Publish Date: March 10, 2025 12:42 pm Author: Texas AFT
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Saturday, March 8, 2025
Left to Right:Texas AFT Retiree Plus Member Margaret Daniels with Education Austin Members Megan Vasquez, Taylor Cavin, Megan Holden, and Mallory Vinson.
Every Voice Matters
“Every staff cut directly harms students. The rising cost of living is overwhelming. Without salary raises to match inflation, I’m faced with tough decisions, like whether to pay my rent or buy groceries.”
— Megan Vasquez, Austin ISD teacher & Education Austin member
This week, our members were at the Capitol to testify before lawmakers on their right to competitive wages and the need to fully fund our public schools.
More of our members will be at the Capitol on Monday for the first of two Public Education Legislative Advocacy Days for our union.
We’ll be back again on Tuesday when the House Public Education Committee holds a hearing on voucher bill HB 3.
As a potential executive order to begin the dismantling of the Department of Education looms, unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his DOGE squad have attempted to ransack Americans’ private personal and financial data.
In February, AFT filed suit to protect the privacy of parents, students, and educators, denying Musk access to the sensitive DOE data of anyone who has taken out a student loan and anyone who has filled out a FAFSA—including Social Security numbers, tax returns, information on personal assets and more.
This week was a busy one for the House Public Education Committee, with two days of hearings dedicated to House Bill 2, Chairman Brad Buckley’s school finance bill.
Texas AFT was proud to host several members from Education Austin, who came to the Capitol on Thursday to testify about their concerns with HB 2 and public school underfunding broadly.
Money-starved schools. School employee layoffs. Student program cuts. Educators heading for the exits. Charter schools run amok.
That’s the reality right now for Texas public schools and the 5 million+ kids they serve. And that’s the backdrop for the 89th Legislature.
Texas AFT was joined Thursday by Maggie Stern with Our Schools Our Democracy and Rep. John Bryant this week for a livestreamed update to report back to you what’s happening at the Capitol, what it means for your school, and what you can do to advocate for yourself, your kids, and your community. d
This coming Tuesday, the House Public Education Committee will hear testimony on House Bill 3 (HB 3), and much of the focus has been on how school vouchers would drain funding from public schools. But there’s another major consequence flying under the radar: the impact on the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS).
🔗 Take action now!Sign our e-letter urging legislators to vote NO on HB 3!
Among the bills heard in this week’s Senate Education Committee meeting were SB 10,which would require the posting of the Ten Commandments in all Texas classrooms, and SB 11,which would allow districts to adopt a policy for a period of prayer in schools.
We have public schools across this state with deficit budgets, laying off staff, closing campuses, and cutting student services. It is difficult to believe that these issues are what lawmakers have determined are urgent or significant.
Hotline readers will remember that Gov. Greg Abbott named “expanding career training” an emergency item this session. Accordingly, Speaker Dustin Burrows appointed a permanent subcommittee to address this topic. This committee conducted its first meeting Wednesday and took up two bills, House Bill 20 and HB 120.
Amanda Garcia, a higher education organizer with Texas AFT, led a legislative briefing this week for Capitol staff alongside Texas AAUP-AFT President Dr. Brian Evans.
Texas legislators and university leaders are prioritizing research funding and dual-credit accessibility in higher education. A key focus is maintaining and expanding Carnegie R1 and R2 research distinctions, with institutions like Texas State aiming for R1 status by 2027.
Education news from around the state and nation that’s worth your time.
📖These teachers lost pay for taking parental leave. Some lawmakers are working on a fix. Texas doesn’t provide paid parental leave for teachers or require that school districts cover it, leaving thousands of parents like Candee and Mertz to rely on limited vacation time to bond with their newborns or newly adopted or fostered children. Now, legislators are working on a fix. (Houston Chronicle, March 4)
📖 This charter school superintendent makes $870,000. He leads a district with 1,000 students. On paper, Salvador Cavazos earns less than $300,000 to run Valere Public Schools, a small Texas charter network. But taxpayers likely aren’t aware that his total pay makes him one of the country’s highest-earning superintendents. (Texas Tribune & ProPublica, March 6)
📖 Public schools are under attack by Texas and national leaders. Corpus Christi AFT President Nancy Vera writes, “Make no mistake about it, gutting the Department of Education means fewer teachers and crowded classrooms. This, in turn, would create an environment ripe for escalated mental health and behavior setbacks among students because the necessary individualized attention and support would become increasingly scarce.” (Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Feb. 27)
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