Over the course of the regular legislative session, one topic cast a shadow over the entire public education conversation. It wasn't the harmful overtesting of our state’s children or our state’s severely underfunded classrooms. It was private school vouchers.
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Thank you for joining Alief AFTSE. We have created this Resource Bank to provide you and your family with important issue and benefit updates. We build power by increasing participation in the union movement, by winning elections and the public narrative, and by engaging members and communities. Building community inside...
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Friday, July 14, 2023 ‘Starve, shame, & shutter’ With a $33 billion surplus available, we had high hopes. High hopes that the Texas Legislature would step up and deliver for students, educators, and school employees ahead of the upcoming school year. Yet, here we are, one regular session and two...
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Friday, July 7, 2023 Our schools are back on the menu. If you’ve read even a single edition of the Hotline in the past month, you know: The Texas Legislature ended its regular session without a single new dollar in state funding for public schools and $0 for teacher and...
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Remember TEA's Teacher Vacancy Task Force report? The Legislature didn't, failing to deliver on its educator recruitment recommendations.
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan was unconstitutional.
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As a union, we like to say “educators’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions.” While this adage applies to diverse issues such as class size, school funding, and facilities, nowhere is that phrase more relevant than when it comes to school safety.
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Daniel Alvarez Photo For the first time since 2019, Texas AFT members convened in person for our statewide convention, passing resolutions, electing officers, and managing the business of our union. The 31st Biennial Convention, hosted jointly by McAllen AFT, PSJA AFT, Edinburg AFT, and La Joya AFT, arrived on the...
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This week, the U.S. Supreme Court released a decision that found certain practices promoting a diverse student body on college campuses are unconstitutional. The majority decisions issued by the court’s six conservative justices in the cases Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC found...
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This week, we’ll provide some insight into the Texas school finance system, explore why the Texas Legislature did not use the historic $33 billion surplus to address the “teacher vacancy crisis” or give you a raise, and explain what’s next in our fight for respect and for fully funding our...
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Seeking Leverage on Vouchers & Property Tax Relief, Gov. Abbott Has a Veto Tantrum Sunday was the last day for Gov. Greg Abbott to exercise his veto authority, stopping any bills passed during the regular session from becoming law. In an attempt to punish certain legislators who did not vote...
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Educators in Texas who have retired over the past two decades have never received an increase to their monthly pension. Even those who retired before then have only received a slight increase to their monthly annuities. Meanwhile, consumer prices have increased by more than 60% in Texas over the past...
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