On Saturday, May 11, AFT celebrated a significant milestone in its partnership with First Book: 10 million brand-new books donated to educators, students, and families over the past decade. To mark the occasion, our national union hosted five events across the country, including one in Socorro ISD. Together, AFT, Texas AFT, Socorro AFT, and district leaders handed out 40,000 books to educators and families in the district.  

As AFT President Randi Weingarten said about this milestone and the importance of the Reading Opens the World initiative, “This isn’t only about literacy and books — this is also about the importance of community. In hundreds of places, we have literally brought people together over a love of books. This partnership creates togetherness, soothes tensions and helps people see that there is far more that unites us than divides us.” 

As students, educators, and school employees across Texas wrap up the 2023-2024 school year, a debate is brewing over the pressing challenges facing our public education system and the implications for our schools in the upcoming school year. 

On May 8, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan released interim charges directing House committees to study a range of issues before the 2025 legislative session. For public education, the charges include examining “educational opportunity” through education savings accounts (i.e. private school vouchers), the increase in uncertified teachers, and strategies to improve early literacy and math outcomes. 

Glaringly absent, however, were any charges related to resolving the looming school finance crisis many districts are facing due to inadequate funding and unfunded mandates from the state. The charges also fail to address the need for increased compensation for teachers and school employees, who are leaving the profession in droves due to stagnant pay. 

The sense of urgency around school funding prompted a group of Democratic state representatives, led by Rep. Jon Rosenthal (D-Houston), to send a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott on May 13 requesting he immediately call a special session to address the “drastic budget cuts” school districts are facing before students return in the fall. 

This Tuesday, the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education convened to consider the issues of free speech, antisemitism, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). This hearing was called last week to fulfill Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s charge to the Senate that it study this issue before the next legislative session, along with some other interim charges related to higher education and several interim charges related to K-12 public education. In theory, the study of these issues will inform legislators’ agendas heading into the next session.  

Texas AAUP-AFT joined several allied groups seeking to defend free speech and DEI programs. Many advocates including allies with the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU), ACLU of Texas, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), and others began the day at 7:30 a.m. by marching from the University of Texas at Austin campus to the Capitol for the hearing. The hearing lasted until 8 p.m. 

Several events preceding the interim hearing – including free speech crackdowns against campus anti-war protestors, the implementation of Senate Bill 17 (Texas’ DEI ban), and the decision to terminate many dozens of faculty and staff at schools in the UT system, despite them being in full compliance with state law – galvanized 148 members of the public to wait for hours to provide public testimony to the subcommittee. Most public testifiers, who included students, faculty, staff, and alumni, spoke in favor of DEI programs, against recent attacks on free speech, and against any form of antisemitism. 

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has launched an investigation into Katy Independent School District (Katy ISD) to determine if its recently enacted gender identity policy discriminates against students. This investigation follows reports that Katy ISD disclosed the gender identities of 19 students to their parents without their consent shortly after the policy’s implementation in August 2023. 

The controversial policy, passed by a narrow 4-3 vote, mandates that staff notify parents if a student identifies as transgender or requests a name or pronoun change, with few exceptions. Additionally, the policy allows staff to refuse to use a student’s preferred pronouns and prohibits discussions about gender fluidity. 

📖 An Austin-area school district says staff need a break, so it’s going to offer mental health days.  Manor ISD is rolling out a new benefit during the 2024-2025 school year that will give employees time off to take care of their mental health. Superintendent Robert Sormani said he thinks it’s important to explicitly offer days off that are dedicated to mental health. “Even more than just giving people a day off, it’s really giving them permission to say it’s OK to take that day off,” he said. (KUT, May 8)  

📖 Vouchers undermine efforts to provide an excellent public education for all. Since the early 2000s, many states have introduced significant voucher programs to provide public financing for private school education. These voucher programs are deeply damaging to efforts to offer an excellent public education for all U.S. children — and this is in fact often the intention of those pushing these programs. (Economic Policy Institute, May 15)