The Texas AFT 2025 Biennial Convention in Dallas brought members, delegates, and staff together for a weekend of action, awards, learning, and fun! The festivities kicked off with a march to Senator Ted Cruz’s downtown office to oppose his federal voucher legislation. You can view the rally here, including the moment when our two selected delegates were denied entry into the building (how’s that for listening to your constituents?)
Dallas wasn’t selected just for proximity to Senator Cruz. Among many awards granted for membership growth and local achievements, we celebrated the 35th anniversary of Alliance/AFT, our Dallas local. Decades of work have solidified Alliance/AFT’s reputation as an agent of change throughout the Dallas area. These Dallas-area union educators and support staff have worked together to make positive change in their city and for every Dallas ISD employee and student, while becoming respected leaders who expect more from their lawmakers. Several Alliance/AFT members used their personal time to travel to Austin this past legislative session to testify in opposition of vouchers and other threats, and in support of our Educator’s Bill of Rights. We congratulate our union siblings at Alliance/AFT for their important work to improve working conditions for employees, which of course improves learning conditions for all students.
Texas AFT President Zeph Capo’s State of our Union speech on Friday recapped our fight over the last two years to bring respect to public education, including legislative successes and failures and all the work our locals and members have done to combat privatization and advocate for meaningful change to our schools. At the end of his speech, Zeph previewed the next phase of our fight: Texas AFT’s All in For Public Schools campaign.
Before each convention begins, we compile all accomplishments and noteworthy moments from the past two years into a Biennial Report, which was distributed to attendees. You can also access the report online now.
Delegates and members also heard from keynote speaker AFT National Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick Ingram, who riled up the crowd with his speech on not giving up despite our uncertain times.
Throughout the weekend, delegates and members viewed panels on topics like community labor power, and higher education advocacy and the Social Security Fairness Act, which featured AFT National President Randi Weingarten. State Representatives John Bryant and James Talarico also took the time to speak and meet with attendees, commending our work in this recent legislative session while planning for the fights ahead.
In addition to the rallies and rousing speeches, Texas AFT delegates had business to take care of. Zeph Capo and Wanda Longoria were nominated and unanimously reelected to another two-year term as Texas AFT President and Secretary-Treasurer, respectively. Delegates spent the final day deliberating and voting on a variety of resolutions that guide our union’s work. Approved resolutions included:
- A resolution to go “All In” to fight back against the Trump administration’s chaos,
- A resolution to vigorously advocate for legislation that permanently increases the basic allotment,
- A resolution in support of collective action on May Day 2028, and
- A resolution in support of DEI.
You may view a full list of the approved resolutions here.
Thank you to all attendees and leaders who traveled to be with us in Dallas (and those who watched the livestreams from home). We have our work cut out for us for the next few years, but it’s only through collective action that we can make any kind of positive change. With our renewed vision, let’s ride the momentum and energy from convention and continue going ALL IN for public schools.