Featured News
Action Needed: SBOE to Review TEA’s Bible-Infused New Curriculum
Typically, we would wait to preview the State Board of Education (SBOE) meeting in the Hotline edition closest to the date of the meeting. However, there is a hotly anticipated hearing happening at the board’s next regular meeting, Sept. 10-13, and we need our members engaged and taking action in advance of the meeting. Regular Hotline readers will be familiar...
Read MoreYou’re Not A-Loan: AFT Student Debt Benefits
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Biden Administration’s plan to cancel $10,000-20,000 in student debt for all federal student loan borrowers, the Department of Education has taken steps to provide 804,000 borrowers with automatic loan forgiveness. But there are several updates you need to be aware of....
Read MoreWe’re Hiring: Student Fellowship Available
The Bridges Fellowship Texas AFT is looking to develop the next generation of policy and communications experts in the labor and pro-public education movement. Each year, Texas AFT recruits hardworking self-starters to join the Bridges Fellowship. The Fellowship is named in honor of the late Linda Bridges, the president of...
Read MoreAug. 18, 2023: The Long-Awaited Committee Report
Friday, August 18, 2023 Reading opens the world. Will Texas let it? The latest issue of AFT’s American Educator magazine is a special one, dedicated to addressing literacy, learning loss, and loneliness among our students. The goal is to lay out strategies — proven by research and practiced by educators...
Read MoreAug. 11, 2023: We take care of us
Friday, August 11, 2023 Members of the Houston Federation of Teachers, along with community members, parents, and students, participate in a read-in before the Houston ISD Board of Managers meeting Thursday, Aug. 10. The protest was in response to state-installed Superintendent Mike Miles' plans to close district libraries and transform...
Read MoreUnpacking the Select Committee Report
Rep. Gina Hinojosa did not sign on to the House Select Committee’s report, instead releasing her own recommendations, outlined in the report’s appendices. Chief among her concerns: that teacher and school staff raises will once again be held hostage by private school voucher proponents. In June 2023, Speaker Dade Phelan...
Read MoreTEA Releases STAAR Test Results, Revealing Continued Post-COVID Improvements
This Wednesday, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) released results from the 2023 STAAR test, including data aggregated at the state, region, district, and campus levels. Overall, the data showed marked increase in math scores, which had dipped significantly in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit. The data revealed...
Read More10 Thoughts About Austin Charter School’s ‘VIP Car Line’
HB 1707 was meant to increase charter school expansion. Instead, it will work to rein in self-dealing from charter operators.
Read MoreGet Out the Vote for a COLA with Texas AFT Retiree Plus on Tuesday 8/22
Texas AFT Retiree Plus has kicked off its efforts to win a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for retired educators at the ballot box this November. Retirees are fighting to pass Proposition 9, which will provide an increase to retired educators’ pensions. Educators who have been retired for nearly two decades have...
Read MoreDo you know how your representative voted? Find out.
With a $33 billion surplus available, many educators across this state had high hopes for the 88th Legislature. Yet, here we are, one regular session and two special sessions later with no basic allotment increase and no guaranteed pay raises for teachers and school staff. Given those results, as well...
Read MoreRetired Educator COLA set as Proposition 9 on November Ballot
Last Friday, the ballot order for the Nov. 7 statewide constitutional amendment election, which will include a vote on a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to retired educator pensions, was set by the Texas Secretary of State’s office. The order of the 14 propositions on the ballot this November was determined by...
Read MoreTexas AFL-CIO Demands Action to Save Workers’ Lives
Last week, the Texas AFl-CIO launched a new letter campaign to push Gov. Greg Abbott to include statewide heat protections for Texas workers in the upcoming special session call. This summer, Texas workers have been exposed to some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Texas. In these types of...
Read MoreAug. 4, 2023: Houston, we have a problem
Friday, August 4, 2023 Alliance/AFT member and Dallas ISD teacher Rosie Curts attends a Houston community protest this summer against TEA’s takeover and Mike Miles’ appointment as superintendent. It starts in Houston. It doesn’t end there. We start this week with a message from Texas AFT President Zeph Capo and...
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