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Release of A-F ratings shows need to hit reset button on state sanctions

Publish Date: August 16, 2019

(Photo: Chris Paul/Houston Public Media) Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath visits Aldine ISD on the day of the A-F ratings release. Yesterday, with much undue fanfare, the Texas Education Agency released its A-F accountability ratings, which for the first time officially include campuses as well as districts. Education Commissioner Mike Morath and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick went on a tour of three districts in the state--San Antonio, Irving, and Aldine ISDs--to laud teachers and officials for their hard work. (You can look up individual campus scores here.) Hard work, however, is not the issue here. We already know that our school employees work tirelessly to educate our kids regardless of state-created efforts to test and punish our schools and teachers with a single letter grade....

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One of the great champions of public education is retiring

Publish Date: September 13, 2019

Texas state Sen. Jose Rodriguez, an El Paso Democrat, announced today he is retiring from the post in 2021 after 10 years in the Legislature. Rodriguez is a staunch supporter of public education, school employees and our union’s efforts. While we will miss the Senator, his lasting legacy is the 5.4 million public school children in Texas.   "I started my tenure in...

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Democratic hopefuls address charter schools in debate, and now is a good time to push for more discussion on education issues

Publish Date: September 13, 2019

Democratic challengers for president took the debate stage yesterday in Houston and addressed a question about charter schools and other education issues like school discipline and teacher diversity. You can see comments from the candidates on the subject on Chalkbeat and in Education Week.   As part of AFT endorsement 2020 plan,...

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A-F Accountability Ratings: Charters vs. School Districts

Publish Date: August 23, 2019

A-F Accountability Ratings: Charters vs. School Districts Last week, the TEA released their A-F accountability ratings for each campus throughout the state and the comparison between ISDs and charters is shameful considering the state spends $3 billion per year on inefficient, unaccountable, and subpar charters: 25.1% of ISDs earned an...

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