FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2025
CONTACT: press@texasaft.org
Over 400 educators from across the state traveled to Austin for a legislative advocacy day
Austin, Texas – Today, over 400 educators traveled from districts big and small across the state to urge lawmakers to pass their Educator’s Bill of Rights, increase the basic allotment in the school finance bill, and stop pushing costly and unpopular private school voucher scams. Over the course of a busy day, educators engaged with lawmakers and spoke about the issues they see every single day at their neighborhood public schools. The day culminated in a rally on the South steps of the Capitol, where we heard firsthand the experience of Texas students and educators, including K-12 teachers, paraprofessionals, support staff, higher education employees, and retirees.
AFT members pose with state Rep. Jolanda Jones at the rally.
“Texas educators have watched in fear for two years as their colleagues were laid off left and right and their campuses were closed and consolidated. Lawmakers have to make things right, and what we’re currently seeing doesn’t even come close to making schools and educators whole again,” said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. “Republicans should heed the warning of the disastrous town halls they’ve been run out of in their own districts. Texans love their public schools, and they love their public school teachers. They want us to invest more and end the existential crisis that lawmakers have created for our schools.”
Over 400 educators traveled to Austin to make their voices heard.
Educators traveled all this way because they’re tired, upset, and running out of time. After two years of tumult amid an existential funding crisis for Texas public schools, educators need lawmakers to adopt common-sense reforms to improve the learning environment. Texas AFT’s Educator’s Bill of Rights includes a defined workday, safe classrooms, smaller class sizes, fair wages, a reliable pension, and more. When educators’ working environments improve, so do their students’ learning environments.
Texas AFT is also asking for a major boost to get the basic allotment–the state’s base per-student funding–to match inflation since the last funding increase in 2019. Texas public schools need a $1,386 per-student increase, far beyond the measly $220 currently included in House Bill 2. Educators also urged lawmakers to oppose private school vouchers. Vouchers would balloon in costs from year to year and raise property taxes, take taxpayer dollars from local neighborhood schools, devastate public school funding, and undermine any school funding boost or educator pay raise signed into law during this session.
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The Texas American Federation of Teachers represents 66,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.8-million-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.