Publish Date: November 10, 2024 3:41 pm Author: Texas AFT
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Friday, Nov. 8, 2024
Progress is never a straight line, and our fight for thriving public schools is the work of lifetimes. But we’ve been it here in Texas for the past 50 years, and we’ll be in for the next 50 too.
What we have is each other
Over 65,000 active, retired, and former Texas AFT members voted in this election in Texas. And in the districts where Texas AFT COPE focused its work, in North Dallas and in San Antonio, our members improved the performance of our endorsed candidates. They knocked on doors and made phone calls and shared their values, and it made a difference. Just not enough of one.
Gov. Greg Abbott has already begun crowing that he now has his legislative majority to pass a private school voucher. His hand-picked candidates will enter the Legislature in January as if they had a mandate to privatize our public schools. They will act as if they have a mandate to drain more money from your schools and to endanger your jobs, just as the Texas Senate, emboldened by the new national outlook, is readying for further attacks on academic freedom in higher education.
What Abbott and his rich donors want is for us to give up, to grow so weary with the state of things that we retreat altogether. Are you willing to give them that satisfaction? Are you willing to make that sacrifice?
If the answer is no, the next step is clear. It’s time to join something. Texas AFT is a statewide union — yes, union — that welcomes K-12 and higher education employees. They call us the “most aggressive” educator group because we will not shy away from defending your rights as educators, speaking truth to power, or fighting for what Texas school employees really need.
We’re prepared to defend our schools from underfunding, privatization, and the craven politicization of our classrooms. Are you?
In this week’s Hotline:
Read an update from Texas AFT President Zeph Capo and Secretary-Treasurer Wanda Longoria on what this election means.
There was good news Tuesday night: Voters approved a pay raise for Austin ISD employees, and Houston ISD voters listened to educators and voted down Mike Miles’s $9 billion bond.
On Monday, the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education will meet to discuss the impact of its infringement on faculty tenure and its ban on DEI programs.
Later this month, the right to freedom of religion in our public schools is up for a vote at the State Board of Education.
Voters have spoken; though, 7 million registered voters in Texas sat out this election. As leaders of your union, we are deeply concerned with the direction our state will now take, specifically as it relates to public education, but we respect the will of the people who showed up and the peaceful transfer of power.
Education Austin members after a town hall about the VATRE vote just before Election Day.
Across the state, dozens of school districts held Voter-Approval Tax Rate Elections (VATREs) this week seeking to generate additional local and state revenue to provide educators and school employees with enhanced raises and help meet other pressing needs such as school safety and security. These VATREs are necessary because state funding for public education has remained stagnant since 2019 despite historic inflation during that time.
With most of the election results in, it is clear that voters showed strong support in some communities while expressing hesitation in others. Many of the election results reflected nationwide trends of increased scrutiny of local tax measures during times of economic pressure, with outcomes influenced by the makeup and turnout of local electorates.
Texas AFT members actively supported VATREs in Austin ISD and Spring ISD in the 2024 general election.
In many ways, any school bond election is a referendum on trust. Do voters trust district leaders to appropriately use taxpayer dollars, numbering into the millions and billions, to improve the learning conditions of their kids?
On Tuesday, state-appointed Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles’s failed leadership and sowing of distrust in the HISD community led to the district’s first failed bond proposal since 1996.
On Monday, Nov. 11, the Texas Senate Higher Education Subcommittee will hold a public hearing focusing on the future of faculty senates and so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and certificates in higher education. This hearing comes at a pivotal moment as lawmakers prepare for the 89th legislative session beginning in January 2025.
The committee will consider two particularly concerning charges: a review of faculty senates and like groups that could reshape shared governance in our institutions of higher education, and an examination of so-called DEI programs and certifications framed around alignment with “state workforce demands,” a pretext that appears designed to expand the application of Senate Bill 17 – Texas’s “DEI ban” – to apply to academic instruction and curriculum.
Normally, we would wait until the Friday before the meeting to preview the upcoming State Board of Education (SBOE) meeting on Nov. 19-22. But we wanted to alert Hotline readers to some recent news and an opportunity for action.
First, some election news: Aicha Davis, the former SBOE member for District 13, resigned earlier this year to run for Texas House District 109, a race she won Tuesday. We congratulate the new Rep. Davis and look forward to working with her in January! To fill the vacancy in District 13, Dr. Tiffany Clark, a former school counselor and De Soto ISD school board member, was placed on the November ballot and ran uncontested in this week’s election.
Whether it’s education, transportation, or immigration, Texas’ state lawmakers will have their hands full when they convene next year for the 2025 legislative session.
Join The Texas Tribune for a conversation with San Antonio lawmakers on their priorities for the 2025 session and what it all means for area residents. We’ll also discuss housing affordability and what the new make-up of the Texas House means for the state’s political landscape.
Recommended Reading
Education news from around the state and nation that’s worth your time.
📖 The Stakes for Higher Ed on Election Night. As higher education finds itself in the political crosshairs and faces greater skepticism from lawmakers and the public, this election could reshape the landscape over the next four years and beyond. Will students taking out loans have to repay them completely? How will sexual assault cases be adjudicated? Will nonprofit colleges be investigated or accredited? (Inside Higher Education, Nov. 5)
📖 What a Second Trump Presidency Could Mean for Education in the U.S. Former President Donald Trump may have pulled off an unthinkable upset, becoming the first previous commander-in-chief since 1892 to skip a term. But his defeat over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris left many education advocates wondering what another Trump administration, with his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and talk of eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, could mean for the nation’s students. (The 74 Million, Nov. 7)
📖 How did K-12 fare on state ballots in the 2024 election?In addition to electing the next president, voters on Tuesday also cast their ballots on a number of state education issues.Voters largely rejected ‘school choice’ initiatives but embraced a variety of school funding measures and elected state leaders. (K-12 Dive, Nov. 7)
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