Texas AFT is a statewide union1 with 66,000 members, including K-12 and community college educators, support staff, and retirees. We believe that education is the path to a just and democratic society. We also believe the only way to give students a quality education is through the dedicated work of empowered public educators.
Our Members
Our union represents all non-administrative public school employees, as well faculty and staff in higher education. As such, our union’s priorities reflect the interests of teachers, counselors, librarians, custodians, bus drivers, and all the other people who make our schools work.
Our Work
As a state federation, we advocate on behalf of our members to state leaders and the Texas Legislature, just as our national union lobbies the U.S. Congress and our local unions focus on issues related to their districts and school boards.
While the fights may change, our commitment to these basic principles never wavers — something you can see in our legislative agenda each session.
Funding Our Public Schools
We actively support candidates who support our public schools. We are building coalitions to move state lawmakers to action to fund public education adequately. Full funding leads to small class sizes, additional classroom resources, competitive salaries, and a bright future for our students.
Keeping Our Schools Public
We oppose any and all forms of voucher legislation that would drain dollars from our public schools to fund unaccountable charter schools or private schools. Vouchers in any shape or form are bad for Texas schoolchildren.
Affordable Health Care & a Secure Retirement For All
Our union believes everyone has a right to accessible and affordable health care, along with a dignified retirement. We are fighting for increases in the state’s contributions to health care funding to lower premiums for working families, as well as a permanent cost-of-living adjustment for retired Texas educators.
Championing Community Schools
Our union is the leading organization implementing community schools to give struggling campuses the support they truly need. The community schools model is a proven method to make our neighborhood schools successful.
Professional Development
We work hard to provide the professional resources that help our members succeed. Our nonprofit Bridges Institute for Professional Development provides a wide variety of high-quality, research-based information. Share My Lesson provides more than 420,000 free lesson plans/activities. And our partnership with First Book Marketplace has helped distribute nearly 1 million free books to Title I schools in Texas.
American Federation of Teachers
Texas AFT is the statewide affiliate of the 1.6. million-member American Federation of Teachers. AFT has a broad membership spectrum, including pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state, and local government employees; and nurses and other healthcare professionals
In addition, AFT represents thousands of early childhood educators, along with retiree members.
AFL-CIO
AFT is an affiliate of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO, and Texas AFT makes up the largest affiliate of the Texas AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO is a democratic, voluntary federation of 55 national international labor unions, all striving to improve the lives of working people with fair wages and benefits, safe jobs, and equal opportunities.