As Legislature winds down, still no word on final bill for school employee pay raises Texas House reps join Speaker Dennis Bonnen (center) at a March 5 press conference announcing the beginning of debate on a comprehensive school finance bill. The Texas legislative session officially ends Monday, but most business will finish by this weekend. Still pending is HB 3, the school finance bill with proposals for school employee pay raises. That bill is in a conference committee of lawmakers to reconcile differences between the House and Senate plans. Also pending is the TRS pension bill, SB 12, for retirees. (Click here for the most recent update.) We will send out a special report once these bills are finalized and accepted by both chambers....
Next Monday, on the eve of the new state legislative session, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs will unveil her official estimate of how much revenue lawmakers can count on for the upcoming 2012-2013 budget. It’s only an estimate, but it’s binding on lawmakers unless and until the comptroller...
A new coalition of Texans today urged state lawmakers to avoid brutal cuts in essential public services and come up instead with a balanced response to the state’s revenue shortfall, including full use of the Rainy Day Fund, maximum use of available federal funds, and tapping new revenue sources that...
Right before the holiday break the U.S. Senate and House passed a stopgap bill to continue federal education funding until March 4 without increases above levels from the previous fiscal year. The Congress that gets sworn in tomorrow will make the final decisions on federal funding for the balance of...
The same bill making the short-term extension of federal education aid also gave a new lease on life to a contested federal definition of what constitutes a “highly qualified” teacher. The federal No Child Left Behind Act applies the “highly qualified” requirement to school districts that get federal aid. The...
Texas AFT’s Committee on Quality Educational Standards in Teaching (QuEST) has come up with a new survey for teachers on the evaluation systems currently in effect in their districts and possible alternatives. Many members already have responded to the survey, initially announced in the Hotline and posted online in mid-December....
The regular daily Hotline will take a holiday break from December 17 through January 3, resuming on January 4, 2011. As always, special editions may appear in the meanwhile as circumstances dictate.
A key bill left for dead last week has undergone a resurrection, thanks to quick action by grass-roots advocates and their allies in Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the DREAM Act again as a brand-new bill—one that would gives thousands of immigrant children access to the higher...
A bid to provide full-year education funding for fiscal 2011, including some needed increases, failed in the U.S. Senate yesterday. The education funding was part of an omnibus bill containing funds for many different government programs. The Senate could not muster the supermajority of 60 members needed to overcome procedural...
The compromise on tax policy passed by Congress this week has a couple of little-noted provisions affecting education that you should know about. Here’s how the Wall Street Journal described one of them: “Through 2011, teachers will still be able to file for up to $250 in deductions for classroom...
An important update of federal child-nutrition law took effect this month, with unanimous support in the U.S. Senate and with bipartisan backing in the U.S. House. The legislation better connects eligible children with free school meals. The law also expands and improves breakfast programs. It helps make headway against childhood...
Do you know a Texas AFT member who has made a lasting difference in his or her workplace? Someone who has had a profound and positive impact on the community and whose extraordinary contribution in his or her field of work, or to the lives of others, has been heroic?...
Over the next week, Congress will decide funding levels for federal education aid to states and school districts. The legislative department at the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, D.C., says three options are being considered: (1) continue funding at current levels; (2) provide slight increases in an omnibus budget...
