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November 19, 2021: Members save thousands erasing student loan debt; Locals in high gear with vaccine clinics; Vote in HISD race
The Hotline will take a break next week for the Thanksgiving holiday and will return on December 3. Local unions kick into high gear with campaigns urging vaccinations at free clinics Texas AFT local unions have been holding dozens of free COVID-19 and flu vaccination clinics the past month, and with shots allowable expanding to aged 5-12 students, they are...
Read MoreWill $830 Million in Job-Saving Federal Aid Reach Texas? Help Make It Happen
Today state officials reportedly have been meeting in the nation’s capital with the U.S. Department of Education in a bid to secure $830 million earmarked for financially hard-pressed Texas school districts. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has until September 9 to apply for the aid under the Education Jobs Fund program...
Read MoreProgress on Education Aid? Keep Up the Pressure
News reports tell us that Texas education officials are en route to Washington, D.C., for discussions Friday with the U.S. Department of Education on how to secure $830 million in job-saving education aid for Texas school districts. The money is there for the asking, thanks to legislation passed by Congress...
Read MoreFederal Focus on Anti-Bullying Efforts
Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Education held the first-ever National Summit on Bullying to draw attention to this all-too-common discipline problem. Now the feds have followed up with the launch of a new Web site, www.bullyinginfo.org, intended as a one-stop site for federal resources on bullying. In announcing...
Read MoreState Ruling Backs McAllen AFT on District’s Duty to Pay Salary-Step Increases
Texas AFT's local affiliate in McAllen ISD has won a significant victory in a legal battle to get the district to give teachers their full 2009-2010 pay raise as required by state law. This week an administrative law judge with the Texas Education Agency ruled in McAllen AFT's favor, supporting...
Read MoreNational Poll Shows Community Support for Teachers
The latest Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward Public Schools shows strong public support for a positive rather than punitive approach to improving school and teacher performance. A solid majority, 54 percent of those polled, said the best way to turn around low-performing schools is to keep...
Read MoreTexas AFT Speaks Out for Active and Retired School Employees at TRS Budget Hearing
Texas AFT legislative spokesman Ted Melina Raab called for "decent pensions and health care for all education employees, active and retired" in testimony at a state Legislative Budget Board hearing today. Melina Raab said Texas AFT supports the full spending request submitted by the Texas Teacher Retirement System, which seeks...
Read MoreAs School Year Starts, Teachers’ Grading Authority Bolstered
In May 2009 the Texas legislature passed a truth-in-grading law designed to strengthen teachers' grading authority by prohibiting district policies that required teachers to give students unearned "minimum grades." In June 2010, a state district judge in Austin rejected a court challenge to the law, agreed with Texas AFT, and...
Read MoreTexas AFT Prevails–Court Ruling Upholding Ban on Minimum Grades Will Not Be Appealed by School Districts
Texas AFT has received notification that there will be no appeal by school districts from a June court decision upholding the state ban on local minimum-grade policies. Under these local policies, teachers have been required to give students grades no...
Read MoreAction Alert: With State Funding Faltering and Local Budgets Squeezed, Tell the Governor Federal Aid Should Be Welcomed
A new school year is set to start next week, and the Texas system of financing public education is in trouble. Outdated, inadequate, and inequitable state funding formulas have put an increasing burden on Texas school districts to take up...
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