Every week, Texas AFT compiles important news, updates, and information on public education policy in Texas. The Hotline covers a wide range of topics, including statewide education news, updates from the legislative session, and our current union campaigns.
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...
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Friday, Dec. 13, 2024 Common sense for the common good This week, AFT President Randi Weingarten and her wife Sharon Kleinbaum, the Senior Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York City, published an opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle. The topic: The State Board of Education's vote in November to...
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Friday, Dec. 6, 2024 Finding common ground We have a mental health crisis among our kids. This much we know; both the data and our experience as teachers and school staff agree. The reasons for it are many and varied, but one that has escaped regulation for too long...
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Friday, Nov. 22, 2024 What is there to be grateful for? This has been a bruising year, another in a long string of them. We have endured an unrelenting election cycle that exposed the deep rifts within our country. And many of you have done it while clocking into work...
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Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 Your Union, Your Voice The annual Texas AFT Membership Survey closes this Monday! Members – your voices built our union’s 2025 legislative agenda, and your priorities are what we need to hear about right now. Please take time this weekend to complete our annual membership survey....
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Friday, Nov. 1, 2024 Download shareable social media graphics at aftvotes.org. On Nov. 5, we vote for the well-being of our children. If you’re reading this, you know that Election Day is Tuesday. Hopefully, you have made your plan to vote and know the location of your polling place,...
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Friday, Oct. 25, 2024 Your vote, your voice. The presidential election, along with all other consequential down-ballot races in Texas, is happening now. It ends Nov. 5. And it is taking place in a state where: Public schools are struggling to survive without any new funding from the state since...
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Friday, Oct. 18, 2024 United Against Book Bans This Saturday, Oct. 19, libraries, bookstores, readers, and partners nationwide are hosting rallies and community events to unite against book bans and demonstrate our shared commitment to a fundamental freedom: the freedom to read. Book bans and challenges in the U.S. reached...
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Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 ‘I felt like I had been deserted’ The work our members do each day, whether in K-12 schools or in our colleges and universities, is noble, vital, and so often undervalued by the folks in charge. Their work is also increasingly dangerous, whether that’s the ever-present...
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Friday, Oct. 4, 2024 ‘I’m a Union Guy’ Tuesday’s Vice Presidential Debate was much less ... lively than the Presidential Debate, but there were still a few noteworthy moments. Specifically on the topic of trade and the economy, vice presidential candidate and Democratic governor of Minnesota Tim Walz proclaimed that...
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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...
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Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 The Right to Academic Freedom No. 6 in Texas AFT’s Educator’s Bill of Rights, our union’s agenda for the 89th Legislature, is the right to academic freedom. Our members have told us that ending classroom censorship by repealing book bans and limitations on classroom instructional materials...
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Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 No more harm. Just 53 days separate us and Election Day. We already know the stakes; from the presidency all the way down to control of our school boards and our municipal offices, the fate of democracy is on the ballot. Look no further for an...
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