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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 MoreJune 9, 2023: ‘Starving us to death’
This week's Hotline is brought to you by Horace Mann. Friday, June 9, 2023 Rio Grande Valley community members, including McAllen AFT, protest outside an April stop on Gov. Abbott’s voucher roadshow. Photo by Clarissa Riojas. ‘If you don’t have a school, you don’t have a community’ Today, we start...
Read MoreUnpacking the 88th Legislature: Public School Funding
This week, we’ll provide some insight into the Texas school finance system, explore why the Texas Legislature did not use the historic $33 billion surplus to address the “teacher vacancy crisis” or give you a raise, and explain what’s next in our fight for respect and for fully funding our...
Read More31st Biennial Texas AFT Convention Starts Today
This weekend, Texas AFT hosts our union’s 31st Biennial Convention in McAllen. Many thanks to our host committee in the Rio Grande Valley: McAllen AFT, Edinburg AFT, La Joya AFT, and PSJA AFT. The convention is our place, every two years, to take care of the business of our union...
Read MorePreview: State Board of Education’s August Meeting
The State Board of Education (SBOE) will hold its regular meeting in Austin next week. We will be closely watching several items, with special focus on those related to proposed science textbooks and charter schools. The meeting will begin Aug. 29 with a public hearing on Proclamation 2024, which includes...
Read MoreLegislative Update: Gov. Abbott Has a Veto Tantrum, Senate Sets Paxton Impeachment Trial Rules
Seeking Leverage on Vouchers & Property Tax Relief, Gov. Abbott Has a Veto Tantrum Sunday was the last day for Gov. Greg Abbott to exercise his veto authority, stopping any bills passed during the regular session from becoming law. In an attempt to punish certain legislators who did not vote...
Read MoreSenator Roland Gutierrez to Receive Acts of Courage Award From Texas AFT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 23, 2023 CONTACT: press@texasaft.org Senator Roland Gutierrez to Receive Acts of Courage Award From Texas AFT The award will be presented to the state senator from Uvalde for his dedication to the safety of Texas students, educators, and communities. AUSTIN, Texas — For his relentless advocacy...
Read MoreSpecial Session Update: New Committees and New Attacks
As the House and Senate’s increasingly public and hostile battle over how to distribute more than $12 billion in property tax relief rages, both chambers have made other moves that have serious implications for the future of public education in Texas. House Announces Select Committee on Education This week, House...
Read MoreUnpacking the 88th Legislature: Retired Educator COLA
Educators in Texas who have retired over the past two decades have never received an increase to their monthly pension. Even those who retired before then have only received a slight increase to their monthly annuities. Meanwhile, consumer prices have increased by more than 60% in Texas over the past...
Read MoreUnpacking the 88th Legislature: School Employee Raises
The legislative session began with a $32.7 billion budget surplus, record-breaking staff turnover, and a TEA Teacher Vacancy Task Force report that directly pointed to educator raises as a necessary strategy to keep educators in the classroom. Yet the legislative session ended with $0 in guaranteed raises for educators.
Read MoreSpecial Session Update: Senate Treads Water After House Adjourns
Last week, the day after the regular session of the Texas Legislature ended, Gov. Greg Abbott promptly called legislators back for a special session to deal with property tax cuts and border security. The Texas House promptly passed a property tax cut bill and a border security bill, and adjourned...
Read MoreFirst Week of TEA’s Takeover of Houston ISD, in Review
Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson speaks at a community protest prior to the board meeting. On Thursday, June 8, the Texas Education Agency’s hand-picked board of managers, which replaces Houston ISD’s democratically elected school board, met for the first time. Before the meeting, members of the board of...
Read MoreJune 2, 2023: Schools aren’t failing. Our state is.
Friday, June 2, 2023 You made a difference this session We are sorting through the results of this legislative session, and we’ll be recapping each key part of our Respect Agenda and how it fared in the Hotline throughout the summer. But to start things off, we wanted to take...
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