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89th Legislature in Review: Your Right to Academic Freedom
Academic freedom: the pillar of higher education, and the target of the 89th legislative session. For the past two years, the Texas Legislature has fixated on our public colleges and universities, attempting to control every aspect of what makes our schools great: the freedom the teach and the freedom to learn. While Senate Bill (SB) 37 took center-stage in...
Read MoreThis Week in Higher Education: Educators, Students, & Community Members Tell Legislators ’Hands Off’ Our Colleges & Universities
We are at a critical point with SB 37, the “Death Star” bill for higher education. It’s currently pending in the House Higher Education Committee, with a little over a week until the deadline to pass it from committee.
Read MoreNew Report Exposes Texas’s Ongoing Failures in Serving Students with Special Education Needs
A sweeping new report from the Texas Education Leadership Lab at UT Austin reveals alarming trends in Texas public schools' long-term failure to comply with federal special education law. The report, which evaluates 25 years of implementation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), highlights deep and systemic issues...
Read MoreDemocrats for Education Reform Group Embraces Vouchers, Privatization
When Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) was founded in 2007, the group claimed to represent progressive values in education: fighting for better funding, stronger public schools, and equal opportunities for all students. But increasingly, its agenda has taken a hard turn away from public schools and toward vouchers and Education...
Read MoreWith more money in the bank than most states & some nations, Texas stalls on school finance
Today, Texas AFT again calls on the Texas Senate to set House Bill 2 for a public hearing and expedite the passage of new funds for public schools.
Read MoreMay 9, 2025: We Carry On
Friday, May 9, 2025 We carry on. Veteran teachers roaming the halls of the Capitol, asking lawmakers to fund their schools and to focus on bills that would help their students instead of harm them. School librarians cut off from testifying against a book-banning bill at 3:30 a.m. but...
Read MoreThis Week in the Legislature: Is This ‘Teacher Appreciation?’
On Saturday, surrounded by many of the Republican lawmakers he threatened along the way, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law his long-sought private school voucher program.
Read MoreThis Week in Higher Education: SB 37 Heard in House Higher Education Committee
Senate Bill 37, the “Death Star” bill for Texas colleges and universities, had its last public hearing this past Tuesday (May 6).
Read MoreElection Recap: What School Board, Local Results Mean for Texas Public Schools
In May 3 local elections, voters across Texas sent a powerful message: public schools should be focused on education, not pushing privatization or political interference.
Read MoreCloser Look: Texas Charter Schools Don’t Make the Grade
TEA fought for months to release 2022-2023 school accountability ratings. So why isn’t the state holding charter schools accountable for consistently poor scores?
Read MoreSupreme Court Case on Religious Charter School Previews Fight Over National Voucher Legislation
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, two cases when taken together that could upend the separation of church and state and profoundly undercut public education across the country.
Read MoreEducators left feeling unappreciated during Teacher Appreciation Week
Now that vouchers have been signed into law, there is no reason not to move a finance bill that meaningfully funds public schools. Texas has the means to invest in both educator pay and the basic allotment.
Read MoreMay 2, 2025: An Educator’s Bill of Rights Win
Friday, May 2, 2025 An Educator’s Bill of Rights Win There is no shortage of bad news for public schools and educators, at the local, state, and national levels. But there is also reason to hope and to stay locked in the fight for schools that help our kids thrive....
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