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Amid Government Shutdown, Department of Education Layoffs Imperil Special Education Services, Protections
Sheria Smith, the former president of AFGE Local 252 and lawyer in the Office of Civil Rights, speaks at a rally outside Sen. Ted Cruz’s Dallas office as part of Texas AFT’s biennial convention in June 2025. Photo by Brooke Jonsson, CCR Studios. Even as the federal government remains closed for business, this week’s developments out of Washington, D.C., are...
Read MoreComputers Scoring STAAR Essays: Is Texas Sacrificing Quality for Efficiency?
Texas has quietly implemented a major change to the scoring of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams, a move that signals a concerning shift towards machine-driven evaluation and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education.
Read MoreCommunity Outrage Sparks Reversal of Keller ISD’s Cancellation of The Laramie Project
After weeks of student, parent, and community pushback, Timber Creek High School’s student performance of The Laramie Project will go on in Keller ISD. The decision, announced via email on Wednesday, was a swift reversal of the district’s decision in February to cancel the production, which garnered national media attention...
Read MoreTexas AFT Joins Poor People’s Campaign Rally to End ‘Death by Poverty’
This past Saturday, hundreds of Texans attended a rally and march hosted by the Texas Poor People’s Campaign at the state Capitol. The rally was held with rallies at 32 other state capitols and the nation's capital in Washington, D.C.
Read MoreFinally. After 9 Years of Scandals, TEA Commissioner Appoints 2 Conservators to Supervise IDEA Charter Schools.
It has taken years of documented financial scandals by IDEA charter schools to finally force the Texas Education Agency to act by appointing two conservators to supervise operations. The public allegations of improper spending and conflicts of interest at IDEA...
Read MoreTexas Schools Say “No” to Chaplain Counselors
Despite the passage of Senate Bill 763, which allows hiring religious chaplains as counselors, Texas school districts have overwhelmingly rejected implementing a new chaplain program. Texas public schools faced a March 1 deadline to decide whether to implement the controversial bill locally.
Read MoreAnti-Immigrant Texas Law SB 4 Heads to SCOTUS
The Supreme Court has signaled its intent to weigh in on the contentious legal battle between Texas and the Biden Administration over Senate Bill 4, a controversial new law that vastly expands state authority over immigration enforcement. SB 4 is “one of the most extreme anti-immigrant laws ever passed by...
Read MoreVoucher money won primary races. Voucher messaging didn’t.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s “voucher revenge” primary election managed to unseat a handful of Republicans who defied him. But what do the results actually tell us?
Read MoreMarch 1, 2024: Vote Vote Vote
Friday, March 1, 2024 Fund our fight for a thriving public education system at the ballot box this year. Shop new voting merch at store.texasaft.org. Every purchase is a donation to our Texas AFT COPE political fund. Educators don’t vote? Prove them wrong Tuesday. With Election Day coming this Tuesday,...
Read MoreTexas AFT releases dossiers exposing the billionaires bankrolling school privatization
Ahead of Election Day in the 2024 Republican primaries, where vouchers and public school privatization have been front and center, Texas AFT has released dossiers profiling the pro-voucher billionaires funneling obscene amounts of money into Texas elections.
Read MoreTexas AFT Membership Survey Results a “Disaster Declaration” for Public Education
As Texans vote in party primaries where public education and private school vouchers are front and center, Texas AFT has now released the results of our latest annual membership survey. The results — what you, our members, told us — are making headlines across the state.
Read MoreTexas Earns a ‘D’ Grade in New Public Schools Report, Barely Escaping Failure
This week, the Network for Public Education, a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening public schools across the country, published a report grading each state’s commitment to public education. This report, Public Schooling in America: Measuring Each State’s Commitment to Democratically Governed Schools, is the latest in a series assessing each state’s...
Read MoreFederal Judge Blocks Extreme Anti-Immigrant Law, Texas Senate Bill 4
In a significant victory for immigrant rights advocates, a federal court in Texas has issued a preliminary injunction blocking Texas Senate Bill 4 (SB 4, “one of the most extreme anti-immigrant laws ever passed by any state legislature in the country” according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of...
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