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 MoreTake Action: U.S. Congress Poised to Slash Education Funding by Billions
In Washington, D.C., last week, the Republican-controlled House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee announced a new bill that could result in the removal of an estimated 220,000 teaching positions nationwide.
Read MoreUnpacking the Legislature: School Privatization
Over the course of the regular legislative session, one topic cast a shadow over the entire public education conversation. It wasn't the harmful overtesting of our state’s children or our state’s severely underfunded classrooms. It was private school vouchers.
Read MoreJuly 14, 2023: ‘Starve, Shame, & Shutter’
Friday, July 14, 2023 ‘Starve, shame, & shutter’ With a $33 billion surplus available, we had high hopes. High hopes that the Texas Legislature would step up and deliver for students, educators, and school employees ahead of the upcoming school year. Yet, here we are, one regular session and two...
Read MoreUnpacking the Legislature: Higher Education
While public institutions of higher education in Texas have weathered attacks from the state Legislature before, never have those attacks been so directly targeted by lawmakers as in this session.
Read MoreLegislative Update: In a Week of Aggressive Deal-Making, Public Education Still Left in the Dust
The Texas Legislature has yet to reach an agreement on property tax relief, but there have been significant developments in the past week.
Read MoreTexas AFT Retirees Gear Up to Win A COLA at the Ballot Box, As TRS Board Approves Supplemental Checks
This week, the TRS Board of Trustees convened in Austin. At the system’s quarterly board meeting, trustees received an update on legislation passed during the 88th regular session, including but not limited to SB 10, which will provide certain TRS...
Read MoreJuly 7, 2023: Kicking Back Into Gear
Friday, July 7, 2023 Our schools are back on the menu. If you’ve read even a single edition of the Hotline in the past month, you know: The Texas Legislature ended its regular session without a single new dollar in state funding for public schools and $0 for teacher and...
Read MoreLegislative Update: Public School Funding, Teacher Pay Enter the Property Tax Special Session
The Texas Legislature has yet to reach an agreement on property tax relief, but there have been significant developments in the past week.
Read MoreUnpacking the Legislature: Educator Recruitment
Remember TEA's Teacher Vacancy Task Force report? The Legislature didn't, failing to deliver on its educator recruitment recommendations.
Read MoreNew Charter School Regulations Targeting Self-Dealing, Lack of Transparency Set to Go Into Effect
HB 1707 was meant to increase charter school expansion. Instead, it will work to rein in self-dealing from charter operators.
Read MoreSupreme Court Tanks President Biden’s Student Debt Plan
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan was unconstitutional.
Read MoreJune 30, 2023: The Work of Our Union
This week's Hotline is brought to you by Horace Mann. Friday, June 30, 2023 Daniel Alvarez Photo The state of our union is strong. The state of our schools is on life support. This weekend, for the first time since 2019, Texas AFT members convened in person for our statewide...
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