Featured News
Retiree Issues in the Spotlight
We continue to await news of the final outcome of the bipartisan effort in Congress to pass the Social Security Fairness Act and finally repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) to ensure that public employees – including educators, firefighters, and VA nurses – receive the Social Security benefits they are due.
Read MoreGood Bills of the Week: Ending Hair Discrimination, Standing up for Support Staff, Giving Students’ Voice on School Boards
This week, House Bill 567 by Rep. Rhetta Bowers (D-Garland) was referred to the House State Affairs Committee, making it one of the first bills to be referred to a committee this legislative session. HB 567, colloquially known as the...
Read MoreStatement on Teacher Vacancy Task Force Report
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 24, 2022 CONTACT: press@texasaft.org Texas AFT President Zeph Capo commented today on the final report released by the Texas Education Agency’s Teacher Vacancy Task Force: “We thank the task force for its work, and we especially want to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of the...
Read MoreFeb. 17, 2023: TEA Deputy Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
Friday, Feb. 17, 2023 The Campaign to Defund Public Schools Picks Up Steam This has been a whirlwind week in the world of Texas education. We’ll cover much of it in this newsletter (TEA scandal! State of the State! Dan Patrick’s priorities!), but the main theme: vouchers and their impact...
Read MoreSocorro AFT Donates $10,000 in Goods to Asylum Seekers
As unionists, we say it frequently: an injustice to one is an injustice to all. Our members in Socorro ISD exemplified that spirit in January, spearheading a donation drive for people seeking asylum at the Texas-Mexico border. Socorro AFT led the efforts with support from several other El Paso area...
Read MoreTEA Deputy Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: Private School Vouchers Defund Public Schools
In leaked audio obtained by The Texas Tribune this past week, a deputy commissioner in Gov. Greg Abbott’s Texas Education Agency admitted that school voucher programs would defund Texas public schools. Steve Lecholop, TEA’s deputy commissioner for governance, was caught on audio advocating for “school choice” to a parent who...
Read MoreBad bills of the week: Dan Patrick’s Politicized Public Education Priorities
This Monday Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick released his list of priority bills for the legislative session. While the announcement did not include the actual language for the bills, it did include a few words describing what each bill would do. The five bills pertaining to public education and the five...
Read MoreHouse Appropriations Committee Convenes, Receives Subcommittee Assignments
This Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for crafting the state’s biennial budget, convened for the first time this legislative session. At the hearing, the committee received testimony from Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar and Education Commissioner Mike Morath. At the hearing, Hegar discussed the state’s unprecedented $33 billion...
Read MoreFeb. 10, 2023: 89% of School Counselors Don’t Feel Respected by Texas
This week's Hotline is sponsored by Texas AFT corporate supporter Horace Mann. Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 Shining a Spotlight on School Counselors To honor National School Counseling Week, we’ve given the top spot in today’s Hotline to a Texas school counselor. My name is Jessica Pecina Lopez, and I am...
Read MoreStatement on Leaked Audio of TEA Voucher Conversation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 15, 2023 CONTACT: press@texasaft.org Texas AFT President Zeph Capo commented today on a leaked audio recording of the Texas Education Agency deputy commissioner advocating for school vouchers. “’Maybe that's one less fourth grade teacher.’ Is that how the conversation normally goes inside TEA? Inside...
Read MoreShining a Spotlight on School Counselors
This week is National School Counseling Week, a time to highlight the incredibly important, difficult, and too often unnoticed work of our public school counselors. There is a lot we can say here, like: 89% of our members who are school counselors tell us they don’t feel respected by the...
Read MoreSenate Finance Committee Discuss Educator Raises, COLA, Community College Funding
The Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for drafting the Senate’s version of the state budget, convened for a series of hearings this week discussing article III of SB 1, the public and higher education section of the state budget. Over three days, Committee Chair Joan Huffman (R-Houston), Vice Chair...
Read MoreSpeaker Dade Phelan Announces House Committee Assignments
This past week, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced committee assignments for the 88th legislative session. In his second session as speaker of the Texas House, Phelan dramatically changed the leadership and membership of several key Texas House committees. Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Killeen) will now head the House Public Education...
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