Texas can have public schools that help kids thrive — or a voucher program. That's the only school choice in front of us. Check the Votes Call Your Rep Stay Updated Every one of us can name that one teacher — the one who helped us get ahead in school...
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Friday, Feb. 24, 2023 Strong Public Schools Need Empowered Educators No decisions about Texas school employees should be made without the input of Texas school employees. That’s our message to the Texas Legislature, and it's the subject of our newest union T-shirt! Buy yours at store.texasaft.org and help fuel our...
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https://youtu.be/AoC0KpRRDQQ This past Thursday, the Article III subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for the education-related portions of the state budget, heard testimony related to budget appropriations for the state’s community colleges. Dr. David Albert, president of Austin Community College AFT, was among those who testified. In...
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This week, House Bill 567 by Rep. Rhetta Bowers (D-Garland) was referred to the House State Affairs Committee, making it one of the first bills to be referred to a committee this legislative session. HB 567, colloquially known as the...
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Friday, Feb. 17, 2023 The Campaign to Defund Public Schools Picks Up Steam This has been a whirlwind week in the world of Texas education. We’ll cover much of it in this newsletter (TEA scandal! State of the State! Dan Patrick’s priorities!), but the main theme: vouchers and their impact...
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This week's Hotline is sponsored by Texas AFT corporate supporter Horace Mann. Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 Shining a Spotlight on School Counselors To honor National School Counseling Week, we’ve given the top spot in today’s Hotline to a Texas school counselor. My name is Jessica Pecina Lopez, and I am...
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The Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for drafting the Senate’s version of the state budget, convened for a series of hearings this week discussing article III of SB 1, the public and higher education section of the state budget. Over three days, Committee Chair Joan Huffman (R-Houston), Vice Chair...
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This past week, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced committee assignments for the 88th legislative session. In his second session as speaker of the Texas House, Phelan dramatically changed the leadership and membership of several key Texas House committees. Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Killeen) will now head the House Public Education...
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This week's Hotline is sponsored by Texas AFT corporate supporter Horace Mann. Friday, Feb. 3, 2023 Gov. Abbott Ups the Ante on ‘School Choice’ Debate Despite National Voucher Horror Stories State funding for public education is under siege on several fronts. The specter of school privatization threatens the foundations of...
Read MoreFriday, Jan. 27, 2023 As Texas public schools beg for funding, Texas charter schools … buy luxury horse ranches. This year, National School Choice Week fell just a week after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick proclaimed before the Legislature that he and Gov. Greg Abbott are “all in” on “school choice.” ...
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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...
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Recognizing Important Texans February is Black History Month, an important time for educators and students to celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of Black people throughout history and acknowledge the struggles and injustices of the past and present. Each week of Black History Month, Texas AFT will highlight a Black Texan...
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