FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2025
CONTACT: Nicole Hill, press@texasaft.org
With vouchers signed into law, lawmakers now must fulfill their funding promise to public schools.
Austin, Texas – Today, Texas AFT is calling on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Education K-16 Chairman Brandon Creighton to set House Bill 2, the House’s school finance proposal, for a hearing. HB 2 was referred to the committee on April 23 and has languished for almost two weeks without a public hearing. With less than one month left in the regular session, there’s little time to waste. The clock is ticking.
Meanwhile, educators and staff across the state have been laid off, campuses have been closed and consolidated, and deep budget cuts threaten extracurriculars, academic programs, and the support staff who help the whole student thrive. School districts could see three years’ worth of A-F accountability scores in a single year. Those scores are based on new controversial standards and an even more controversial STAAR test, setting some up for the whiplash of potential state takeover. With the release of new GDP numbers last week, it appears the threat of a recession looms, and state leaders have put our schools in a weak starting stance if the economy takes a turn for the worse.
“State leadership has spent the last two sessions picking winners and losers in education policy, and somehow neighborhood schools never come out on top. I can’t stress this enough: Texas public schools are facing an existential crisis, and we need lawmakers to move with a real sense of urgency,” said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. “If lawmakers fail to deliver, we are heading into territory that I’m not sure our schools can come back from. Schools have faced layoffs, consolidation, and steep budget cuts to the programs Texas students love. Educators are doing everything they can with the resources they have, but both they and their students deserve so much more. The Senate needs to move on HB 2 – no slow-rolling it, no gutting it, and no shortchanging Texas public schools.”
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The Texas American Federation of Teachers represents 66,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.8-million-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.