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This Week in the Legislature: Lawmakers Get an Earful on School Finance Bill HB 2 in 2-Day Committee Hearing
This week was a busy one for the House Public Education Committee, with two days of hearings dedicated to House Bill 2, Chairman Brad Buckley’s school finance bill.
Read MoreUpdate from Houston ISD: Fighting for the ‘Heart & Soul of Learning’
Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, speaks at a March rally with Houston ISD parents, community allies, and local elected officials. Nearly two months have passed since the Texas Education Agency’s occupation of Houston ISD began. With just weeks before the start of school in Houston, much...
Read MoreUnpacking the Legislature: Your Working Conditions
Northeast Houston AFT President Shonda Below with a student at Texas AFT’s Public Education Advocacy Day in March 2023. Photo by Mariana Krueger, CCR Studios. When the Texas Education Agency released the results of their now infamously ignored Teacher Vacancy Taskforce Report, their recommendations fell into three broad categories: Compensation...
Read MoreJuly 21, 2023: The Will to Thrive
Friday, July 21, 2023 The Will to Thrive So far, no statistics have motivated our state leaders to fix the chronic underfunding of our public education system. Not the fact that Texas is 39th in the nation for per-pupil funding of its public schools. Nor the fact that we are...
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.
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