Publish Date: September 26, 2025 1:53 pm Author: Texas AFT
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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 shared personal opinions our elected leaders don’t like — have been exhausting, demoralizing, and frightening.
But let’s be clear: The only people injecting politics into our kids’ instructional time all have offices at the Texas Capitol. Parents trust their teachers and generally want politicians to keep their noses out of day-to-day classroom management.
Most college students, meanwhile, enroll in our top-tier research institutions expecting academic rigor and highly qualified faculty. For years, professors have taught students how to debate and think critically to resolve differences— without leading to a Department of Justice investigation.
This isn’t normal, and we can’t let it become normalized. Whether you work in education or not, will you send a note to the governor telling him you’re against these attacks on the First Amendment and on academic freedom?
When you take action, you send a message to the governor, but you also get plugged in to the statewide efforts of workers defending the rights of Texans.
For years, Texas AFT and our union’s members have been the lone voice at the Capitol fighting for pay raises for support staff, the indispensable employees who keep our schools running: paraprofessionals, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and more. In 2025, that persistent advocacy paid off with a historic victory: the creation of the Support Staff Retention Allotment (SSRA) in House Bill 2 (HB 2).
This win wasn’t delivered from above by lawmakers. It was secured because our members organized, testified, lobbied, and refused to be ignored. But a new Texas AFT analysis reveals that the effectiveness of the SSRA, despite its promise, is at risk due to design flaws and insufficient funding.
The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) met in Austin on Sept. 18 and 19 for a discussion-heavyagenda. The board’s legislative implementation load is significant after the 89th session and covers two primary lanes of rulemaking work for the body: educator discipline and educator preparation.
Higher education has been at the center of a wave of attacks by the state and federal government, as well as by coordinated social media smear campaigns. From federal funding cuts to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), to sudden policies prohibiting faculty from any class discussions on transgender identities, every day continues to bring groundbreaking news that drastically changes the higher education landscape.
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Texans will head to the polls for an election that, while not featuring statewide executive offices, carries major consequences for public schools and communities. The ballot includes 17 proposed constitutional amendments, as well as numerous local races for mayor, city council, school board, and bond measures.
Houston educators scored a significant legal win this month when a Harris County judge issued a partial injunction against Houston ISD’s plan to distribute state-mandated teacher raises through a performance-based system.
The ruling comes after the Houston Federation of Teachers (HFT) sued the district, arguing that HISD’s plan violated state law and would deny many educators the full raises promised by the Legislature.
Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson speaks at the No More Harm rally outside the AFT convention in July 2024.
— Event
Bridges Institute Fall PD Series: Know Your Rights
Wednesday, Oct. 1
6 – 8 p.m.
You are your best advocate when it comes to your workplace rights as an educator. Refresh your knowledge of how the Texas Education Code protects you through our virtual training.
Education news from around the state and nation that’s worth your time.
📖 Opinion: Manufactured outrage is killing academic freedom in Texas. The recent firing of a Texas A&M University professor is the latest incident in a growing trend of politicized attacks on higher education institutions and academic freedom. Texas AAUP-AFT member Pauline Turner Strong writes that recent state laws are silencing educators. (San Antonio Express-News, Sept. 22)
📖Schools confront a new reality: They can’t count on federal money. School districts all over the country are preparing to lose federal money after a fight over funding freezes this summer. When a presidential administration’s priorities shift day-to-day, districts are left scrambling to keep up.(The Hechinger Report, Sept. 18)
📖 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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