Publish Date: September 30, 2024 4:56 pm Author: Texas AFT
Share on
Friday, Sept. 27, 2024
Protecting the freedom to learn
It’s national Banned Books Week, though in Texas for the past several years, just about every week has been Banned Books Week. According to American Library Association data, in 2023, more than 1,470 titles were challenged in Texas, putting it behind only Florida in book-banning statistics.
But the censorship attempts don’t stop withlibrary books. In just the past two years, Texans have seen academic freedom under siege in our colleges and universities with attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and faculty tenure. In K-12, we’ve seen all sorts of curriculum debacles, including Cy-Fair ISD’s board vote to redact information on climate change, vaccines, and cultural diversity from its science textbooks.
All these battles take a toll, as AFT President Randi Weingarten and Stacey Abrams, founder of the nonprofit American Pride Rises, point out in a recent column in The Guardian:
“Cynical, narrow-minded schemes to censor and skew what is taught and learned in our nation’s classrooms hurt our efforts to help all children get the best education possible. In a pluralistic society such as the United States, that includes helping students to bridge differences with people with different beliefs and backgrounds. There is no better place to do that than in our public schools.”
In this week’s Hotline:
Last week was a big one for one part of our Educator’s Bill of Rights: the right to a secure retirement.
An interim committee in the Texas Senate had a brief hearing on higher education issues, without mentioning its ban on DEI programs.
Check out our recap from the State Board for Educator Certification and the return of an embattled alt-cert program.
One of the key races in the fight against private school vouchers is happening in House District 121 in San Antonio.
After the Texas Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education covered Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, combating antisemitism on Texas college campuses, and campus free speech in its May 2024 interim hearing, advocates were expecting the committee to take up the rest of its interim charges – including the second wave recently issued by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick – in the subcommittee’s hearing held on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
Texas AFT Retiree Plus member Pamela Duck-Davis testified about the need for an automatic COLA for retired Texas educators at the House Committee on Pensions, Investments, & Financial Services meeting. Afterward, she spoke with two staunch allies of educators’ right to a secure retirement: Rep. Salman Bhojani (D-Euless) and Rep. Mihaela Plesa (D-Dallas).
Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies | Virtual
Whether it’s education, the state budget or housing affordability, 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 state Rep. Charles Cunningham, R-Humble: state Rep. Christina Morales, D-Houston; and state Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, on their priorities for the 2025 session and what it all means for Houston residents. We’ll also talk about weather resilience on the Texas coast and ongoing battles over how to handle elections in Texas.
Education news from around the state and nation that’s worth your time.
Texas education commissioner calls for student cellphone ban in schools. Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath last week said next year lawmakers should ban the use of cellphones in public schools across the state. Morath’s endorsement of a statewide ban came during his testimony at a Senate Education Committee hearing, where he called the use of cellular devices “extremely harmful” to student progress. (The Texas Tribune, Sept. 18)
‘This was politics’: How UT slashing its DEI programs crushed careers, halted a life’s work. In the web of the University of Texas, Alicia Moreno was one spindle in a massive wheel of student support — her job tailored to help a neglected student population and their specific needs. But on April 2 — four months after Senate Bill 17, a state law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion offices and related functions at public universities, changed the scope of Moreno’s work significantly and restructured that very school support wheel — the career she had known for the past seven years would come to a screeching halt. (Austin American-Statesman, Sept. 23)
Pro-voucher group backs Texas Republicans with new campaign – but no mention of vouchers. The D.C-based American Federation for Children is the leading national advocate for school vouchers. Now, just weeks away from the November election, the AFC is putting support behind specific Republicans who voted for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial voucher-like Education Savings Accounts — ESAs — in the last session. Mailers sent out recently praise the candidates as “champion[s] for children” who “fought for Texas teachers, parents and children” — while making no mention of vouchers, or party affiliation.(KERA, Sept. 25)
Want the latest news delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for our Legislative Hotline email list!
Sign Up Now
