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By the Numbers: The Benefits of Joining Our Union
If we want to build power for school employees in Texas and win the respect we deserve, we need as many of the 656,000 school employees in this state standing with us as possible. The key to unlocking that power? It’s you. In our most recent membership survey, 57% of Texas AFT members said they joined our union because of...
Read MoreShortsighted Cuts in Proposed State Education Budget Draw Fire From Texas AFT
Texas AFT Responds to Shortsighted Budget Cuts: Texas AFT President Linda Bridges put out a statement to the media today in response to the Texas Education Agency's just-released 2012-2013 budget request, which reflects instructions from Gov. Rick Perry and top legislative officials to cut 10 percent of all TEA spending...
Read MoreSchool-Community Partnerships Spotlighted on Dallas Visit by AFT’s Randi Weingarten
During visits to two Dallas schools by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten yesterday, the theme was school-community teamwork–the need to take shared responsibility for strengthening public schools and ensuring all children get a high-quality education. School, community, and business and labor leaders–including AFT President Randi Weingarten, Dallas ISD...
Read MoreTransitions: O’Sullivan Retires, Malfaro Comes Aboard as Texas AFT Secretary-Treasurer
Today marks the retirement of Texas AFT Secretary-Treasurer John O’Sullivan, who has helped Texas AFT grow to become the largest union in the state labor federation, the Texas AFL-CIO. O’Sullivan has effectively taught and exemplified the meaning of solidarity, knitting together diverse coalitions of school employees, community and parent activists,...
Read MoreAFT President Randi Weingarten Promotes School-Community Partnerships in Dallas Visit
AFT President Visits Dallas ISD With Community-Partnership Message: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is in Dallas today for meetings with community, business, union, and school leaders to stress the importance of taking shared responsibility to strengthen public schools and ensure all children get a quality education....
Read MoreTesting Experts Say It’s a Serious Mistake to Make Standardized Test Scores a Dominant Factor in Teacher Evaluation
Even as the craze for judging teachers by their students’ standardized test scores reaches new heights, now comes a sharply worded report from a distinguished group of testing experts who all agree that test-driven teacher evaluation is a really bad...
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...
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