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Unpacking the 89th Legislature: Your Right to Reasonable Working Conditions
An Alliance/AFT member listening to a panel discussion about educator well-being at Texas AFT’s biennial convention in June. Photo by Brooke Jonsson, CCR Studios. As we continue our fight for the Educator’s Bill of Rights at the local and state level, we’re tracking progress on legislation that supports key pillars of respect, fair compensation, safety, and professional growth for educators...
Read MoreSocorro ISD Requests TEA Conservatorship: State Intervention and the Threat to Our Public Schools
The public education community in Socorro ISD (SISD) was shocked last week to learn that following a closed-door session, the school district’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to request that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) appoint one or more conservators to oversee the district’s operations. Why did the...
Read MoreBiden Fires off Most Worker-Centric, Education-Focused State of the Union Speech in Memory
Last Thursday, President Joe Biden addressed Congress and the nation in his third official State of the Union address. The president broached a diverse set of topics, including the economy, international affairs, women’s reproductive rights, and immigration. The speech included several significant remarks supporting workers generally and educators specifically. Texas...
Read MorePensions at Risk: Join Texas Climate Jobs Project, Texas AFT for Webinar on Threats to Texas Public Employees’ Retirement
Laws have been enacted in Texas that may be putting the futures of our public sector workers and retirees at risk. These laws dictate how public pension funds can be invested or divested without considering the performance of the investments....
Read MoreNew Report Highlights How Dress Codes Discriminate Against Texas Students
Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU Texas) released the Dressed to Express Report to highlight the role that dress codes have played in discrimination in Texas public schools. The data, collected from over 1,100 Texas public schools, “provides insight into the prevalence of inequitable dress and...
Read MoreMarch 8, 2024: Public Schools at the Polls
Friday, March 8, 2024 This is what democracy looks like It’s been quite a week. On Tuesday, Texans went to the polls to vote in primary elections, setting up a muddled outlook for public education in the 89th Legislature next year. Yesterday, meanwhile, President Joe Biden delivered the State of...
Read MorePrimary Election Recap: Voucher Money Won Some Races. Vouchers Themselves Did Not.
After facing decades of fierce bipartisan resistance to the idea of using taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition, school voucher supporters “in Texas” — more on that in a moment — emerged from the March 5 primary election claiming victory. But should they? Let’s dig deeper into the...
Read MoreComputers Scoring STAAR Essays: Is Texas Sacrificing Quality for Efficiency?
Texas has quietly implemented a major change to the scoring of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams, a move that signals a concerning shift towards machine-driven evaluation and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education.
Read MoreCommunity Outrage Sparks Reversal of Keller ISD’s Cancellation of The Laramie Project
After weeks of student, parent, and community pushback, Timber Creek High School’s student performance of The Laramie Project will go on in Keller ISD. The decision, announced via email on Wednesday, was a swift reversal of the district’s decision in February to cancel the production, which garnered national media attention...
Read MoreTexas AFT Joins Poor People’s Campaign Rally to End ‘Death by Poverty’
This past Saturday, hundreds of Texans attended a rally and march hosted by the Texas Poor People’s Campaign at the state Capitol. The rally was held with rallies at 32 other state capitols and the nation's capital in Washington, D.C.
Read MoreFinally. After 9 Years of Scandals, TEA Commissioner Appoints 2 Conservators to Supervise IDEA Charter Schools.
It has taken years of documented financial scandals by IDEA charter schools to finally force the Texas Education Agency to act by appointing two conservators to supervise operations. The public allegations of improper spending and conflicts of interest at IDEA...
Read MoreTexas Schools Say “No” to Chaplain Counselors
Despite the passage of Senate Bill 763, which allows hiring religious chaplains as counselors, Texas school districts have overwhelmingly rejected implementing a new chaplain program. Texas public schools faced a March 1 deadline to decide whether to implement the controversial bill locally.
Read MoreAnti-Immigrant Texas Law SB 4 Heads to SCOTUS
The Supreme Court has signaled its intent to weigh in on the contentious legal battle between Texas and the Biden Administration over Senate Bill 4, a controversial new law that vastly expands state authority over immigration enforcement. SB 4 is “one of the most extreme anti-immigrant laws ever passed by...
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