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Some of our schools need your help to remain virtual in hot spots: Make a call now!
Some of our schools need your help to remain virtual in hot spots: Make a call now! Call and leave a message for Gov. Greg Abbott Send an online letter to Gov. Abbott and Education Commissioner Mike Morath Texas is a big state. And not all areas are feeling the same impacts from the pandemic. As Gov. Greg Abbott noted last...
Read MoreState of the Union: With Public Education Under Attack, We’re Stronger Than Ever—and Need to Be
Texas AFT President Linda Bridges kicked off the union’s three-day biennial convention in Corpus Christi with a telling observation and a challenge. She lauded a new era of activism among union members, and she challenged all Texas AFT members in that spirit “not just to be in the union, but...
Read MoreAt Least One Piece of Attack on Educators Likely to be Deleted, on Motion of Sen. Davis
Last Thursday the Texas House added a bunch of uglier amendments to an already-ugly Senate Bill 8, which attacks state salary guarantees and contract rights of teachers and other school employees. One of the slaps in the face for educators added on the House floor was an amendment by Rep....
Read MoreOpen Letter to Senate and House Conferees on School Funding—You Can Still Limit the Damage
Click here to add your name to an “open letter” to the seven senators and nine state representatives who now are negotiating the final shape of SB 1 on school finance and SB 2 on revisions to the 2012-2013 budget that passed last month. The “open letter” offers some pretty...
Read MoreUrge Negotiators to Keep SB 2 Amendment to Tap Rainy Day Fund
The fate of a key House amendment that would shrink cuts in school budgets by $2.2 billion over the next two years now rests in the hands of the conferees negotiating to work out differences between House and Senate on SB 2. They need to hear from us in support...
Read MoreTwo Bills on Student Discipline Draw Attention
More than 1,100 bills await action by Gov. Rick Perry, who has until June 19 to decide which bills he wants to veto, which he wants to sign, and which he’s willing to allow on the books without his signature. Among the pending bills are two on student discipline that...
Read MoreTexas House Votes 74 to 59 for “Flexibility” Attack on Students and Teachers
The legislature is “failing to support students, failing to respect teachers, and failing to listen to parents.” That was the verdict pronounced on the current legislature by Rep. Sylvester Turner, Democrat of Houston, after Thursday’s House vote to approve SB 8, a bill that undermines state salary and contract safeguards...
Read MoreBattle Over Use of Rainy Day Fund Continues
Another day, another attack on common-sense efforts to tap the state’s self-replenishing Rainy Day Fund to cover the shortfall in funding for public education. Thursday’s assault took the form of a non-binding motion to instruct conferees on SB 2 to kill the Howard/Farrar amendment. This sensible amendment, which passed the...
Read MoreAction Needed: Contact Negotiators on SB 2 in Support of Using Rainy Day Fund
The long version of the message: “Keep the bipartisan House amendment to use up to $2.2 billion of any increases in the Rainy Day Fund projection to cover the cost of enrollment growth in our public schools.” Or you can just say: “Support the House amendment to use the Rainy...
Read MoreThe Spawn of HB 400—New Attack on Salary Guarantees, Contract Rights is in SB 8
State Rep. Rob Eissler, Republican of The Woodlands, is at it again, resurrecting his failed attack on educators’ salary standards and contract rights in a committee substitute for Senate Bill 8. Eissler’s new version of SB 8 recombines and tweaks elements he had included in his failed HB 400 during...
Read MoreLikely Texas Voters Say Education is Their Top Issue, New Poll Confirms
A new poll out today from the Texas Lyceum confirms what we already pretty well knew—the top issue for likely voters in Texas heading into the 2012 elections is education. Politicians, take heed!
Read MoreSenate Democrats Declare Unanimous Support for House Rainy Day Fund Amendment to SB 2
The 12 Democrats in the Texas Senate reportedly have declared their support for the Howard/Farrar House amendment to tap into the Rainy Day Fund for public education, if that fund increases faster than currently projected. The breakthrough amendment to use up to $2.2 billion to pay for enrollment growth was...
Read MoreSenators Need to Support Howard/Farrar Amendment to SB 2, Tapping Future Increases in Rainy Day Fund for Schools—Action Item Number One
Rep. Donna Howard’s amendment to the SB 2 budget bill would use any increase in the Rainy Day Fund, above the amount currently projected, to cover the $2.2 billion cost of enrollment growth in our public schools. The amendment was...
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