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We’re #Allin for Public Schools, Colleges, & Universities
Our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. By taking care of our needs as employees, we ensure our students have what they need to succeed. Lawmakers in Austin and Washington, D.C., have shown their true colors, pushing school privatization, continuing baseless attacks on educators, and largely ignoring real solutions for our kids.
We have to raise our voices together until they listen.
Featured Action Campaign
Tell Greg Abbott: Hands Off Our Freedom of Speech
Greg Abbott is using the Office of the Governor against Texas educators in unprecedented ways, calling for the firing of professors, public school teachers, and staff for opinions shared on their personal social media accounts.
Together with the Texas AFL-CIO, we’re flooding Greg Abbott’s inbox to call for him to end these attacks on the First Amendment. Add your name to take action.
Stay Up to Date
Join the AFTvotes Action Team where members, activists, and community allies come together to turn our values into action. From phone banks and text banks to quick mobilizations and in-person canvassing, this is your place to plug in, build power, and make an impact – locally and nationally. Sign up here to get started.
Our Fight for Thriving Public Schools
Texas AFT’s Educator’s Bill of Rights
Texas AFT and our 66,000 members across the state have developed an Educator’s Bill of Rights, 10 essential rights as defined by pre-K-12 and higher education employees.
We took that agenda to the 89th Legislature, where lawmakers filed 71 bills in support of it. As we process what happened in the session that ended in May, we’re highlighting how each of those 10 rights fared:
- Your Right to Fair Wages
- Your Right to Reasonable Working Conditions
- Your Right to a Secure Retirement
- Your Right to High-Quality Childcare
- Your Right to Healthy, Safe Working Conditions
- Your Right to Meaningful Training & Development
- Your Right to Academic Freedom
- Your Right to Freedom of Religion
- Your Right to Democratic Representation
- Your Right to Organize
Our fight to thrive is about creating respectful working conditions with more planning time, fewer added duties and extra paperwork, resources to prevent burnout before it starts, and a defined workday that doesn’t require us to sacrifice our personal lives for our jobs.
This future is possible. Our educators and students need this future. Our state can afford this future. We must demand it.
Winning that future requires every Texan who works in, learns in, and supports public schools to step up and be #Allin for our schools and our communities.
Did you know? Every purchase at store.texasaft.org acts as a donation to our union’s political fund and our fight for thriving Texas public schools.
3 Anytime Actions to Take
Talk to Your Co-Workers
Did you know that more than half of Texas AFT members said they joined our union because a colleague or friend encouraged them to do so? Talking to your colleagues about what a thriving public school system means to you is critical to growing our movement and building our power!
Contact Your Legislators
Remember: Your local, state, and national representatives work for you — not the other way around. Their jobs are to represent your interests as a constituent, but they need to hear from you about what those interests are! Find out who your state lawmakers are and call, email, or visit their office.
Write Letters to the Editor
Have you ever sent a letter to the editor of your local newspaper? Letters to the editor are great ways for you to reach a large, diverse audience in your community. They give you a platform to show how widespread support for public schools in Texas is.
