacket on itself. (Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 30)
📖 LifeWise’s Big Red Bus Is Driving Thorny Questions about Church and State. Founded in 2018, LifeWise is the most visible group behind a movement to spread off-campus religious instruction during the school day. Since 2024, the nonprofit has successfully lobbied for legislation in Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas mandating that districts allow students to attend LifeWise or similar programs. (The 74Million, Nov. 5)
📖 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)
This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk. Fewer teachers. Incomplete data. Delays in addressing problems and getting financial aid information. Those are just some of the impacts Jason Cottrell, who worked as a data collector at the Department of Education for nine and a half years before being laid off along with more than a thousand other agency employees, warns the Trump Administration’s massive cuts to the department’s funding and workforce could have on the country’s education system. (Time, July 18)
This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk. Fewer teachers. Incomplete data. Delays in addressing problems and getting financial aid information. Those are just some of the impacts Jason Cottrell, who worked as a data collector at the Department of Education for nine and a half years before being laid off along with more than a thousand other agency employees, warns the Trump Administration’s massive cuts to the department’s funding and workforce could have on the country’s education system. (Time, July 18)
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