When someone asks what “the union difference” is, you can tell them to look out West toward El Paso, where teachers and school staff are showing the meaning of local advocacy.
With over 1,300 petition signatures in hand, Socorro AFT members brought forward a resolution to their school board in support of Texas AFT’s Educator’s Bill of Rights. And in a unanimous November vote, spurred on by testimony from Socorro AFT President Veronica Hernandez, the Socorro ISD Board of Trustees approved that resolution.
Why is this significant? Because while most Texans want fully funded public schools, better pay for school employees, and safe working and learning conditions, there are powerful, monied forces standing against those priorities.
We ran into them last year in the Legislature, when billionaire-funded Gov. Greg Abbott and his voucher allies held public school funding hostage. We mobilized over 26,000 educators, parents, and allies to stop that voucher scheme, but the Legislature still failed to advance any of the meaningful bills educators needed.
Next year, vouchers will be back; the governor and lieutenant governor have promised that. And so will the fight for public school funding increases, teacher and school staff pay, class sizes, workloads, and more. Against dark-money forces, it is not enough for K-12 teachers and staff to fight for what our schools need; we need our administrators and district officials by our side, consistently and vocally.
By approving this resolution, the Socorro ISD school board has demonstrated its commitment to valuing and empowering educators. We echo the thanks of Socorro AFT members for their support, and we applaud our members’ efforts to hold their leaders accountable.
Read what’s included in our Educator’s Bill of Rights and make sure you’re signed on in support. Several bills that advance these priorities have been filed, and the more support we can show for this agenda, the more likely additional bills will follow suit.