This Monday Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick released his list of priority bills for the legislative session. While the announcement did not include the actual language for the bills, it did include a few words describing what each bill would do. The five bills pertaining to public education and the five...
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This past Monday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced assignments for Texas Senate committees for the 88th legislative session. The 31 Texas senators were each assigned to the 15 standing senate committees and a 16th special committee on redistricting. In order to guarantee compliance with the Texas Constitution, which mandates that...
Read MoreReminder: Take the 2022 Texas AFT Membership Survey by Dec. 9 Last year, our members’ answers in our annual survey helped us change the narrative in Texas and force state leaders to deal with the real issue for our public schools: respect. This year, we need your input as...
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Ahead of the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 10, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has released his 21 legislative priorities, including a number of items related to K-12 and higher education. While the priorities Patrick listed at his Wednesday press conference are mostly “concepts” at this stage, Texas AFT sees...
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Left: Texas AAUP-AFT President Brian Evans speaks to media Tuesday with allied groups and elected officials, including state Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Houston) and state Sen. Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio). Right: Educators, students, and community allies march from the UT Austin campus to the Texas Capitol. This Tuesday, the Senate...
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Friday, May 10, 2024 Now is as good a time as any to remind you that you can find this meme and more by following Texas AFT on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, or X/Twitter. 'Teacher Appreciation’ In theory, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. But you wouldn’t have guessed it from...
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Sign up for Texas AFT's testimony training ahead of next week's hearing! Next Tuesday, in the wake of significant unrest on college campuses across the state and across the country, the Texas Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education will convene to address the issues of free speech, antisemitism, and DEI (diversity,...
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Texas AFT Retiree Pamela Davis-Duck provides public testimony to the TRS Board of Trustees. Watch her testimony, along with that of Texas AFT Retiree Phyllis Ruffin, here (about 10 minutes in). Last week, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) board convened for its quarterly board meeting. At the meeting,...
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Friday, May 3, 2024 This week, Houston ISD educators and UT Austin faculty both circulated resolutions of no confidence in their district and university administrators. Across the state and across the full spectrum of public education, Texas educators demand better for their students. No Confidence “The takeover of Houston ISD,...
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In April, state leaders’ attempted stranglehold over the University of Texas at Austin, Texas’s premier public university, came to a head in several ways. The month began with the university laying off dozens of employees who formerly worked in positions...
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Friday, April 19, 2024 This past Tuesday, April 16, the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security held a meeting to discuss the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), two provisions that heavily penalize many Texas educators and public employees. AFT members from across the...
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Last week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Senate Finance Chair Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) sent an open letter to TRS Board of Trustees Chair Jarvis Hollingsworth asking him to examine the possibility of reducing premiums for Medicare-eligible retirees. Due to the prospective premium decrease, the letter also directed the TRS...
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