Education News
March 16, 2023
House Dems want to tap surplus for public education
Texas House Democrats are proposing to spend much of the state’s record-setting surplus on public education by doling out $15B to boost funding for schools, salaries for teachers and pensions for retirees. The figure is the same that GOP leaders earmarked from the start of this year’s session for school property tax cuts.
House Democrats’ four-point education plan would increase public schools’ “basic allotment” funding by $1,340 a student, which would provide teacher pay raises of $7,000 on average this fall, followed the next year by an additional $3,000 bump. The plan also would peg school funding to student enrollment, not attendance, giving schools more financial certainty – and more money. Retired teachers would see a cost-of-living increase. Read more
March 15, 2023
Texas Education Agency will take control of Houston ISD in June
After a prolonged legal battle and weeks of speculation, the Texas Education Agency on Wednesday confirmed it’s removing Houston Independent School District’s democratically elected school board and superintendent, effectively putting the state in charge of its largest school district. Read more
March 14, 2023
Austin ISD employees are burdened by housing costs, survey finds
A district survey shows 73% of employees spend more than 30% of their salary on housing. That figure is significant because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says people are cost-burdened if more than 30% of their income goes toward housing costs, such as rent or mortgage payments. Read more
March 13, 2023
Fort Worth ISD pushed to hire more non-certified special ed teachers
As schools in the Fort Worth area struggle to find enough teachers to cover their special education classrooms, some are increasingly being pushed to turn to non-certified educators hired on an emergency basis. Fort Worth ISD hired nearly three times as many special education teachers on emergency permits ahead of the current school year as compared to the year prior, district records show. Read more
March 12, 2023
Texas’ teacher pension fund shed $500m over fossil fuel law
Texas’ largest biggest pension fund shed more than $500m worth of investments in BlackRock to comply with the new state law meant to punish companies that snub fossil fuels. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas also shed positions in BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse Group, Danske Bank, Nordea Bank, Schroders, Svenska Handelsbanken, Swedbank and UBS Group worth a combined $112m as of last August, records show.
March 11, 2023
Texas families would get $8,000 in tax dollars to send students to private school in sweeping ‘parental rights’ bill backed by lieutenant gov
A sweeping education bill introduced in the Texas Senate late Friday would allow families to use taxpayer money to send their children to private schools, establish new opportunities for parents to review instruction material and impose new rules on how gender and sexual orientation is taught in all grades. Read more
March 10, 2023
Texas Senate’s priority bills on higher ed would end tenure, diversity policies
The bills are part of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s list of priorities and, if passed as filed, could have profound impacts on how Texas universities recruit top faculty and other employees. Read more
March 9, 2023
Texas House prioritizes legislation on school security, teacher pipeline
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has announced his support for several education bills this legislative session, highlighting bills addressing campus safety and strengthening the teacher pipeline. One measure, House Bill 13, would require districts to adopt active-shooter preparedness plans. Authored by Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian), it would also expand funding for mental health resources. Read more
March 8, 2023
Texas senators file bill to block Houston ISD takeover
State Senators Carol Alvarado, Borris Miles and John Whitmire have filed a bill to soften the law that triggers school district takeovers. State Rep. Alma Allen also filed a companion bill in the House. Read more
March 7, 2023
The TX House has a record number of LGBTQ reps as lawmakers face scores of bills focused on gender and sexuality
The Texas Legislature has nine lawmakers who are openly LGBTQ, all Democrats. At the same time, some Republican lawmakers are pushing a slate of bills aimed at transgender children and how sexuality is discussed in schools. Read more
March 6, 2023
New plan for school safety
New legislation proposed in the Texas Senate would create a safety and security department in the Texas Education Agency and give the education commissioner direct power to compel school districts to establish safety protocols for active-shooter situations. Read more
March 5, 2023
Plurality of Texas voters say they support school voucher-like program
A February survey of 1,200 voters from the University of Texas at Austin has found that a plurality support redirecting tax revenue to help parents pay to school their kids outside the traditional public education system. In all, 46% of voters are in favor of the idea, with 41% against. Gov. Greg Abbott has thrown his weight behind the proposal and is traveling the state to pitch parents on it, particularly in rural communities. Read more
March 4, 2023
Houston ISD braces for possible state takeover
Parents, teachers and retired HISD employees were among the many that came out in support of their district and against a midsemester change of leadership that has been in the works since 2019, when the TEA first announced plans to take over the district after allegations of misconduct by trustees and years of low academic performance at Phillis Wheatley High School — one of the district’s 276 schools. Read more
March 3, 2023
Texas bond debt guarantee program hits limit
Texas’ Permanent School Fund, which has long helped school districts get the lowest possible interest rates on bonds, has reached the $117bn debt limit set by the IRS. Since December, at least 49 school and charter districts that asked the PSF to back their debt were denied due to insufficient capacity, resulting in more than $6.87bn in unguaranteed bonds. Read more
March 2, 2023
TEA takeover of Houston ISD imminent, says Mayor Turner
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday morning that he has been told that the Texas Education Agency plans to take over Houston ISD as early as next week. “I’m talking to legislators, and what they’re saying to me is that the state intends to take over the district, replacing the entire board, replacing the superintendent,” Mr. Turner said at a City Council meeting. “I find that totally alarming.” Read more
March 1, 2023
Supreme Court appears skeptical of Biden’s federal student loan debt plan
In arguments this week, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical of the legalities of President Joe Biden’s plan to slash federal student loan debt burdens, which he initiated via an executive order last year. Some scholars have suggested that Biden’s plan was always on shaky ground legally and have urged the administration to start over, however White House officials remain confident about their case. In all, up to 43m Americans could benefit from Biden’s headline debt relief plan. Read more
February 28, 2023
Crosby ISD votes to become largest Texas district to adopt four-day school week
Crosby ISD leaders voted 4-3 Monday night to become the largest school district in Texas, and first in Harris County, to adopt a four-day instructional week. The new school calendar is a move by the district to attract additional teachers after facing 40 openings at the start of the school year. Read more
February 27, 2023
Solving Texas’ teacher shortage
A yearlong review by a state task force examining Texas’ teacher shortage recommended that lawmakers increase teacher salaries, improve training and commit to respecting educators’ time. The task force, formed last year by Gov. Greg Abbott, also recommended increasing the base funding schools get per student, an idea that has already gained traction in the Texas Legislature during this year’s session. Read more
February 26, 2023
HBCUs play ‘outsize role’ in producing teachers of color
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) play an outsize role in producing teachers of color in the United States. Of all Black teachers nationwide, almost half are graduates of an HBCU. Meanwhile, just 7% of teachers are Black, compared with 15% of students. Read more
February 25, 2023
Houston-area school districts battling to retain teachers
Amid considerable workforce challenges, school districts in and around Houston are offering stipends, bonuses, and even four-day weeks in attempt to retain teachers. Many Houston area school districts already pay slightly above the state average for teacher salaries, which is nearly $59,000. Read more
February 24, 2023
International Baccalaureate to allow pupils to use ChatGPT
International Baccalaureate, a global qualification body, has said children will be allowed to quote from work generated by the AI chatbot in their essays, as long as they give it credit and do not plagiarize. Read more
February 23, 2023
Region 13 career fair
Please join us for the 2023 Region 13 Education Career Fair on May 4, 2023, from 4:00 – 7:00 pm. This is an opportunity to meet local area recruiters to learn about exciting opportunities in Texas schools! There will be numerous districts from the central Texas region for candidates to meet and possibly interview with. Read more
UT System pauses diversity policies
The University of Texas System’s board of regents said it has put a pause on all new policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion at its 13 university and health campuses. The board has also asked all school leaders to provide a report on their current DEI policies. Read more
February 22, 2023
Education savings accounts profiled
Education savings accounts (ESAs), a fairly new program that started about a decade ago, are essentially taxpayer-supported bank accounts for parents who remove their children from the public education system. Those parents get state money up front to pay for their educational expenses, like private school tuition, online schooling or private tutors. In most cases, the state manages these accounts. Read more
February 21, 2023
In a Central Texas county, high schoolers are jailed on felony charges for vaping what could be legal hemp
Police often can’t tell if a cannabis vape pen is derived from marijuana or legal hemp, like the delta-8 products on display in gas stations across Texas. That doesn’t stop them from making felony arrests in high schools. Read more
February 20, 2023
Districts mull four-day school weeks
After much research and discussion, Galveston ISD this week adopted a calendar that won’t include a four-day week, arguing raises for teachers and some programs could suffer as a result. The district’s calendar committee recommended the district not adopt four-day school weeks for the 2023-2024 school year after polling schools and the community. Read more
February 19, 2023
Federal funding to support student wellness initiatives
The U.S. Department of Education has announced awards of more than $188m across 170 grantees in over 30 states to increase access to school-based mental health services and to strengthen the pipeline of mental health professionals, particularly in regard to high-needs districts. Read more
February 16, 2023
Public schools are about duty; vouchers are about politics and shortsightedness
Following Governor Abbott’s State of the State Address, Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina released the following statement: Abbott doesn’t seem to understand that the bright Texas future he loves to brag about, including that new $32 billion surplus, owes a lot to the hard work of Texas public schools and public school educators. Businesses and our economy couldn’t operate very long without them. Read more
February 15, 2023
TEA official recorded discussing voucher-like programs with parent
A high-ranking Texas Education Agency official has been recorded advocating for voucher-like programs on behalf of Governor Greg Abbott, and stating that funding to public school districts could decrease if such a policy passes this Legislative session. Read more
February 13, 2023
Help us celebrate Black History Month
Join our social media campaign in celebration of Black History Month. Submit a 60 second video honoring a Black icon or artwork that captures Blackness or Black history through a visual experience. Enter the contest
February 12, 2023
Texas Tech reviews its hiring practices as efforts to promote diversity come under fire
Texas Tech’s review comes as Governor Greg Abbott has instructed state agencies and public universities that “forbidden DEI initiatives” violate federal and state employment discrimination laws. Read more
February 11, 2023
After botched response to Uvalde massacre, Texas senator wants better mass shooting training for public safety entities
State Senator Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, wants to prevent communication breakdowns like the ones that occurred in the botched response to the Uvalde school shooting. Read more
February 9, 2023
House speaker fills key panel with past school voucher opponents
Amid a conservative push for private school vouchers, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan on Wednesday made a number of appointments to the House Public Education Committee, with state Representative Brad Buckley (R-Killeen) to chair the panel. He replaces Rep. Harold Dutton, a Houston Democrat who remains on the committee. Read more
February 8, 2023
Texas schools ramp up awareness of fentanyl dangers
Across Texas, school leaders are grappling with how to address fentanyl use among students. Law enforcement officials say the drug is often laced into fake pills, putting unknowing buyers at risk when they seek Percocet or Xanax, for example. The synthetic opioid is up to 100 times more potent than morphine and an amount as small as the tip of a sharpened pencil can be lethal. Read more
February 7, 2023
Much for education in Biden’s State of the Union speech
President Joe Biden emphasized schools’ role in supporting student mental health during his State of the Union address in Washington on February 7th. Rising rates of anxiety and depression among children and teens should be a top concern for the nation, he asserted. Read more
February 6, 2023
TRS divests from investment firms accused of ‘boycotting’ oil and gas industry
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) has divested part of its massive pension fund from 10 financial firms that the state comptroller singled out for “boycotting” the oil and gas industry. Financial firms in recent years have increased their commitments to environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies that attempt to account for the negative societal costs of investing in companies that worsen climate change, use exploitative labor practices or engage in corporate corruption. However, in 2021 Texas prohibited state funds from contracting with or investing in companies that divest from oil, natural gas and coal companies. Read more
February 5, 2023
Senators indicate openness to changing state education funding formula
During the Senate Finance Committee’s first public education hearing Monday, senators seemed open to reconsidering the core metric used to determine how much money the state gives schools per student, a switch that many school districts say would result in millions in additional funding. Read more
February 3, 2023
State Board of Education eases stance on school choice
The State Board of Education altered its stance on school vouchers on Thursday night, voting to rescind its recommendation from late last year that the Legislature deny any measures to provide public funding for private schools. A few months ago, the 15-member board approved legislative priorities that included a repudiation of voucher-like initiatives, which can give parents public dollars to spend on private school tuition. On Thursday night, the board, with new members taking their positions, voted 8-5 to remove the language opposing vouchers. Read more
February 2, 2023
Texas Legislature gears up to tackle long-standing and fresh issues in public education
Lawmakers are looking at ways to keep teachers in the profession, make schools safer, give parents money for private schooling and censor conversations about sex and gender. Read more
Most Texans want ‘content ratings’ on school library books, UH poll finds
The majority of Texans want a “content rating” – similar to what’s used for movies – on books sold to public schools to help establish what is appropriate for children, according to a new poll from the University of Houston. Seventy-one percent of the 1,200 people questioned support requiring book publishers to include a content rating based on whether the title is appropriate for young children or older students. Read more
February 1, 2023
UH drops neon vest policy for theater students
The University of Houston has walked back a policy requiring theater students to wear vests while rehearsing scenes outdoors, a move put in place after a campus police officer drew a gun on a Black student while he was rehearsing a play. The university’s decision comes after it was criticized by students, who argued that the policy put the burden of their safety on them rather than on police. Read more
January 31, 2023
Governor Greg Abbott discusses ‘school choice’ during Corpus Christi visit
Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday that “every child in the state of Texas” needs access to a voucher-like program that gives parents public dollars to spend on private school tuition or other educational expenses. Speaking at Annapolis Christian Academy, a private school in Corpus Christi, Abbott voiced his most explicit support to date for a “school choice” program that he said “will give all parents the ability to choose the best education option” for their children. Read more
January 30, 2023
Holocaust education bill introduced on Holocaust Remembrance Day
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill on Friday that would order a study on Holocaust education in US public schools. The bill, which has more than 60 co-sponsors, would direct the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to launch a study of Holocaust education in public schools in the US to determine which states and schools require such instruction, identify the materials and approaches used for the education and recognize the standards for the teachings, among other tenets. Read more
January 29, 2023
Lax Texas charter school laws allow splashy land buys, profits for leaders
An analysis by Hearst Newspapers found cases in which charter schools collected valuable real estate at great cost to taxpayers but with a tenuous connection to student learning. In others, administrators own the school facilities and have collected millions from charging rent to the same schools they run. Read more
January 28, 2023
Teach For America to cut a quarter of staff in latest shakeup
The organization will reduce its staff by roughly 400 positions, according to a video shared with staff in mid-December. Teach for America has garnered staunch supporters and fierce critics since its founding in 1989. Its opponents say its structure — a relatively short training program paired with a two-year commitment — is inadequate. Read more
January 27, 2023
Most Texas schools passed intruder detection audit
Most Texas public schools reviewed this fall passed the random security inspections recently introduced by Governor Greg Abbott meant to detect whether an intruder could gain access to campuses, but more than a quarter of them still need to make improvements. Read more
January 26, 2023
Teachers of color have better retention rates, report finds
A new report co-authored by Education Trust and Teach Plus Texas has found that recruiting and retaining more teachers of color could help reduce teacher turnover, a problem that has been greatly exacerbated during the pandemic. Teachers of color were less likely to leave the profession than their white peers, with 15% of Black teachers and 18% of Latino teachers from university-based certification programs leaving the profession in Texas nine years later, compared to 32% of white teachers. Read more
January 25, 2023
Most Texans support more school funding and teacher raises, survey claims
A new survey released Tuesday shows Texans support teacher raises, want an increase in public school funding and are split on voucher-like programs. The Charles Butt Foundation quizzed 1,125 Texan adults for its fourth annual Texas Education Poll, finding that 89% support increasing state funding to boost teacher salaries. In the wake of May’s school shooting in Uvalde, survey participants said that school safety is a top priority, with 91% of them saying they support increased funding for safety programs. Read more
January 24, 2023
Senator Brandon Creighton retains control of state Senate Education Committee
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on Monday announced this year’s Senate committee assignments, appointments that he said will “ensure we succeed in addressing the priorities of the people of Texas.” Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Conroe Republican, maintained control of the Education Committee, which will now oversee higher education legislation in addition to bills that impact K-12 learning. He also will also chair a new subcommittee on higher education. Read more
January 23, 2023
School library shelves under increasing scrutiny
At least 10 states have now passed laws giving parents more power over which books appear in libraries or limiting students’ access to books, a Washington Post analysis has found, while school districts are being pushed to pass policies that bar certain kinds of texts amid increasing administrative or parental oversight of acquisitions. Read more
January 22, 2023
Strategies for encouraging student engagement
An insightful new survey indicates that building caring relationships, soliciting student perspectives and having high expectations for students were the three most common practices for encouraging student engagement in the 2021-22 school year. Read more
January 21, 2023
Federal webinar shares strategies to tackle teen fentanyl use
Panelists at a webinar hosted by the U.S. Department of Education last week roundly agreed that schools, families and communities can adopt strategies to reduce fentanyl use and deaths among young people. Panelists, who included researchers, drug experts, advocates, grieving parents and others, said while educators can adopt several approaches to combat the risk of fentanyl, what students, families and teachers need the most is more knowledge about why fentanyl is so dangerous and how to curb its use. Read more
January 20, 2023
Cradle-to-Career Solutions grants announced
The US Department of Education has announced new awards totaling more than $35m for grants to Promise Neighborhoods, which provides coordinated support services and programs to students from low-income backgrounds and is now in 34 states with partnerships across 73 communities, and Project Prevent, which provides grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) impacted by community violence to expand the capacity of LEAs to implement community- and school-based strategies to help prevent community violence and mitigate the impacts of exposure to community violence for students. For fiscal year 2022, four new grants totaling $23m will focus on the implementation of services in neighborhoods that have never received support through the program. Read more
January 19, 2023
Uvalde shares designs for new elementary school
The Uvalde Consolidated ISD Moving Forward Foundation presented early renderings of a new school to replace Robb Elementary to residents at a meeting Wednesday night. The schematic exterior designs show a two-story building with a brick-and-glass exterior, covered walkways and an atrium-style entrance. Read more
January 18, 2023
Governor Abbott begins third term promising safer schools
Texas Governor Greg Abbott promised safer classrooms and “parental rights” in schools Tuesday, as he began a record-tying third term in office, stating that he and lawmakers “will not end this session without making schools safer.” Mr. Abbott said that the state’s schools should be “for education, not indoctrination” and that they should get “back to teaching our students the fundamentals.” He also promoted school choice, saying parents “deserve the freedom to choose the education that’s best for their child.” In his reelection campaign, Mr. Abbott signaled his strongest support yet for vouchers, or allowing public money to fund students attending private schools. “The governor and I are all in on school choice,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said as he was sworn in, acknowledging concerns in rural communities that such a program would undermine their public schools. “To the naysayers that say school choice hurts rural Texas, the governor and I will have a plan to protect those schools financially and to make sure those parents have choice also where they are in a failing school.” Read more
January 17, 2023
Texas Supreme Court clears way for state’s education agency to take over Houston ISD
The Texas Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the state to potentially take control of the Houston Independent School District, which state education officials say has been plagued by mismanagement and low academic performance at one of its high schools.
Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath first moved to take over the district’s school board in 2019 in response to allegations of misconduct by trustees and years of low performance at Phillis Wheatley High School. Read more
January 16, 2023
COVID-19 upended Texas schools’ finances; now they’re calling for a new funding system.
Districts like Pflugerville ISD, which is struggling with a $12 million deficit and weighing school closures, say the pandemic and rising inflation have eroded the value of the state’s last effort to overhaul its public education finance system. Read more
January 15, 2023
Supreme Court takes up disabled students’ rights case
The Supreme Court will hear a case today that could significantly impact the rights of students with disabilities in disputes between their parental guardians and schools. The case, Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, which is in Michigan, will raise two key questions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: whether families can initiate claims if they have already settled under IDEA proceedings and whether a family must exhaust IDEA proceedings when pursuing non-IDEA claims for money damages under other federal disability laws. Read more
January 14, 2023
Law enforcement disproportionately impacts students of color
As the presence of police in schools continues to be debated, a new analysis of police assaults by the Advancement Project, a nonprofit working toward eliminating police from public schools, adds to the mounting evidence that the presence of law enforcement negatively impacts students of color disproportionately. Read more
January 13, 2023
Districts innovating to tackle meal debt
School meal debt has been surging this school year, placing burdens on families and the districts charged with holding them financially accountable. Meal debt is painful for those who accrue it and those who impose it. Read more
January 12, 2023
Dallas schools tackle high dropout rate with credit recovery programs
Dallas ISD is embracing evening and online classes to cut down on the high number of students who drop out of school each year. Administrators are also exploring how to catch teens before they ever fall behind. Read more
January 11, 2023
Uvalde DA receives initial state police report on school shooting
The Texas Department of Public Safety says that state police investigating the Robb Elementary school shooting have sent an initial report to Uvalde district attorney Christina Mitchell. A complete report is not expected for several months. The investigation is expected to eventually include a review about whether any victims who died may have survived had police intervened sooner. In the meantime, the initial review remains under wraps to the public. Read more
January 10, 2023
New data privacy center aims to help schools
A new national nonprofit called the Public Interest Privacy Center aims to help superintendents and other school district leaders respond to the myriad of data privacy considerations in the education sector. Part of the organization’s work will be helping district leaders explain the particulars of privacy and technology to parents and teachers. It will also connect district leaders with resources for vetting new technologies and share best solutions for ensuring data privacy with districts around the country. Read more
January 9, 2023
Two Texas bills would restrict lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools
The legislation closely mirrors a Florida bill passed last year, dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which detractors say would further isolate LGBTQ students and open teachers and school districts to legal risks. Read more
January 8, 2023
Schools pursuing alternatives to student suspensions
Schools and community groups are increasingly taking a less punitive, more collaborative approach to disciplining children and teens. Mental-health problems among children and teens surged during the pandemic, the result, psychologists say, of isolation, family stress and loss, so schools are reducing out-of-school suspensions in favor of in-school suspension days, adding sit-down talks with principals and even introducing written assignments reflecting on behavioral issues. Read more
January 7, 2023
Public charter school case has constitutional implications
Peltier et al. v. Charter Day School was prompted by three North Carolina parents’ distaste for Charter Day School’s (CDS) requirement that their daughters wear only skirts to school. After the school refused to change its policy, the parents sued for discrimination under the equal protection clause of the Constitution, Title IX and CDS’s contractual agreement with the North Carolina Board of Education, which requires charter schools to abide by all constitutional mandates. CDS wants the Supreme Court to rule it a private actor so it can resume its policy, which some fear could serve as a support to wider discrimination, while plaintiffs want the Fourth Circuit’s ruling to stand. Read more
January 6, 2023
Texas bill proposes jail time for teachers providing ‘obscene’ books
A Texas state lawmaker introduced a bill last month that would open a path to criminal charges for public school officials that fail to remove books containing so-called “obscene” content from circulation. Mr. Patterson first introduced House Bill 976 on December 12th; it specifically proposes revising a section of the Texas Penal Code that prohibits the “sale, distribution, or display of harmful material” to minors. It is unclear how authorities would enforce the change to the law if the bill passes, as Texas public school boards already hold the power to ban books from circulation within their districts. Read more
January 5, 2023
Most school tech exposes student data
Ninety-six per cent of apps used regularly in schools have data-sharing practices that “are not adequately safe for children,” according to a new report by the Internet Safety Labs nonprofit, which found that many shared students’ personal data to marketing firms that build extensive profiles of children to sell products through targeted advertising. Almost a quarter of the services included advertisements and 13% had targeted ads, researchers found.
Schools routinely recommended tools that weren’t specifically designed with schools in mind, including Spotify and YouTube. Yet even among the digital tools specifically geared toward students, 18% contained ads and 9% used targeted ads. Read more
January 4, 2023
For teens in Deep East Texas, accessing sex education and contraception is next to impossible
In Texas, abstinence became the cornerstone of sex education in the mid-1990s, when conservatives demanded sweeping changes, insisting sex education was an inappropriate topic for teens. Today, students whose parents allow them to attend sex education classes are still taught that abstinence is the “preferred choice of behavior.” (Studies show abstinence-only sex education correlates with high teen birth rates.)
But in November 2020, the Texas State Board of Education voted to overhaul middle school health curriculum standards for the first time in 20 years — suggesting students should now learn about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, topics previously reserved for high school health classes. Read more
January 3, 2023
Chronic absenteeism persists in U.S. schools
Schools nationwide are seeing high numbers of students who are chronically absent in districts regardless of size and income levels more than a year after the full return to in-person learning, state and national data show. In many poorer communities, that have long fought high absenteeism, rates rose even higher during the pandemic. Read more
January 2, 2023
CTE grants welcomed by Texas schools
Governor Greg Abbott has announced that 152 Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) grants, totaling over $54 million, have been awarded by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). These grants will go to public community, state, and technical colleges, school districts, and open-enrollment charter schools across the state. Through funding provided by the Texas Legislature and approved by the Governor each biennium, TWC uses JET grants to defray start-up costs of developing career and technical education programs for public community, state and technical colleges, school districts, and open enrollment charter schools. Read more
January 1, 2023
Much for education in congressional spending bill
The US House of Representatives on December 23 passed a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, just in time to beat a deadline to avoid a partial shutdown of federal agencies. The spending plan includes $79.6 billion for education and includes $18.4 billion in spending for schools serving students living in poverty, which is a 5% increase over last year’s budget but short of the $36 billion President Joe Biden initially proposed for Title I spending. Read more
December 20, 2022
NEA Indoor Air Quality Fact Sheet and COVID links
NEA has produced a new fact sheet on indoor air quality along with the American Federation of Teachers and the Sheet Metal Air Rail and Transportation Union. The document summarizes arguments about why indoor air quality is so important for health and learning and includes ways that schools and institutions of higher education can advocate for better indoor air quality for students and employees alike.
There are also three new federal COVID-19 resources:
Vaccines.gov – Find COVID-19 vaccine locations near you
COVID.gov/tests – Free at-home COVID-19 tests
COVID.gov – Find COVID-19 guidance for your community
December 19, 2022
New federal bill would raise minimum teacher salaries
Teachers should be paid a minimum salary of at least $60,000, according to a new bill, the American Teacher Act, introduced in Congress by Representative Federica Wilson, D-Florida, on December 14. If passed, the bill would authorize funding for the federal government to award four-year grants to states and districts to enact and enforce legislation that would establish a teacher-salary requirement of $60,000 minimum. Read more
December 16, 2022
Several metrics underline pandemic impact on homeless students
The National Center for Homeless Education, with funding from the US Department of Education, recently released numbers confirming what homeless student liaisons at school districts had been reporting anecdotally since the start of the pandemic — that they’d been having a difficult time reaching and providing for homeless students. Read more
December 15, 2022
West Texas parents are suing their schools over racism as others demand action over antisemitic bullying
A series of racist and antisemitic incidents at schools in West Texas have come to light in recent weeks, leading parents to call out school officials over what they feel is inaction. Read more
December 14, 2022
GAO’s recent charter schools report challenged
Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education advocacy group and a former New York high school principal, challenges the U.S. General Accountability Office’s (GAO) “Charter Schools That Received Federal Funding to Open or Expand Were Generally Less Likely to Close Than Other Similar Charter Schools” report, which was published in October. Read more
December 13, 2022
Keller trustees vote to let teachers carry guns on campus
Keller school trustees voted 4-3 Monday to explore allowing some trained employees including teachers to carry guns on campus. The vote came after students, parents and teachers urged the district to look at alternative ways other than arming staff to expand security in the wake of the Uvalde school massacre and other mass shootings. Read more
Carroll ISD strikes gender, religion, sexual orientation from nondiscrimination statement
The Carroll ISD board voted on Monday to remove references to gender identity, sexual orientation and religion from its nondiscrimination statement. The amendment, which passed 5-1, means the statement will simply say the district “does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities.” The statement previously included the words “religion,” “gender” and “sexual orientation.” Read more
December 12, 2022
TEA calls for school safety standards cost estimates
With the release of the proposed School Safety Standards, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has designed a cost estimates collection survey to ensure that the body has a full understanding of the financial impact of the implementation of the rule. All school systems that need to upgrade facilities to meet the school safety standards are highly encouraged to complete the survey. School systems should include work already done to implement the rule dating back to June 1 2022. School systems should complete the survey no later than February 10 2023. Read more
December 11, 2022
Houston ISD tweaks attendance policy
Houston ISD has tightened up its attendance policy to say that students who miss more than 10% of high school-level classes in a semester may not receive credit, regardless of whether the absences are considered excused. If students do not attend 90% of classes in a semester, excused and unexcused absences will be counted against them and they will receive a no-grade, according to the new policy. Read more
December 10, 2022
State education agencies need overhaul, report warns
A group of 20 bipartisan state lawmakers and legislative staff has published a new report warning that state education departments require an urgent overhaul and that it’s incumbent on state legislators to act. Read more
December 9, 2022
Kids’ health and school readiness lagging in Texas
Health and household instability are among the main reasons Texas children are falling behind in school readiness compared to other states, according to a data compilation from Texans Care for Children (TCC). The Austin-based nonprofit said that about 12% of children under six years old who are eligible for Medicaid are still uninsured, which is the highest rate of any state, while almost 20% of the children under 18 years old who are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, are not receiving benefits. Read more
December 8, 2022
Texas moves toward revoking largest teacher prep program’s accreditation
The Dallas Morning News reports that Texas’ largest teacher preparation program failed to show enough improvements on probation, and the state is moving toward revoking its accreditation. State officials gave Texas Teachers of Tomorrow several months to show it improved long-standing issues with how it prepares teachers for the classroom, but the monitor tasked with overseeing its work determined that it failed to correct all its problems. Read more
December 7, 2022
Texas lawmaker files bill to require ratings on school books
State Rep Tom Oliverson, who serves northwest Harris County, has filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would require publishers to assign ratings to books they sell to state school districts and open-enrollment charter schools. Read more
December 6, 2022
Grief and trauma training is unexpectedly healing for school district staff in Texas
In Dallas Independent School District, social workers and therapists are receiving training that’s not only been beneficial to the students they serve, but also addresses how they themselves can navigate grief after losing loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
December 5, 2022
Pandemic pushed down Head Start enrollment
A fresh report by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), a nonprofit research organization at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, asserts that the pandemic hindered access to federally funded Head Start programs for young children living in poverty, exacerbating inequities in enrollment, staff salaries and quality of services. Read more
December 4, 2022
Calls for ‘national emergency’ over respiratory viruses among children
Hospitalizations for respiratory viruses like RSV and influenza are surging across the United States, amid calls from leading child health organizations for the Biden administration to declare a national emergency. Read more
December 3, 2022
Taxes could rise if Texas bond debt program hits limit
A Texas state-backed program that for decades has helped school districts get the lowest interest rates possible on bonds is about to reach its limit, and if it does, districts might find themselves having to ask for more money from taxpayers. Read more
December 2, 2022
Supreme Court leaves student debt relief program on hold after Texas judge blocked it
More than 16 million people had already been approved for student loan debt relief by the Education Department when a federal judge in North Texas struck down the plan last month. Read more
December 1, 2022
TSTA: Retired educators need a cost-of-living adjustment, and teachers need a significant pay raise
We were pleased to hear Lt Gov Dan Patrick say he could support a cost-of-living adjustment or another 13th check for retired educators at his news conference on Wednesday. But another 13th check won’t be enough. Retired educators need a cost-of-living adjustment in their pensions, which they haven’t had in years. Read the rest of the statement
November 30, 2022
Lt Gov Dan Patrick sets out 2023 legislative priorities
Lt Gov Dan Patrick on Wednesday unveiled a list of 21 legislative priorities including property tax relief, improving the reliability of the electric grid and continuing to spend money on border security funding. Patrick, who presides over the Senate, also said education will feature highly. Read more
November 29, 2022
Stephen F Austin regents vote to join UT System
The Stephen F Austin University Board of Regents has voted to join the University of Texas System, choosing it over A&M, Texas State, and Texas Tech. SFA, along with Texas Southern University, which is a historically Black university in Houston, are currently the only two Texas public universities that are unaffiliated with a university system. Read more
November 28, 2022
School choice again on legislative agenda
Some Republicans in the Texas legislature are hoping to leverage what they feel are “all-time highs” for school choice support. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Texas GOP have already listed school choice as a legislative priority for next year. Read more
November 25, 2022
ACLU calls for civil rights investigations into two North Texas school districts over anti-transgender policies
Frisco ISD’s new bathroom policy and Keller ISD’s ban on books that reference gender fluidity violate federal rules prohibiting sex-based discrimination, the ACLU said. Read more
November 24, 2022
Texas moving towards outcomes-based funding for two-year colleges
State funding for Texas community colleges, long distributed based mostly on student credit hours, would reward institutions for helping students transfer, graduate and move into high-demand fields under new recommendations from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Read more
November 23, 2022
Holiday ransomware attacks hit education hardest
The education sector is especially vulnerable to ransomware attacks over holidays and weekends, according to a global survey by cybersecurity firm Cybereason. Read more
November 22, 2022
Ed Dept publishes Stronger Connections grant program draft
The US Department of Education has published a draft FAQ in regard to the $1bn Stronger Connections grant program, which will be distributed through Title IV, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Schools should take a comprehensive approach to the prevention of violence that includes not only improved safety measures but meets students’ physical, social, emotional, mental health and academic needs, the document asserts. Read more
November 21, 2022
More Texans turn to home-schooling
The percentage of Texas families that home-school their children rose from 4 and a half percent at the end of the 2019-20 school year to 12% at the start of the 2020-21 school year, according to data collected by the Texas Homeschool Coalition. About 30,000 students across the state withdrew from a public or charter school and switched to home schooling during the spring of 2021, an increase of 40% compared with the previous year. Read more
November 20, 2022
Cellphones in class should be at teachers’ discretion, academic argues
Author Michael Horn, who is also co-founder of and a distinguished fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, argues that blanket bans on cellphones in schools are “ill-informed and regressive.” Educators on the ground should choose for themselves when and whether to allow their students to carry cellphones to class, he asserts, so they can navigate learning apps to help students progress at their own discretion. Read more
November 19, 2022
Wellness experts champion ways to support teacher retention
The annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children heard speakers agree this week that being attentive to early childhood educators’ well-being is critical, not only to retaining teachers but to helping them be better classroom leaders. Read more
November 18, 2022
Relief fund for our NEA family impacted by Hurricane Ian
If you would like to help our colleagues in Florida as they begin to recover from the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian, there is a GoFundMe link below.
All donations we receive are distributed to the Florida Education Association for them to distribute to their members through their respective relief programs. NEA Member Benefits will pay any fees imposed by GoFundMe, so 100% of the money raised will go directly to supporting NEA members and their families.
November 17, 2022
Concerns shadow ‘age appropriate’ book rating system proposals
Freedom of expression advocates are voicing concerns about a proposed law in Texas that would create a state-mandated age rating system for books. Under the proposed law, publishers would be forced to place state-approved age ratings on the cover of every book sold to a district school or open-enrollment charter school in Texas. State agencies could then request that publishers change the ratings as they see fit, while publishers that do not comply with a request to change the rating within 120 days could be blacklisted and school districts banned from purchasing books from them. Read more
November 16, 2022
Texas spends big on school safety tool few use
The iWatchTexas school safety app is trailing other anonymous reporting systems despite heavy investment from the state. The system doesn’t adhere to some research-based practices followed by the other programs, such as student-focused training, and unlike similar tools in other states, which release data on outcomes, iWatchTexas doesn’t publicly report how tips get resolved. Despite its shortcomings however, legislators set aside hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for iWatchTexas each year, and state leaders continue to back it. Read more
November 15, 2022
Appeals Court blocks student-loan forgiveness program
A federal appeals court has blocked the Biden administration from moving ahead with its mass student-debt cancellation program, which has also been ruled unlawful by a federal judge in Texas. A three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction against President Biden’s plan to erase hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans, at the request of six states that sued to challenge the debt relief. Read more
November 14, 2022
Texas schools’ financial accountability ratings released
The Texas Education Agency has announced final financial accountability ratings for more than 1,200 school districts and charter schools, with 85% earning the highest rating possible for 2021-2022. The Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) is designed to encourage public schools to improve their management of financial resources to provide the maximum allocation possible for direct instructional purposes. Read more
November 13, 2022
Video games could benefit kids’ development
A new study of kids aged nine and 10 suggests that video gaming could be associated with better cognitive performance in children. The report, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Drug Abuse, comes as researchers have been divided on how video gaming affects the cognitive skills and brain function of children. Read more
November 12, 2022
Resignations driving teacher shortages in San Antonio
School districts in the San Antonio are struggling to find enough teachers, after many districts saw a spike in resignations at the end of last school year. Districts struggled to fill all of their vacancies last fall, but this year there have been even more vacancies. Read more
November 11, 2022
Texas judge blocks student loan forgiveness program
A federal judge in North Texas has ruled that President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program is “unlawful,” the latest challenge to the policy that has seen several attacks from conservative groups. Read more
November 10, 2022
“The fight goes on”: Families of Uvalde shooting victims hoped for change that didn’t come
The families of some of the 19 children killed at Robb Elementary rooted for Beto O’Rourke, hoping he would help change Texas gun laws. They left disappointed but determined to fight on. Read more
November 9, 2022
Republicans on track to retain majority in Texas Legislature
Republicans appeared likely to retain their majority in the Texas Legislature, early voting results showed Tuesday. The party has had control over both state chambers and the governor’s office since 2003. Read more
November 8, 2022
VOTE
November 7, 2022
Texas schools could be required to install panic buttons
The Texas Education Agency announced Thursday a plethora of proposals that would, among other changes, require public schools to install silent panic alarms and automatic locks on exterior doors. Other proposals include inspecting doors on a weekly basis to make sure they lock and can be opened from the outside only with a key. Read more
November 6, 2022
A national bus driver shortage is upending Texas’ beloved Friday night high school football games
Across the state, school districts are improvising amid a national shortage of bus drivers. The issue is not new, school district officials said, but it has been exacerbated over the past few months by a labor crisis, fueled by such factors as the COVID-19 pandemic, child care challenges and a slowdown in immigration. Read more
November 5, 2022
Texas A&M students accuse Brazos County of voter suppression after moving on-campus voting site
A group of Texas A&M University students attended Brazos County commissioner hearings for the past two months to discuss one agenda item — the county’s early-voting location.
Historically, Texas A&M hosted the polling location within its campus at the Memorial Student Center. This year, however, the county commissioners put the location up to a vote. With a simple majority, it was decided that the location would be moved to the newly constructed City Hall right in the center of College Station. Read more
November 4, 2022
TEA proposes new security measures for Texas schools
Under a new proposed state rule, Texas schools would need silent panic buttons in classrooms and two-way emergency radios on campus. In accordance with the proposed school safety standards rule, all windows and entrances leading into school buildings must be secured and kept under surveillance. The specifics of the proposed rule were unveiled by the Texas Education Agency on Thursday. Read more
November 3, 2022
TFA, TSTA welcome reinstatement of fired Collin College faculty member
The Texas Faculty Association and the Texas State Teachers Association are happy that Suzanne Jones, a TFA member, is being reinstated to a faculty position at Collin College. Jones never should have lost that position in the first place. But an anti-union college administration that apparently didn’t believe the First Amendment applied to educators fired her in 2021 for exercising her freedom of speech rights. Read full statement
November 2, 2022
Students with disabilities continue to lag behind peers on NAEP
In the newly released 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, reading and math gaps narrowed between grade 4 and 8 students with and without disabilities, as scores for students with disabilities stayed level with 2019 by one measure and dropped on the others. Special education educators and advocates said the drops in NAEP performances for students with disabilities were no surprise given the overall lower scores for 2022 compared to 2019 — the last time grade 4 and 8 students took the math and reading tests. Read more
November 1, 2022
Ed Dept distributes money for middle, high school student engagement
The US Department of Education is distributing $50m to states to add or improve extracurricular, after-school and summer programming for middle and high school students, according to a letter sent to state education officers Thursday. The supplemental grant award — provided by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — is being automatically sent to states through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. Read more
October 31, 2022
Supreme Court hears cases that could impact school integration policies
Today the US Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in two cases challenging the use of race in college admissions. The court’s decision earlier this year to hear the cases, which seek to overturn prior rulings that upheld affirmative action, suggests the longstanding policy might be on its way out. Read more
October 29, 2022
Texas group tells state lawmakers: You don’t have to scrap STAAR, but please change it
Raise Your Hand Texas released a report Tuesday that outlines ways to change how standardized testing is used to evaluate students and schools. The recommendations come just months ahead of the next legislative session. Read more
October 28, 2022
Survey details how LGBTQ students experience school
During the pandemic, school remained a hostile place for LGBTQ students, with rates of bullying and harassment staying consistent from previous years, and supports such as gay-straight alliances, inclusive curriculum, policies, and supportive educators dwindling. The National School Climate Survey, carried out by the research and advocacy group GLSEN, found that more than 68% of LGBTQ students said they felt unsafe in school because of hostility to at least one of their actual or perceived personal characteristics, for example, their gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Read more
October 27, 2022
Why all eyes are now on the often ignored Texas Board of Education races
All 15 seats of the State Board of Education are up for grabs this November, and the often ignored races have gained greater spotlight after a conservative shift erupted in local school board races in suburbs across the state amid culture wars over books, pandemic precautions and how history is taught in the classroom. Read more
October 26, 2022
Critics challenge Texas’ STAAR test
Public school advocates called for an overhaul of Texas’ standardized test, known as STAAR, claiming that it puts unnecessary pressure on students and fails to capture the many ways in which teachers could better help children to learn. School administrators and other critics also pushed for expanding the way schools are measured to include things other than student test results, such as access to fine arts and foreign languages and whether students feel supported and safe at school. Read more
October 25, 2022
Texas students’ math scores saw a sharp decline during pandemic
The National Assessment of Educational Progress, an exam given to a sample of fourth and eighth grade public school students every other year, measures how states’ students are performing in reading and math over time compared with a national average. It also provides a national snapshot of the impact of the pandemic on student achievement. Read more
October 24, 2022
Early voting starts today!
Early voting for the midterm elections starts today and ends November 4. The future of public education is on the ballot, and more than 5 million Texas school children are counting on us to speak for them at the polls. There are a lot of educators in Texas, but you won’t be heard if you don’t vote.
The Election Protection Hotline is 866-OUR-VOTE. Remember that number — and share it — in case you encounter any issues that concern you while voting.
See our list of endorsed candidates and make a plan to get to the polls before early voting ends on November 4 or on Election Day, November 8, and encourage your friends and colleagues to join you. Together we can change the players at the Capitol and Vote Education First for the good of our students and public education!
October 22, 2022
Supporting your LGBTQIA+ students
Join advocacy, legislative and legal experts from the ACLU of Texas, Texas Freedom Network, Out Youth, the Texas State Teachers Association, Texas AFT, the Human Rights Campaign, and Lambda Legal for a Back-to-School Know Your Rights session for teachers of LGBTQIA+ students on Thursday, October 27 at 6 p.m., CST. Register here
October 21, 2022
CDC adds Covid shots to routine immunizations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) independent vaccine advisers have unanimously voted to add most Covid-19 vaccines offered in the United States to the childhood, adolescent and adult immunization schedules. The committee also unanimously voted to add Covid-19 vaccines to the federal Vaccines for Children program, which allows the shots to be provided for free to children of families who may not otherwise be able to afford them, such as those who are eligible for Medicaid, un- or underinsured and American Indian or Alaska Native. Covid vaccines’ inclusion on the schedules don’t constitute mandates, particularly for schoolchildren, which are the purview of states, localities or jurisdictions, depending on local laws, but the vote has prompted concerns. Some 21 states have already passed laws prohibiting Covid vaccine mandates for students. Read more
October 20, 2022
Schools can help low-income families get online
The Affordable Connectivity Program, part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, provides a $30 dollar discount on monthly internet bills for qualifying households. Qualifying programs include Medicaid enrollment and free or reduced priced lunch at school. There is also income-based qualification. Also, in partnership with the White House and the federal government, a number of internet service providers across the country have committed to offering $30 a month or less plans for households who qualify, which means that internet will essentially be free for those who are eligible for the ACP and choose one of those plans. Read more
October 19, 2022
Most school board members not running for re-election
Just 38 percent of current school board members plan to run for re-election, according to a national survey released this week by the School Board Partners nonprofit group. This is down from more than 70% of school board members running for re-election in 2016. The report shows that the high turnover rate underlines the challenge of building more robust infrastructure to recruit, elect, train, support, and re-elect new and returning board members to undertake the difficult work of education justice. Read more
October 18, 2022
New law asks Texas schools to distribute kits to students to keep DNA samples in case of emergencies like Uvalde
Public school systems in Texas are set to distribute DNA and fingerprint identification kits for students in kindergarten through eighth grade whose parents wish to participate, under a state law passed in 2021. In the aftermath of Texas’ deadliest school shooting, some parents have called the practice chilling. Read more
October 17, 2022
Applications are open for President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program
The form launched Friday in a test mode but applications turned in now will be processed when the form officially goes live. Find it here. Borrowers who earn under $125,000 can qualify for up to $10,000 of relief, and Pell Grant recipients can get up to $20,000, but the plan is facing legal challenges.
October 16, 2022
Districts dropping COVID dashboards
School districts across the country aren’t tracking COVID cases as meticulously or making urgent day-by-day operational decisions as they were “peak pandemic.” Some district leaders say data included in COVID dashboards is impossible to keep current enough to be useful or even representative of what’s actually happening in schools. Read more
October 15, 2022
Texas Universities Ask Permission To Revoke Degrees For Cheating
A ruling from the Texas Supreme Court could determine if the University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University would have the ability to revoke awarded degrees after academic misconduct has been discovered after graduation. Read more
October 14, 2022
Southern states pushed to ease job requirements amid teacher shortages
As schools across the South grapple with teacher shortages, many are being pushed to accept candidates without formal training. By 2030, as many as 16m K-12 students in the region may be taught by an unprepared or inexperienced teacher. Read more
October 13, 2022
Denton ISD school buses get WiFi
Denton ISD has added free WiFi to all 206 school buses in its fleet. Using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, and in partnership with Cradlepoint, the district implemented the initiative to address the “digital divide” concern among school-aged students. Read more
October 12, 2022
Less than one-third of 1 percent of Texas teachers earn six-figure salaries
Covering up his poor record on education funding and educator pay, Gov. Greg Abbott has been trying to mislead Texas teachers and voters with suggestions that six-figure salaries for teachers are more realistic than they really are under his administration. Read more of our press release
October 11, 2022
Schools need billions more to make up for lost learning time
A new study from the American Educational Research Association indicates that schools need around $500 billion more in federal emergency relief dollars to address student learning loss. This is almost $700 billion, far above than the $189 billion offered. Student achievement is still on the decline nationwide and the money to solve it is not enough, according to researchers, especially in places with the greatest needs. Read more
October 10, 2022
Texas serving more special education students
Texas is beginning year five of the Special Education Corrective Action Plan that the Texas Education Agency created under the guidance of the federal Office of Special Education Programs. School districts and state officials continue to address areas of concern, but the TEA and the state Legislature have undertaken several major initiatives; the removal of the 8.5% indicator for identification in special education, the launch of additional service supports and resources for districts across the state, an increase in mainstream funding for serving students in special education, funding to support students identified with dyslexia, creation of a committee targeting an overhaul of the funding mechanism associated with special populations, revision and publication of the state’s Dyslexia Handbook, and the provision of added funds directly to families to support students with special needs. Read more
October 9, 2022
Uvalde school district suspends its entire police department
All of the department’s activities were suspended for an unspecified period of time, and two employees were placed on administrative leave after it was revealed this week that one of the first state troopers to respond to the deadly school shooting in May was later hired as a district police officer. Read more
October 8, 2022
Texas Supreme Court weighs whether to allow state’s education agency to oust Houston school board
Among other issues, the court will consider whether a law that updated the education code last year has any bearing on TEA Commissioner Mike Morath’s attempt to replace HISD’s board members over low academic scores. Read more
October 7, 2022
Beto O’Rourke wants to end the STAAR tests. Here’s why he can’t.
The Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate has said several times he will end the annual standardized tests. State and federal law make it impossible. Read more
October 6, 2022
Appeals court rules against program that protects ‘Dreamers’
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled against a decade-old program that protects hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children, paving the way for more court action on the long-disputed policy.
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit decided that the Department of Homeland Security does not have the authority to provide protections to those immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Read more
October 5, 2022
Ed Dept outlines digital equity roadmap
The US Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology has published a new digital equity resource guide for schools. Suggested strategies include building partnerships with internet service providers to improve equitable broadband infrastructure and using public spaces and community partnerships to create more internet access. Read more
October 4, 2022
TEA appoints first school security chief
A US Secret Service agent from Dallas will become the first school safety chief at the Texas Education Agency, a position created in response to the Uvalde mass shooting to coordinate efforts across the multitude of state agencies with a responsibility for school security. Read more
October 3, 2022
CARES Act ‘late liquidation’ guidance issued
The US Department of Education has issued written guidance indicating that state education agencies can request spending extensions for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. They can request money on their own behalf, as well as on the behalf of districts in their states. Advocates had been calling for clarity on the “late liquidation” policy issued in May and are still urging the department to also clarify spending deadlines under the American Rescue Plan. The CARES Act obligation deadline was September 30 and 96% of the funds had been spent as of last week, according to the department’s letter. States and districts have another 120 days to spend or liquidate those funds. On top of that, the department is allowing another 14 months for spending, meaning the actual draw down of CARES dollars could stretch to March 2024. Read more
October 2, 2022
Funding to boost school-based mental health provisions
The US Department of Education is inviting applications for two grant programs, totaling $280M, to increase access to mental health services for students and young people. Issued via the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) and the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations, it’s the first installment of $1B in BSCA funds over the next five years that the department will award for this purpose. Read more
October 1, 2022
How social-emotional learning became a frontline in the battle against CRT
Although its core concepts have been around nearly as long as public education itself, social-emotional learning is emerging as the latest lightning rod in the battles over what gets taught in schools nationwide. Across the country, parents and community members have protested angrily at school board meetings, administrators have distanced themselves from the term and legislators have introduced bills trying to ban it. Read more
September 30, 2022
Over 1,500 Texas teachers approved for state’s incentive allotment
The Texas Education Agency announced Thursday that 1,600 teachers have been approved for the state’s teacher incentive allotment, a designation created to improve teacher pay. The Teacher Incentive Allotment, passed as part of House Bill 3 in 2019, has the stated goal of offering a six-figure salary for teachers who prioritize teaching in high needs areas and rural district campuses. Read more
September 29, 2022
Biden seeks to expand free school meal programs
President Joe Biden hosted a conference on hunger, nutrition and health on Wednesday, at which he pushed to expand access to free school meals for 9m more children by 2032. “In every country in the world, in every state in this country, no matter what else divides us, if a parent cannot feed a child, there’s nothing else that matters to that parent,” Biden said during the event Wednesday. “If you look at your child and you can’t feed your child, what the hell else matters?” Read more
September 28, 2022
White House plan seeks free school meals for 9m more students within 10 years
The White House has unveiled a plan to work with Congress to expand access to free school meals for 9m more children by 2032, as a first step toward creating a pathway to universal school meals. “While school meals have demonstrated strong positive impacts on children’s nutrition and other key outcomes, we have not yet fully leveraged school meals as a core intervention to improve child health or child hunger,” the White House said in the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health plan. Read more
September 27, 2022
Brazos County won’t restore Texas A&M early-voting location despite students’ pushback
The Brazos County Commissioners Court has decided to take no action on bringing back the on-campus early-voting location at Texas A&M University for the 2022 elections, despite admitting that they made a mistake in removing the site at last week’s meeting. Read more
September 26, 2022
1836 Project promotes sanitized version of Texas history, experts say
A Texas committee tasked with producing a “patriotic” telling of the state’s history has approved a 15-page pamphlet that will now be distributed to new Texas drivers.
The committee — named the 1836 Project after the year Texas gained its independence from Mexico — was created during last year’s legislative session largely in response to The New York Times’ “The 1619 Project,” which chronicles American history starting the year enslaved people first arrived on American soil. The 1836 Project’s pamphlet also comes at a time when Texas has increasingly attempted to regulate how race, sexuality and history are taught in schools. Read more
September 25, 2022
High levels of ‘forever chemicals’ found in kids’ school uniforms
Researchers have found high levels of dangerous chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in school uniforms sold across North America. Known as “forever chemicals,” they have been linked to an increased risk of health problems, including a weakened immune system, asthma, obesity and problems with brain development and behavior. Read more
September 24, 2022
San Antonio to increase focus on security text alerts
San Antonio ISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino said the district is to enhance its capabilities to share information through text messages with parents in the event of another emergency like Tuesday’s report of a shooting, which proved to be a false alarm. Read more
September 23, 2022
One in five Texas teachers hired without certification last year
New data from the Texas Education Agency reveal that nearly one in five new teachers hired in the state last year lacked state certification. On Tuesday, the Texas House public and higher education committees met to address the longstanding issue of teacher recruitment and retention. Some speakers pointed to the significant number of teachers entering the field without certifications. Read more
September 22, 2022
When Texas students campaigned for a more diverse history course, they got a lesson in politics
This summer, students began pushing the Texas State Board of Education — the state’s authority on what gets taught in public schools — to be more inclusive and comprehensive in its history curriculum. They suggested proposals that included an Asian American ethnic studies course, which would be the first of its kind in Texas, and curriculum with more mentions of Asian contributions to America.
However, the state board this month opted to delay its vote on curriculum updates until 2025. Read more
September 21, 2022
How colleges use AI to monitor student protests
As more students continue to embrace social media to organize demonstrations and protests, many college police departments have been using taxpayer dollars to pay for artificial intelligence services to monitor what they say. Read more
September 20, 2022
Blue Ribbon Schools 2022 announced
US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has now formally recognized 297 schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2022, including 31 schools in Texas, to serve as models of effective school practices for state and district educators and other schools throughout the nation. See the list of schools here (pdf)
September 19, 2022
Texas has banned more books than any other state, new report shows
According to a new analysis by the free speech nonprofit PEN America, Texas has banned more books from school libraries this past year than any other state.
The bans targeted titles centered on race, racism, abortion and LGBTQ representation and issues. School administrators in Texas have banned 801 books across 22 school districts, with 174 titles banned at least twice between July 2021 and June 2022, according to the report. Read more
September 18, 2022
McKinney ISD matches student learning with workforce needs
Student participation in career and technical education, or CTE, courses at McKinney ISD is “strong,” officials have proclaimed. As of the 2019-20 school year, the most recent data available from the Texas Education Agency, more than half of all high school students in MISD have enrolled in such courses. Read more
September 17, 2022
Austin ISD sees 56% rise in COVID-19 cases compared with last year
Austin ISD is experiencing higher numbers of COVID-19 cases so far this school year compared with the first month of school last year. The district has tracked 1,064 COVID-19 cases among students and employees through the first four weeks of classes, which ended last Friday. Read more
September 16, 2022
Auditor says she was fired for uncovering ‘grade and attendance manipulation’ within Dallas ISD
Dallas ISD’s former auditor and manager of Investigative Services has asked to be reinstated, after alleging the district terminated her for uncovering ‘grade changing and attendance manipulation’ within its classrooms. Read more
September 15, 2022
Greg Abbott demands Biden pull his student loan relief plan
Greg Abbott joined 21 Republican governors Monday urging President Joe Biden to scrap his student loan relief plan, asserting that the thousands of dollars in individual debt relief would harm the working class.
The governors wrote in a letter that the loan forgiveness plan offers a bailout for a minority of Americans who are largely well off, arguing that those “with the most debt, such as $50,000 or more, almost exclusively have graduate degrees, meaning hourly workers will pay off the master’s and doctorate degrees of high salaried lawyers, doctors, and professors.”
But most of those people would not be eligible for the loan relief program announced last month, which disqualifies anyone earning over $125,000. Eligible applicants are limited to $10,000 in relief, unless they are recipients of Pell Grants, intended for low-income students, in which case they can get up to $20,000 in relief. The program also proposes a new repayment plan that caps monthly undergraduate loan payments at 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income — cutting monthly payments roughly in half. Read more
September 14, 2022
What Texas’ educator shortage looks like for one pre-K teacher
TeamTSTA member Michelle Cardenas has taught at Del Valle ISD for nearly two decades, but the 2021-22 school year pushed her to her limit — her district had dozens of teacher vacancies at the end of May.
That left Cardenas, a bilingual pre-K teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School in South Austin, overseeing two classes at once with 30 students total. She moved back and forth between the rooms, relied on aides to supervise her 4- and 5-year-old students and even used video calls to simultaneously teach both classes. If Cardenas has to do it again, she said, “I’d probably walk out the door.” Read more
September 13, 2022
Soaring withdrawals to homeschooling
According to the most recent data released by the Texas Education Agency in an open records request to the Texas Home School Coalition (THSC), withdrawals from public school to homeschool in the spring of 2021 were 40% up over the prior year. More recent accurate data from the TEA, including withdrawal rates from the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022, will not be available until next spring. Read more
September 12, 2022
Tesla among surge of companies rushing to take advantage of Texas’ expiring tax incentive program
The Austin-based electric car company Tesla wants to leverage an expiring state tax incentive program to build what could be the nation’s first plant that produces battery-grade lithium hydroxide, which electric cars require for energy storage purposes. Tesla applied for a tax break under a state program that would enable the company to potentially avoid millions in property taxes to build the projected $375 million plant in Nueces County. Read more
September 11, 2022
State commission proposes system overhaul for funding Texas’ community colleges
Community college funding: A commission charged by the state Legislature to suggest new ways of funding Texas community colleges is set to recommend a complete system overhaul.
The draft recommendations from the Texas Commission on Community College Finance — a group of lawmakers, business leaders and community college presidents — offers a first glimpse into what type of changes lawmakers might consider when they convene next year. Read more
September 10, 2022
Politics and pandemic are driving Texas teachers to consider quitting, another survey finds
The pandemic, low pay and a lack of respect from community and elected officials have led Texas teachers to consider quitting, according to an online survey of more than 1,000 teachers by the Charles Butt Foundation. Of those surveyed, 77% seriously considered leaving the profession in 2022. Read more
September 9, 2022
Nutrition task force recommends universal school meal program
Ahead of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health on September 28th, the Task Force on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, formed by an independent group of professors, advocates and food industry executives, recently advised the Biden administration to bring back universal school meals. Read more
September 8, 2022
Road to Success Back to School Bus Tour
On September 12 in Tennessee, US Education Miguel Cardona, along with First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, will launch the Road to Success Back to School Bus Tour. This will be a week-long, multi-state road trip stopping in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey that will showcase the many ways school communities are helping students recover and thrive. Read more
September 7, 2022
Texas teachers spend more than $700 per year on supplies
Many Texas teachers say they have no choice but to spend their own money on classroom supplies. A survey by AdoptAClassroom.org, which included 5,400 teachers at public, private and charter schools across the U.S., found the average teacher expected to spend $750 of their own money while teachers in Texas expected to spend around $703. Read more
September 6, 2022
Routine vaccination rates yet to recover from the pandemic
The coverage rate for routine childhood vaccines – or the percentage of kids getting them – dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic and have yet to recover, according to statistics from the Texas Department of State Health Services. Read more
September 5, 2022
Uvalde students return to class amid concerns about security
Classes begin tomorrow at Uvalde Consolidated ISD’s schools with no classes ever again at Robb Elementary School. There is new high fencing around the Texas community’s public school campuses that still isn’t finished, and a heavy police patrol that many families don’t trust. More than 100 families in Uvalde signed up for virtual school, while others pulled their kids out of the district and enrolled them in private schools. Read more
September 4, 2022
Texas education panel delays social studies curriculum review
The Texas State Board of Education has voted 8-7 in favor of delaying an update of the state’s social studies curriculum until 2025, after facing extensive pressure from conservative organizations and activists who objected to some of the changes. Read more
August 31, 2022
TSTA: Extremist attack on history curriculum is an attack on teachers and may worsen educator shortage
Educators celebrate the growing diversity in Texas public schools and communities, including the contributions of the LBGTQ+ community as well as people of color. Right-wing political extremists, including some elected officials, fear diversity and have been using the issue to try to drive a wedge between teachers and the parents whose support is critical for classroom success. Lies, such as critical race theory, which isn’t taught in Texas public schools, are among their weapons. Read full release
August 30, 2022
Queer YA books are selling in record numbers despite bans targeting them
Book bans and restrictions are going into effect across the country with school districts limiting the access of books with LGBTQ+ subject matter. An April report by the PEN America Foundation found there were 1,586 individual instances of books being removed from shelves between July 2021 and March 2022, and books that have a protagonist of color or LGBTQ+ themes were disproportionately banned.
But at the same time, queer fiction has seen repeated year-over-year increases in sales; sales for LGBTQ+ fiction are already up 39 percent in year-over-year sales. And it is YA titles that are behind this surge. Read more
August 29, 2022
Texas schools’ ‘intruder detection audits’ to begin
Officials from the Texas School Safety Center are to begin unannounced security audits to test whether intruders can breach schools through unlocked doors. The school safety center will communicate to district superintendents and local enforcement ahead of conducting the audits, telling them they’ll occur within a particular month but not which day. The audits will not be a simulation of an armed intruder. The auditors will be wearing plain clothing and are instructed to self-identify as working with the school safety center if stopped and asked by a school employee. Read more
August 26, 2022
How a little-known group convinced the Texas State Board of Education to reject lesson plans on consent
A Newsy investigation reveals a push by organized groups to stop schools from teaching skills that advocates say are critical to preventing sexual assault. Read more.
August 25, 2022
Public Service Loan Forgiveness program updated
The US Department of Education announced that it has approved more than $10B in debt relief for over 175,000 borrowers in 10 months through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Read more.
August 24, 2022
President Biden announces student loan forgiveness plan
Anyone earning under $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples filing taxes together, will qualify for up to $10,000 in forgiveness. Pell Grant recipients can get up to $20,000. Most people will need to fill out a form with the Education Department. Expect more information on that soon. Also, the student loan payment pause will be extended through Dec. 31. It would have expired next week.
August 23, 2022
New grants to help strengthen teacher workforce diversity
The US Department of Education has announced a new $8m grant competition aimed at increasing the diversity of the teacher workforce and preparing teachers to meet the needs of the most underserved students. Read more
August 22, 2022
Grapevine-Colleyville mulls children’s chosen pronoun policy
Teachers at Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, between Dallas and Fort Worth, may not be forced to address students by their chosen pronoun, even if a parent asks them to. Transgender students will also be barred from playing sports, if two new policies targeting gender identity are approved by members of the school board. Read more
August 21, 2022
Schools can take monkeypox precautions, CDC says
Schools can take steps to prepare for possible monkeypox exposures or cases, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday, though children and teens are at low risk. Read more
August 19, 2022
TSTA member is finalist for Texas Teacher of the Year
Kari Johnston, a fifth-grade bilingual teacher at Perez Elementary in Austin ISD and member of Education Austin, is one of six finalists for the 2023 Texas Teacher of the Year. She holds several leadership positions on her campus, including Head of Professional Learning Communities to support vertical collaboration across grade levels. She is also the Science Lead for training and writing campus-wide curriculum and the Student Leadership Pathway Lead.
Johnston says that she believes her role as a bilingual educator is to teach essential objectives while sustaining the culture and language of her students. Her classroom is filled with culturally responsive English and Spanish literature, and her student-led bilingual writing lessons give students the ability to freely form their own ideas. She teaches critical thinkers to understand that without appreciating every perspective their learning is incomplete. “We can do hard things” is a phrase that has become familiar to her students, she says.
Johnston is one of three elementary school finalists for the annual honor. Three secondary school finalists also were chosen. The new Texas Teacher of the Year will be selected from among these six and announced on Oct. 21.
Read more about all the finalists and the selection process.
August 18, 2022
Texas teachers collectively pay more than any other state in school supplies
Texas teachers combine to pay more out of pocket for classroom supplies than their counterparts in other states, according to a new report from online learning web portal My eLearning World. Texas teachers are expected to spend $298 million overall on school supplies like books, pencils, snacks, and decor for the 2022-23 school year, more than any other state. Read more
August 17, 2022
IRS increases what teachers can deduct for classroom expenses
Educators can now deduct up to $300 of out-of-pocket classroom expenses, the IRS has announced, the first increase in 20 years. Read more
August 16, 2022
Texas school ratings show improvement compared to 2019, but those in poorer neighborhoods still lag
The Texas Education Agency on Monday released its first public school ratings in three years and despite pandemic interruptions, the number of schools that received the highest rating increased. Read more
August 15, 2022
Retired teachers seek elusive pension boost as Texas banks $27 billion windfall
Retired Texas teachers are increasingly bullish on their chances of securing the first increase in their monthly pension checks in a decade when the Legislature reconvenes in Austin next year, though it remains unclear if they will secure the necessary support of Republican leaders. Read more
August 14, 2022
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to be enacted soon
Last week, the US House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Passage of the bill, which followed Sunday’s 51-50 vote in the Senate with Vice President Harris casting the tie breaker, sends the measure to President Biden to soon sign. The bill is an historic accomplishment that tackles healthcare costs, tax fairness and climate change. NEA members, along with labor and progressive allies, lobbied Congress in support of the bill and many of its elements for months and even years.
Find out what the bill includes with our one page summary of the entire Inflation Reduction Act as well as a one page review of the healthcare portions of the measure.
August 13, 2022
Pandemic-era free school meal provisions expire
Millions of school children are heading back to class this month without free breakfast or lunch for the first time in two years, to the disappointment of many parents and school administrators who are facing rising costs of food and supplies due to inflation. Read more
August 12, 2022
Houston ISD trustees approve purchase of security gear
Houston ISD trustees Thursday evening approved a measure to buy 200 rifles, ammunition and 200 ballistic shields for the district’s police department, which Superintendent Millard House II said last week was not prepared with its current equipment to stop an active shooter. Read more
August 11, 2022
A Dallas principal lost a fifth of her teachers, can she hire enough by the first day?
Schools across Texas are feeling the same squeeze amid a national teacher shortage. Administrators have upped recruitment efforts with multiple job fairs; offered signing bonuses; leaned into shorter work weeks; and turned to retirees and career-changers — or even non-certified candidates — to fill the gaps. Read more
August 10, 2022
Most efforts to ban books in Texas schools came from 1 politician and GOP pressure, not parents
The wave of book reviews and removals that swept across Texas in the last year was driven more by politicians than parents, a Houston Chronicle analysis found, contradicting claims that recent book bans were the result of a nationwide parental rights movement to have more control over learning materials. Read more
August 9, 2022
New Cy-Fair rule will allow parents to block borrowing from libraries
Parents of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD students will be able to block their children from borrowing books from school libraries this year, under a new policy passed by the district’s board of trustees. Read more
August 8, 2022
TSTA survey indicates a record 70 percent of teachers on the verge of quitting as educator morale sinks; political attacks, pandemic, years of state neglect to blame
A record 70 percent of teacher-members surveyed by the Texas State Teachers Association said they were seriously considering leaving the profession as they ended a difficult school year last spring. The number was the highest ever recorded in the teacher moonlighting and morale survey, which has been tracking Texas teachers’ concerns for more than 40 years, and it was a significant jump from the 53 percent who expressed similar feelings the last time the survey was conducted in 2018. Read press release
August 7, 2022
Rural conservatives are skeptical of the Texas GOP’s latest push for school choice.
School choice is a broad term applied to various taxpayer-funded alternatives to sending a child to a local public school. The policy has taken center stage in the governor’s race since Gov. Greg Abbott voiced support for public school alternatives in May. The Republican Party of Texas has listed school choice as a priority for the next legislative session. But in order to enact any school choice policy, the GOP lawmakers must win over rural Republicans, who have historically been against diverting public dollars to private schools. Read more
August 5, 2022
States invest pandemic relief funds into early education workforce
States are investing federal COVID-19 relief funds to build up the early childhood education workforce through increased compensation, mental health supports, professional development and more, according to an analysis of spending from the National Association of State Boards of Education. Read more
August 4, 2022
Gubernatorial rivals dig in on school vouchers fight
A battle over school vouchers is mounting in the race to be Texas governor, set into motion after Republican incumbent Greg Abbott offered his clearest support yet for the idea in May. His Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke, is pursuing the issue, especially in rural Texas, with his campaign running newspaper ads urging voters to “reject Greg Abbott’s radical plan to defund” public schools. Read more
August 3, 2022
Schools aim to address diversity among campus psychologists
While psychologists play a critical role in K-12 schools, supporting students with their mental health, helping to prevent bullying, and promoting conflict resolution between students, there is a mismatch between the demographics of school psychologists and the student populations they serve. According to survey data from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), more than 85% of school psychologists are white, while most K-12 public school students are not. Read more
August 2, 2022
New federal actions to address youth mental health crisis
The Biden-Harris Administration has announced two new actions to strengthen school-based mental health services and address the youth mental health crisis. This week, the Department of Education will begin the process to disburse almost $300m Congress appropriated in FY22 through both the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the FY22 Omnibus to help schools hire more school-based mental health professionals. Read more
August 1, 2022
Debate begins over how Texas students learn history
The Texas State Board of Education will today hold a public hearing on the process of revamping the standards for what children should learn about the world, the state, and the nation’s past and present. Drafts of the proposed state standards, known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS, are available online. Read more
July 26, 2022
Texas’ largest teacher prep company ‘on probation’
The State Board of Educator Certification has formally approved an agreement that gives Texas Teachers of Tomorrow until October 21 to demonstrate that it has corrected its long-standing challenges. This includes not always ensuring educator candidates were matched with qualified teacher mentors. Texas Teachers of Tomorrow is to be required to publicize its probationary status on its website and pay for a monitor to oversee improvements. Read more
Pre-K programs will require much determination to rebound from pandemic
Last week the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs’ Leadership and Project Directors’ Conference agreed that efforts to increase pre-K enrollments and quality programming nationwide will require parent-school-government collaborations, data collection and review, and smarter spending decisions. Federal emergency funding has helped prop up early education programs during the pandemic, but as that funding runs out, states and localities will need to look at creative financing, such as braiding together revenue sources, to build momentum and capacity for early education. Read more
July 21, 2022
Rural Texas districts switch to four-day weeks to attract teachers
A switch to four-day school weeks is popular among Texas’ smaller school districts, which don’t always have the finances to attract or retain teachers with pay increases. In Texas, schools have to be open for a minimum of 75,600 minutes over a school year, which includes recess and lunch. Districts have control over how these minutes are spread out, giving flexibility to schools to adopt the four-day model. Some are adding time to each of the four remaining school days to make up for the extra day off; others are extending the school year. Read more
Uvalde superintendent recommends firing police Chief
Uvalde Consolidated ISD Superintendent Hal Harrell is recommending district police Chief Pete Arredondo be fired for his role in the flawed response to the Robb Elementary shooting, according to a school board meeting agenda made public Wednesday. At a special meeting set for 9 a.m. Saturday, the school board will consider terminating Mr. Arredondo “for good cause,” according to the agenda. It will include a public comment period at its start, where members of the community can speak on any topic. Read more
July 19, 2022
Governor Abbott says Uvalde report is beyond disturbing
Abbott has released a statement describing the findings of a House report into law enforcement responses to the Robb Elementary shooting as beyond disturbing, and that they raise serious concerns about the response that day. “There are critical changes needed as a result of the Texas House’s findings,” his statement read. “With multiple investigations still ongoing, including those by the Texas Senate, FBI, and Texas Rangers, we will begin working with the legislature to develop and implement the necessary changes to improve public safety, school safety, and mental health assessment and treatment.” Read more
July 15, 2022
TRS Board clears the path for possible COLA legislation
The TRS Board of Trustees voted today to lower the assumed rate of return of their fund to 7%, in a move the system telegraphed after its April meeting. At the same time, the board voted to incorporate an additional $7 billion of deferred gains to keep the fund actuarily sound and on track with the benchmarks that SB 12 set out for the fund three years ago.
Long story short, the fund is actuarily sound, has used its own resources to manage both short-term market volatility and the long-term health of the fund, and has created all the conditions the Legislature will need to finally legislate a cost of living benefit enhancement for retired teachers. Coupled with a rosier-than-expected revenue forecast from the state comptroller, TSTA believes there should be no impediment to enacting a COLA, and will be at the Capitol in the upcoming session advocating for exactly that.
And this is where you, public education advocate, can be an integral part of this process: make sure you, your friends, family and colleagues are registered and ready to #VoteEducationFirst this November! We need public education allies in the Legislature and the Governor’s Mansion to prioritize this legislation if it is to be enacted. It is our responsibility to elect those leaders.
July 14, 2022
Ed Dept releases final tranche of ARP higher education funds
The US Department of Education has awarded the final $198m in Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grants. The grants will assist students who attend 244 colleges and universities and provides resources to help these institutions recover from the impacts of the pandemic. Read more
July 13, 2022
Robb Elementary hallway video leaked to media
The Austin American-Statesman has obtained surveillance footage from Robb Elementary showing the moment that the gunman entered the school building on May 24th, before killing 19 students and two teachers. The video, which does not show any shootings, displays in real time how heavily armed officers from multiple responding agencies failed to immediately launch a cohesive and aggressive response to stop the shooter and save more children if possible. Read more
July 12, 2022
Hundreds rally in Uvalde for gun control
Chants of “No justice, no peace,” “Remember their names” and “Not one more child” rang out in Uvalde on Sunday evening as hundreds of protesters, many of them families with young children, marched from Robb Elementary to the town square. Read more
July 11, 2022
Texans have been slow to vaccinate their youngest against COVID, but they’re slightly ahead of the national average
In the two weeks since the federal government allowed emergency use of COVID vaccines for children younger than 5, nearly 32,000 Texas kids in that age group have been vaccinated. That accounts for just over 1% of the state’s youngest residents, a lower rate than doctors had hoped, but faster than the national rate for kids that age — even as Texas deals with a lower-than-average vaccination rate across the state. Read more
July 8, 2022
Civil rights groups warn Texas schools on dress code discrimination
Student dress codes should not discriminate based on race, gender or religion, an array of civil rights groups told Texas superintendents on Thursday. The organizations, including the ACLU of Texas and Texas Appleseed, asked school leaders to update dress codes over the summer to remove any gender-based or discriminatory language. Read more
July 7, 2022
High number of teachers, staffers resigning from Austin schools
According to data from Austin ISD’s Office of Human Capital, more than 1,700 staff members resigned from Austin schools from July 2021 to June 2022, more than in any of the past three school years. Read more
July 6, 2022
NEA calls for curbs on school policing
At its representative assembly this week, the National Education Association adopted a new policy statement calling for an end to the “criminalization and policing of students.” Last year, the nation’s largest teachers’ union established a task force to explore the role of law enforcement in education, leading to the formulation of a policy statement advocating for restorative justice, culturally competent professional development, family and community engagement, and the elimination of inequities in student discipline and the policing of students on campus. Read more
July 5, 2022
Biden administration tightens rules on charter school funding program
Incoming charter schools will have to gather community input and prove they aren’t managed by a for-profit company to receive federal funding under the the US Department of Education’s finalized Charter School Program rules published Friday. Read more
July 1, 2022
Texas orders districts to audit, fix school security issues
State officials on Thursday ordered local school districts across Texas to audit and correct security deficiencies at their schools before the start of the next school year. The Texas Education Agency issued directives requiring the districts “to support the safety and security of public schools.” State lawmakers have targeted school security and mental health issues without further regulating firearms access. Read more
State board rejects ‘involuntary relocation’ as term to describe slavery
A group of Texas educators has proposed to the Texas State Board of Education that slavery should be taught as “involuntary relocation” during second grade social studies instruction. A group of nine educators submitted the idea to the board as part of Texas’ efforts to develop new social studies curriculum. Read more
June 29, 2022
More Texas schools are investing in online student surveillance
Texas school districts lead the country in purchasing contracts with digital surveillance companies. More than 200 of the state’s 1,200 districts statewide use some sort of monitoring software with the most popular being Social Sentinel and Gaggle. The former tracks social media sites used by students, looking for key words such as “shoot” or “kill” in relation to the school district, while the latter monitors only a student’s school-issued laptop and anything associated with a child’s school email account. Read more
June 27, 2022
Congress extends pandemic-era school lunch waivers
Congress on Friday passed a bill to extend a pandemic-era program through the summer that provided free meals to students regardless of income. The $3 billion Keep Kids Fed Act, passed 376-42 by the House on Thursday, was amended and approved by the Senate, and passed in the House by a voice vote the following day. The measure also provides schools with a higher reimbursement rate per meal for the next school year and offers more flexible guidelines for school nutrition programs coping with supply chain problems and short staffing. However, it also reinstates a requirement, suspended during the pandemic, that low-income students above the poverty line pay a reduced price for their meals, rather than getting them free. Read more
June 24, 2022
Department of Education invites comment on proposed Title IX changes
The United States Department of Education has released for public comment proposed changes to help elementary and secondary schools and colleges and universities implement the legislation. The proposed amendments will restore crucial protections for students who are victims of sexual harassment, assault, and sex-based discrimination that was weakened under previous regulations. The regulations will require that all students receive appropriate supports in accessing all aspects of education. Read more
June 22, 2022
Gun reform bill in Washington is a small step toward public safety; inaction in Austin is appalling
TSTA commends the 64 U.S. senators who voted last night to advance a bipartisan gun reform bill that takes some steps toward keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people. The legislation doesn’t go far enough, but it begins addressing the plague of mass shootings endangering public safety in our state and country, including our school buildings. Read full statement
June 21, 2022
Officers arrived at Robb Elementary 19 minutes after gunman
A number of police officers stood in a hallway at Robb Elementary School armed with rifles and at least one ballistic shield within 19 minutes of a gunman arriving at the campus, according to documents reviewed by multiple news sources. Authorities have produced the most extensive timeline yet since an 18-year-old gunman armed with an AR-15 walked into the Uvalde school on May 24th. Much of the new information is expected to be presented at the Texas Senate Special Committee to protect All Texans recently formed at Gov. Greg Abbott’s request at hearings today an tomorrow. Read more
School’s out, and many teachers are calling it quits
Many teachers have packed up classrooms for the last time as schools break for summer, leaving a profession where stresses have multiplied as a national teacher shortage threatens to grow. Some 300,000 public-school teachers and other staff left the field between February 2020 and May 2022, a nearly 3% drop in that workforce, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. And a National Education Association poll conducted this year found 55% of teachers said they would leave education sooner than planned, up from 37% last August. Read more
June 14, 2022
Texas House Speaker proposes $100m for mental health, school safety programs
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has proposed redirecting more than $100m in state funding to boost mental health and school safety programs before school begins in the fall. His plan came in response to a $50m request from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, to immediately purchase bulletproof shields for school police departments. Read more
June 13, 2022
Over $170m has gone to defunct charter schools, says Biden admin
Approximately 15 percent of the charter schools that received federal start-up funding either never opened or closed within a few years, according to Assistant US Education Secretary Roberto Rodriguez, even though the schools received $174m. He said the figures underline the need for greater oversight of the federal Charter Schools Program. Read more
June 10, 2022
Abbott asks for new Texas school security chief
Governor Gregg Abbott has written to the Texas Education Agency, directing it to create the new role of Chief of School Safety and Security. The position should be filled, he said, by a school security expert who can be a resource to both districts and the Legislature, as well as someone who can implement safety programs. Read more
June 9, 2022
As House holds gun violence hearing, education groups request funding for existing programs
In the wake of devastating shootings at the Robb Elementary School in Texas, and a Buffalo, New York grocery store, Congressional Democrats yesterday held a hearing on gun violence. The House Oversight and Reform Committee heard from a number of those involved in recent events, including Miah Cerrillo, an 11-year-old in fourth grade who survived the Robb shooting, having covered herself in another student’s blood to trick the shooter into thinking she was already dead. Read more
June 8, 2022
TSTA President interviewed on school safety
On June 7 TSTA President Ovidia Molina was interviewed by Spectrum News on school safety following the killing of nineteen children and two teachers in Uvalde. She talks about the need for gun reform versus more committees to “study school safety.” Watch interview here
June 6, 2022
USDA invests $100M in school meal program innovation
The US Department of Agriculture has announced the launch of a $100m Healthy Food Incentive Fund to support school meal programs that “innovate and accelerate” initiatives to improve the nutritional quality of school meals. Read more
June 3, 2022
Texas was building a program to find troubled students and prevent school shootings; it hadn’t reached Uvalde yet
By most accounts, the Uvalde school gunman was the type of person a fledgling $290 million Texas youth mental health program was designed to reach — before his apparent distress and instability could escalate to mass violence.
But it hadn’t reached the shooter by the time the 18-year-old high school dropout — whose adolescent years were reportedly beset by truancy, cruelty to animals and violence at home and at school — walked into Robb Elementary with an assault rifle last week and killed 19 kids and two teachers, health officials said. Read more
June 2, 2022
Abbott instructs safety officials to conduct intruder audits on school grounds
Governor Greg Abbott has instructed state school security and education officials to start conducting “in-person, unannounced, random intruder detection audits on school districts” to find weak access points and see how quickly staff can enter a school building without being stopped. The mandate was one of several the governor laid out in a letter to school security authorities in an effort to ensure district emergency operations plans are solid and school buildings are protected in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting.
Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association, raised concerns about whether a person conducting unannounced drills puts themselves at risk to be attacked by someone on campus who sees them as a real threat. Read more
June 1, 2022
We don’t need more committees on school safety
Today the Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina released the following statement:
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed by an assailant with an assault rifle at an elementary school in Uvalde, and Gov. Abbott’s response is to appoint more committees to study school safety. That’s very weak. The victims’ families and all Texans deserve better than that. Read full statement
May 27, 2022
School Safety
Since 2020 the number one cause of death for kids in America is guns and educators are increasingly expected to transform from nurturers to first responders at a moment’s notice. They are having to react and decide the best ways to protect their students based on the circumstances. This is unacceptable and preventable. Read more
May 24, 2022
TSTA and NEA devastated by loss of lives in the Uvalde school shooting; demand policymakers address gun violence
Texas State Teachers Association Ovidia Molina and National Education Association President Becky Pringle released the following statement:
Our public schools should be one of the safest places for students and educators — but gunshots shattered the physical safety of the school community in Uvalde — and we lost 15 lives, including 14 children and a teacher.
The National Education Association and the Texas State Teachers Association are devastated by the loss of lives, and we stand together during this difficult moment, sending love and healing thoughts to the victims, their families and the entire Uvalde community. We are ready to work together to ensure that students and members get the emotional and physical support they need to begin the healing process.
May 23, 2022
Faculty group calls for universities to protect and expand tenure for librarians to protect against political demands for book censorship
The Texas Faculty Association today urged Texas A&M and other universities to protect and expand tenure for librarians. The request follows a report (seek link below) that a consulting firm has recommended that the Texas A&M University System ask librarians to relinquish tenure or transfer to another academic department to keep it. Read statement
Are teacher prep programs offering enough math content?
A National Council on Teacher Quality review of more than 1,100 teacher preparation programs that was released last week found that they are devoting more time to math coursework. Undergraduate programs that prepare aspiring elementary teachers now require an average of 19% more time for elementary math coursework than they did in 2014. However, the Washington-based think tank argues that more needs to be done. Read more
May 20, 2022
Texas to resume grading public schools on STAAR results
For the first time since the pandemic began, Texas public schools will be rated based on how students score on the STAAR test. However, for this year only, schools will receive an A-C rating. Districts and schools that score D or F will receive a “Not Rated” label instead. Schools which fall in those bottom tiers will also evade possible sanctions from the Texas Education Agency during the 2022-2023 school year. Read more
May 19, 2022
Most likely TX voters oppose private school vouchers, support higher teacher pay, question charter expansion
The poll, conducted May 3-6 for Texas Parent PAC, a TSTA ally, found that 53 percent of likely Texas voters oppose taxpayer-funded private school voucher programs after learning that vouchers will mean less money for their local public schools. This means most voters don’t buy into Gov. Greg Abbott’s claim that, even with vouchers, public schools will remain “fully funded.” They aren’t fully funded now, and Abbott wants to make vouchers a priority during next year’s legislative session. Read more poll findings
May 18, 2022
Texas librarians face harassment as they navigate book bans
As communities and school districts push for book bans, some Texas librarians say they are nearing their breaking point. For those librarians working at schools and at public libraries, the pressure to keep some challenged books off the shelves is growing. And some Texas librarians say the insults and threats through social media and the added pressure from supervisors to remove books are taking a toll on the profession. Read more
May 17, 2022
Dallas ISD debates sex education that includes expanded lessons on birth control
Dallas ISD leaders are considering new sex education lessons at a time when the way Texas schools teach about gender and sexuality is under a microscope. Students would learn how to prevent pregnancies through contraceptives and about gender identity if school trustees adopt the expanded materials on May 26th. Read more
May 16, 2022
Schools get extra time to spend relief funding on fixing facilities
Schools may get more time to spend federal COVID relief funding on building renovations, the U.S. Department of Education said in a letter Friday. States can apply for extensions to finish planned building upgrades, giving schools until April 2026 to spend the relief funds on facilities improvements, an extension on the previous September 2024 deadline. Read more
May 13, 2022
Inflation takes significant chunks out of educator wage gains
For more than 60 years, the National Education Association has produced a statistical report that compiles public education financial data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Called Rankings & Estimates for short, it is a reliable and often-cited source of data on enrollment, expenditures, staffing and salaries.
“If we want to reverse course and keep qualified teachers in the classroom and caring professionals in schools, then we must increase educator pay across the board and expand access to collective bargaining and union membership for all those working in public education,” said NEA President Becky Pringle in a press statement accompanying the report, which found that teachers are taking home $2,179 less per year, on average, than they did a decade ago, when adjusted for inflation. Read more
May 10, 2022
Governor Abbott pitches school voucher plan for Texas
Abbott said he supports a school voucher measure that would allow students to use government funding to attend private schools or charter schools rather than just their assigned public schools. At a rally in San Antonio, Mr. Abbott said his support for school choice was to help uphold a tradition of “empowering parents” that includes his policies of banning mask mandates on campus and banning “critical race theory” in Texas schools. He also said public schools would remain fully funded throughout the voucher program. Read more
May 5, 2022
Texas could ‘resurrect’ SCOTUS case requiring states to educate all children
Abbott has said that Texas would consider challenging a 1982 US Supreme Court decision requiring states to offer free public education to all children, including those of undocumented immigrants. “Texas already long ago sued the federal government about having to incur the costs of the education program, in a case called Plyler versus Doe,” Abbott said, speaking during an appearance on the Joe Pags show, a conservative radio talk show. “And the Supreme Court ruled against us on the issue…I think we will resurrect that case and challenge this issue again, because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different than when Plyler versus Doe was issued many decades ago.” Read more
May 4, 2022
Educational support professionals are still not being paid a living wage
There are no states in the United States where an education support professional such as a paraprofessional or a cafeteria worker earns enough, on average, to support themselves and one child while living in the state’s most affordable metropolitan area. The National Education Association (NEA) new analysis looked at federal data to provide a picture of all 2.2 million support staff working in public schools. Almost 80% of K-12 education support professionals work full-time, defined as 30 or more hours per week. Read more
May 3, 2022
143rd Annual TSTA State Convention
TSTA’s annual state convention was held in Houston on April 29-30, 2022 at the Omni Houston Hotel Galleria. This was TSTA’s first in-person convention since 2019. President Ovidia Molina chaired the last two state conventions virtually. This year’s conference theme, Power Through Action, recognizes our accomplishments over the last year and calls us to action going forward. A full accounting of business conducted will be written up in the summer TSTA Advocate. View photos from the convention
Texas Teacher Retirement Fund gets $435m boost
Texas leaders announced Thursday that the state will direct $435 million of federal COVID-19 money to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. The money, which came from Coronavirus Relief Funds, will be used to offset retired educator healthcare costs related to COVID-19. This will offset insurance premium increases. Teachers will now see an average 0% increase, or even a decrease, on healthcare premiums. Read more
May 2, 2022
Texas moving towards more rigorous teacher certification exam
The 11 members of the Texas State Board for Educator Certification voted Friday in favor of introducing a new certification exam that could help better prepare new teachers. The Educative Teacher Performance Assessment, also known as the edTPA exam, was developed at Stanford University and requires teachers to submit answers to essay questions and provide a sample lesson plan, a 15-minute video of themselves teaching in the classroom and a report on their students’ progress. The move will mean ditching the old Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities exam, a test of 100 multiple choice questions that has been in use since 2002. Read more
April 25, 2022
Nearly half of teachers had students who didn’t attend class last year
Nearly half of public school teachers in the country reported at least one student during the 2020-21 school year who was enrolled but never showed up for class, according to an updated report first published in March by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The data was pulled from a national representative survey of public school teachers that the GAO contracted Gallup to conduct about their experiences during the 2020-21 school year. Read more
April 19, 2022
White House seeks to expand early intervention for young children
Increased access to early intervention services for infants and toddlers at-risk of developing delays and disabilities would help the Part C program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act better serve underrepresented populations. This is according to a full-year 2023 budget proposal justification from the White House. The federal fiscal 2023 budget request allows for a new use of funding under the Part C State Incentive Grant that gives states the option to expand Part C services for at-risk children. Read more
April 1, 2022
Teachers turn to side hustles to earn extra money
More than half of all K-12 teachers in the United States earn income from sources other than their base teaching salary, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. U.S. teachers with supplemental income made an average of $4,400 beyond their base teaching salary in 2017-18, the most recent time period when this data was collected by NCES. Inadequate pay is a long-standing issue for teachers. Read more
March 30, 2022
Texas schools won’t lose funding for attendance drops during the pandemic
School districts grappling with low attendance rates because of the pandemic will get help from the state to keep their budgets whole. Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency announced Tuesday that schools facing pandemic-related attendance drop-offs may be eligible for an adjustment that allows them to drop poorly attended school days from the funding formula. Read more
U.S. Education Secretary calls for teacher shortage solutions
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona spoke at an education conference in San Diego Monday, where he said schools need to use the pandemic’s challenges to change dramatically so they can better serve students. That means more mental health services, more college and career programs, more tutoring for struggling students, and more after-school and summer programs. Read more
March 23, 2022
Teach the Truth campaign aims to battle Texas school book bans
Education and civil rights groups are forming a coalition to contend with book bans in Texas’ public schools. The Teach the Truth campaign aims to educate community members on how to testify at school board meetings, pressure state representatives and organize against attempts to limit what’s taught in classrooms. The groups involved in the new coalition say books with diverse characters are necessary to reflect students’ experiences back to them while also exposing children to different realities. Read more
Texas health providers suspending gender-affirming care for kids
In response to Republican efforts to limit scientifically-backed gender-affirming care, LGBTQ advocates say hospitals, insurance companies and pharmacies across Texas have already started restricting critical treatment for fear of legal consequences. Health care providers worry they could lose their medical licenses if they don’t abide by Gov. Greg Abbott’s order for investigations into parents and licensed facilities that provide standard medical care to transgender teenagers. Leading medical organizations across the country say gender-affirming care is the best way to provide care for transgender children. It primarily involves choices around name, pronouns and clothing that align with a child’s gender identity. It can eventually include puberty blockers and hormone treatment. Surgical care is rarely, if ever, performed on teenagers. Read more
Teacher prep programs sound alarm on lower enrollment
As teacher dissatisfaction rates rise and concerns about teacher shortages intensify, colleges of education are sounding the alarm: Enrollment has been steadily declining for the past decade, and the pandemic has likely made things worse. Read more
March 22, 2022
Tougher rules for charter school grants proposed
New proposals from the Biden administration would enact stricter requirements on charter schools seeking federal start-up grants, which are typically about $500,000 per school. The most significant proposed change would affect the for-profit management companies that often run charter schools. Read more
March 18, 2022
Appeals court sides with Texas schools over Abbott on mask mandate
An appellate court on Thursday sided with Texas school districts in their dispute with state officials over mask mandates, which numerous school systems already have lifted as pandemic conditions have eased. The state’s 3rd Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s orders that granted school districts temporary injunctive relief from the enforcement of an executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott prohibiting mask mandates. Read more
March 16, 2022
TEA adds 24 teachers to task force studying educator shortages
The Texas Education Agency will add 24 teachers to a task force studying educator shortages across the state, nearly doubling the size of the group that originally included only two teachers. The task force has been charged with helping school districts address ongoing shortages by investigating the challenges, exploring the best options to address them and researching the possibility for flexibility of certification, placement and hiring. When announced, the 28-member group contained 16 superintendents, one assistant superintendent, nine administrators, and two teachers. With the addition of two dozen teachers, the group will grow to 52 individuals, evenly divided between teachers and administrators. The initial lack of teachers on the task force drew criticism from various corners, including union officials, a state PTA group and Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who is running for governor. Read more
President Biden signs 2022 spending bill into law
President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law appropriations for fiscal year 2022, providing $76.4 billion for the U.S. Department of Education, the largest increase for federal education programs in a decade. “The bipartisan package makes important strides to meet the needs of the whole child, to support effective teaching and learning, and to strengthen the pipeline for underrepresented teachers,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement. The total discretionary spending for the Department of Education for the year is a $2.9 billion increase from 2021 enacted levels, the steepest incline in fiscal year funding since the start of the pandemic. Read more
March 15, 2022
Texas urged to hike teacher pay
As the Texas Education Agency studies chronic teacher shortages, experts say teachers need better pay, not just easier ways into the profession. Gov. Greg Abbott announced a 28-member task force last week after months of reported staff shortages and recruiting challenges in Texas schools. The group, which is comprised of mostly administrators plus two working teachers, will meet every two months for the next year. The shortages are concentrated in rural areas and in schools that serve students coming from less wealthy families, as well as in more specialized teaching fields including science, technology, engineering and math, as well as special education. Read more
March 14, 2022
Huge concerns as child nutrition waivers set to end
The one-and-a-half trillion dollar omnibus spending bill heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for approval does not include waivers that give schools flexibility in preparing and distributing food to students, a huge concern for school nutrition and child development nationwide. Read more
March 10, 2022
Task force must propose higher teacher pay
TSTA has issued a press release applauding the Texas Education Agency for assembling, at the governor’s request, a task force to study how to address the teacher shortage. The task force needs to make higher teacher pay a priority, and this means higher pay for all teachers, not so-called “merit pay” for a select few. Read press release
March 9, 2022
First-year teachers to hit 15-year low
The smallest crop of first-year teachers in at least 15 years is expected, placing just under 2,000 teachers in schools across the country this fall. That’s just two-thirds of the number of first-year teachers in fall 2019, and one-third of the number in 2013. Enrollment in all kinds of teacher preparation programs stood at a little more than half a million in the fall of 2018, the latest federal data show, down 18% from eight years earlier. Read more
March 8, 2022
Abbott asks for task force to address Texas’ teacher shortage
Governor Greg Abbott has written to the Texas Education Agency directing it to immediately create a task force to develop solutions addressing the raft of teacher vacancies. He said the task force should investigate why these shortages exist, recommend policy changes to the state education agency and consider more flexibility in the teacher certification process. Staff shortage problems existed in Texas schools before the COVID-19 pandemic, but hiring has been made more difficult during that period, particularly in rural areas. Read more
March 3, 2022
Anti-CRT candidates advance in State Board of Education primary races
Several Republican State Board of Education candidates who ran in opposition of so-called critical race theory in public schools advanced in Tuesday’s GOP primary election. Read more
March 2, 2022
ACLU sues to block Texas from investigating parents of trans youth
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal have filed a lawsuit seeking to block a statewide directive that transgender rights advocates describe as an attempt to persecute trans children and their families. The suit, filed on Tuesday, is aimed at stopping the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from enacting Gov. Greg Abbott’s orders to investigate parents and doctors who provide trans children with gender-affirming care. Read more
March 1, 2022
ACLU urges Granbury school district to apologize for library book removals
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas is calling on Granbury ISD to apologize for the removal of more than 100 books, most of which center on LGBTQ topics or discussions of race and identity, from library shelves amid rising partisanship on the district’s school board and political pressure from Republican lawmakers. Read more
February 25, 2022
TSTA and NEA respond to Abbott attack on transgender children
Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s ill-conceived and harmful directive to task professionals who work with children — including teachers, nurses, and doctors — to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities for abuse if it appears that their kids are receiving gender affirming medical care is an affront to the dignity and respect due to both transgender children and the people who care for and about them.
February 24, 2022
Abbott, Paxton play campaign politics with the lives of transgender children; teachers will not play along
In an insensitive campaign gimmick on the eve of next week’s Republican primary, Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have deliberately misinterpreted the state law on child abuse to wrongly claim that child abuse includes gender affirming treatment for transgender kids. Following Paxton’s contrived legal opinion, which doesn’t carry the weight of law, Abbott has ordered state agencies to investigate reports of such care as “child abuse.” Read more
February 23, 2022
NEA President: pandemic continues to take its toll on teachers
National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle speaks to NPR about school staffing issues, and the burnout that has more teachers thinking about leaving their jobs. The NEA recently surveyed its members, and found that more than half are planning to leave their jobs, due to additional workloads, responsibilities, and parental expectations. Read more
February 22, 2022
Texas education advocates fear new certification test could affect teacher diversity
Texas has adopted new certification standards for teachers that some education advocates fear will make it more difficult to staff classrooms and find diverse candidates. Before its vote Feb. 11 to move forward with the new requirement, the Board for Educator Certification heard from both sides of the issue with speakers and board members agreeing the current certification test, the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities, needs improvement. Read more
February 18, 2022
Patrick attacks academic freedom
The Texas Faculty Association released the following statement today: Despite what Dan Patrick apparently thinks, most people don’t think like him, especially people who value education. Banning critical race theory from universities and limiting tenure are attacks on academic freedom, which is an important part of the process of helping students develop the critical thinking skills they will need for future success. Read more
February 17, 2022
US Senate rejects Cruz push to ban COVID vaccine mandates in schools
The US Senate granted a demand from Texas Senator Ted Cruz Thursday night for a vote to block local school boards from requiring COVID-19 vaccines, but then promptly rejected his proposal. Cruz and a handful of Republican allies had threatened to force a government shutdown if they didn’t get floor votes aimed at ending vaccine mandates. Read more
February 16, 2022
NAACP files federal civil rights complaint against Carroll ISD
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has filed a federal civil rights complaint against Carroll ISD for alleged failures to protect students from discrimination based on their race, sex or gender identity. Read more
February 15, 2022
Teachers tackle Black History Month under new restrictions
In February, public-school teachers traditionally shape lessons around Black History Month. But this year, educators in several states are handling their classes a bit more gingerly. Since January 2021, 37 states have introduced measures to limit how race and discrimination can be taught in public school classrooms, and 14 have imposed laws or rules to enforce these restrictions. Read more
February 8, 2022
When will Collin College stop attacking the First Amendment?
Today the Texas Faculty Association released the following statement: TFA deplores the Collin College firing of Michael Phillips, the fourth professor in the past year whose contract was not renewed simply because faculty members chose to exercise their First Amendment right of free speech, including comments about safety precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
February 7, 2022
Biden inches back toward Obama-era school nutrition standards
The Biden administration has issued a new rule asking schools to start meeting nutrition standards that were strengthened at the urging of former first lady Michelle Obama but which were suspended during the pandemic. Schools have struggled to procure more nutritious options. The overall goal is to help schools stabilize their nutrition programs, many of which have been losing money as food and staffing costs have soared. In the meantime, USDA is planning a total reboot of nutrition standards for school meals that will likely not take effect until the 2024-25 school year. Read more
February 3, 2022
SBOE approves new SBEC rules on educator contract abandonment
The State Board of Education (SBOE), at their meeting last week, approved the new educator contract abandonment rules approved in December by the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC). The rules, adopted to comply with a new state law, will give SBEC greater discretion in setting the penalties for contract abandonment cases.
TSTA was closely involved in getting the new state law and new rules adopted, and we submitted testimony to the state board. We believe the new rules maintain SBEC flexibility, honor educator protections and professionalism and center the needs of students. For more information on these new rules, check out our new flier.
February 1, 2022
Texas Dems want to cancel STAAR test due to COVID surge
An increasing number of Texas Democrats are calling for the cancellation of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, tests this year, saying COVID-19 rates among students and school staff make the test dangerous and pointless. In a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency, State Sen. José Menéndez questioned the reliability of the test scores. “We definitely have a very real and very valid reason. Students have been too sick to go to school, teachers have been too sick to go to school. There has been a lack of substitute teachers. What are you hoping to get?” said Menéndez. “What is the value of putting everybody through this, especially if we are still going through a surge?” Read more
January 27, 2022
Aldine ISD cancels Friday classes for three weeks to combat teacher burnout
Aldine ISD has approved a plan to cancel classes for the next three Fridays. All campus-based staff will report to their school, while students will not be required to make up the three days. The district’s move comes centered around the desire to give students a better learning experience amid issues with staff shortages and the pandemic. Read more
January 25, 2022
Texas teachers union calls out Abbott’s “Parental Bill of Rights”
The governor’s plan would allow parents more access to course materials and curriculum, and let parents to decide whether their child must repeat a course or grade after failing. The proposed legislation would also blacklist any teacher convicted of giving minors access to “obscene” content.
This all comes as Abbott has limited how topics like racism or sexism can be taught in schools, by championing bans on so-called “critical race theory.” The governor has also called on school boards to investigate books he’s called obscene, many of which deal with issues of gender or sexuality. Read more
January 24, 2022
New Texas teachers leaving the job most after their first year, study says
A recent study found new teachers in Texas are leaving the job after their first year at an alarming rate. It’s an issue education leaders say is adding to staff shortages that districts are already facing from the pandemic. The 2020-2021 Texas Teacher Workforce Report found over a 10-year period that the biggest drop-off in retention was from the first year to the second. The report also found from 2011 to 2019 average teacher salary in Texas had little to no increase at all. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing a lot of burnout in teachers in their first year of teaching,” said Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers. “We’re going to really have to look revamping education and what’s expected and required.” She says the shortages directly affect the classroom: “Bottom line of this our students are suffering.” Read more
January 21, 2022
Round Rock students stage walkout to demand more COVID protections
Students in schools across Round Rock ISD staged a walkout on Thursday to protest what they say is a lack of COVID-19 safety protocols. About 60 students at the Round Rock and Cedar Ridge high schools gathered outside of the schools to emphasize that they do not feel safe in school and want district officials to tighten mask requirements, resume contact tracing in secondary schools, add more COVID-19 testing sites and expand outdoor eating — or offer a virtual learning option. Read more
January 20, 2022
Fort Worth looks to Mexico for teacher recruitment
Fort Worth ISD is targeting educators in Mexico in its ongoing recruitment efforts to add bilingual teachers to the district, with a virtual job fair for staff in Mexico City. The job fair informed participants about the process to become a certified teacher in Texas, and offered an overview of the district and the city of Fort Worth. “We have to think outside the box when it comes to our recruitment efforts,” Fort Worth chief talent officer Raúl Peña said. “If they are motivated and passionate about teaching, we want those prospective teachers residing in Mexico City to know FWISD is hiring.” Read more
January 18, 2022
Transgender student athlete law goes into effect
Texas House Bill 25, which requires that student athletes play on sports teams that correspond to the sex listed on their birth certificate, and the certificate athletes present must have been issued near the time of birth, goes into effect today. Read more
January 14, 2022
Schools, districts struggle with COVID-related staff shortages
Parents, students and school employees across Texas are facing disruptions as some school districts temporarily close or alter operations amid the latest COVID-19 surge. The virus is infecting teachers, bus drivers and other staff members at unprecedented rates that may continue to rise, further complicating school functions. Read more
January 10, 2022
TEA releases new quarantine guidance for school staff
The Texas Education Agency has released new quarantine guidance for school staff who have COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone who does. School employees may return when, if symptomatic, at least five days have passed since symptom onset and fever free, and other symptoms have improved, and for those with no symptoms, at least five days after the day they tested positive. Read more
January 7, 2022
CDC updates isolation, quarantine guidelines for K-12 schools
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID-19 quarantine and isolation guidance for K-12 schools Thursday, aligning the recommendations with the agency’s guidelines for the general public. It also expands its recommendations for screening testing, and urges canceling or going virtual with some extracurricular and sports activities in order to protect in-person learning. Read more
January 6, 2022
US Education Secretary on push to keep schools open
NPR’s Ailsa Chang talks with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona about the surge of the Omicron variant, and the Biden administration’s push to keep schools open. While acknowledging the challenges of in-person learning, such as ensuring properly-ventilated classrooms, and using school building spaces differently, is not ideal, it is preferable to having children learning from home. He also reassures parents that, provided schools follow mitigation strategies properly, their children have the best opportunity to succeed in the classroom, with minimal risk to their health. Read more
December 16, 2021
Almost all students now back to full-time, in-person learning
Ninety-nine percent of public school fourth- and eighth-grade students are learning in person, full-time, despite roughly one-third of schools offering remote learning to at least some students. This is based on the first batch of data released through the Education Department’s new School Pulse Panel. The portal displays data collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics, the research arm of the department’s Institute of Education Sciences, which aims to deliver more timely and standardized information about the pandemic’s impact on K-12 schools in the U.S. Read more
December 9, 2021
Supreme Court hears arguments on state funds for religious schools
The Supreme Court has heard oral arguments in Carson v Makin, a case regarding Maine’s public education system. Although Maine will pay to send some children to private schools whose education matches that of a Maine public school, the state will not pay for religious education. Parents who want Maine to foot the bill for their children’s religious schooling claim this refusal violates their religious liberty and sued. In Wednesday’s hearing, a majority of the court’s justices indicated they could be on the side of the parents, suggesting that the Maine program amounts to simple discrimination against religion. Read more
December 8, 2021
School staffing shortages can’t wait, Cardona asserts
United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona acknowledges that many schools are still experiencing shortages of critical staff, and insists that federal officials know that many school staff are experiencing “burnout” as a result of the pandemic. The Department of Education is ensuring that schools know they can use American Rescue Plan and other relief funds to increase wages by offering hiring bonuses for teachers and support staff, and provide permanent salary increases or premium pay, Cardona says, while his administration is also committed to working with states and school districts to find “long-term solutions” that help educators receive the compensation they deserve, including through a proposed historic increase in funding for Title I schools. Read more
December 6, 2021
Communities of practice to accelerate learning, support kindergartners
The US Department of Education has introduced a new community of practice that aims to assist states and school districts plan and pay for evidence-based programs to help accelerate learning for students. A second community of practice will investigate strategies to specifically help kindergartners prepare for early school success and learning recovery. This effort will address social-emotional development, family engagement, access disparities to in-person learning and dips in school enrollments. The communities of practice aim to help school systems build capacity to implement interventions so the efforts best address students’ needs. Read more
December 2, 2021
Texas ban on mask mandates in public schools back in place
A federal appellate court has temporarily restored Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mask mandates in schools. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restored the governor’s executive order on November 24th after Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed an earlier decision by a federal district in Austin that allowed schools to enact mask mandates to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Read more
December 1, 2021
Unlike some of their parents and political leaders, the kids can handle the truth
Former Education Commissioner Michael Williams told the State Board of Education to “just tell the truth” when it starts rewriting social studies curriculum standards, despite a new law designed to make telling the whole truth difficult. Read blog
State Senator Larry Taylor says he won’t run for reelection
State Senator Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), who helped write the law to overhaul school funding in Texas, will not seek reelection. Mr. Taylor, chair of the Senate Education Committee, was a key player in the 2019 school finance overhaul that lawmakers counted as a top achievement that session. Read more
November 29, 2021
Efforts to toughen teacher evaluations show limited impact
New research shows that efforts to strengthen teacher evaluations had no impact on student test scores or educational attainment. The research is the latest evaluation of a significant push between 2009 and 2017, spurred by federal incentives, philanthropic investments, and a nationwide drive for accountability in K-12 education, to implement high-stakes teacher evaluation systems in nearly every state. Read more
November 18, 2021
DOE opens inquiries into Carroll ISD
The US Department of Education is investigating three complaints of discrimination against students in the Carroll Independent School District. The district has recently attracted national attention for several of its decisions regarding the handling of school programs, books and curricula on race, gender and sexuality. Read more
November 5, 2021
Doing serious harm to the institution of public education, all for political gain
First, voting rights came under attack by the political powers that be in Texas, and now, another crucial element of our democracy – public education – has become a major target. The attack on public education began in earnest with the enactment of the so-called critical race theory law to whitewash the teaching of racism and discourage classroom discussions of other issues that make many conservative voters uncomfortable. Read blog
October 26, 2021
TSTA member selected as Bilingual Teacher of the Year
Luz Alvarez-Sims, a fourth grade teacher in Austin at Travis Heights Elementary, was named the 2021 Bilingual Education Teacher of the Year by the Texas Association for Bilingual Education. Alvarez-Sims, a 14-year veteran, began by teaching bilingual classes in middle school for six years then moved to teach fourth-grade, which is where she’s stayed since. Read more
TSTA: Rep Krause’s letter smacks of a witch hunt
TSTA President Ovidia Molina made the following statement: Rep. Krause’s letter demanding that school superintendents provide him with lists of books dealing with certain subjects on their school bookshelves is disturbing and political overreach into the classroom. Read more
October 22, 2021
TSTA member is the new Texas Teacher of the Year
Ramon Benavides, a biology teacher from Ysleta ISD in El Paso and member of the Ysleta Teachers Association, was named the 2022 Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year. He also was chosen to represent the state in the National Teacher of the Year competition, which also gives him the title of 2022 Texas Teacher of the Year. Read more
October 21, 2021
White House details COVID vaccination plans for 5-11 year-olds
The White House has released details of its plan to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11, pending US Food and Drug Administration authorization in the next few weeks. The plan includes smaller doses, more-flexible supplies, and efforts to provide children’s vaccines at locations families trust, such as schools, pediatrician’s offices, and community health providers. Authorization of the smaller doses will open up eligibility to about 28 million children who were previously too young to be vaccinated. Read more
October 20, 2021
NEA Foundation Announces 2022 Horace Mann Awards for Teaching Excellence Recipients
The NEA Foundation is honoring educators for community-building and outstanding achievements during a challenging year through the Horace Mann Awards for Teaching Excellence. One of the award winners is Adriana Abundis Alonso, a TSTA member and a master educator at Sidney Lanier High School in San Antonio. To learn more about the 2022 awardees, visit the NEA Foundation website.
October 19, 2021
Texas passes sports ban for transgender students
Lawmakers in Texas passed a bill Sunday that bans transgender public-school students from competing in interscholastic sports leagues that are designated for a gender other than the one listed on their birth certificates. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign the bill, after adding it to the agenda of a special legislative session intended to address redistricting. Read more
October 18, 2021
Where was Governor Abbott when Holocaust denial became an issue in Carroll ISD?
Governor Abbott was silent when a school administrator in Carroll ISD, overreacting to the new, so-called “critical race theory” law that Abbott signed. The administrator told teachers to put books with “opposing” views of the Holocaust – books by Holocaust deniers – in their classroom libraries. Read blog
October 15, 2021
NEA and TSTA respond to Texas school district official advising educators to offer books with an “opposing” perspective when discussing the Holocaust in public schools
NBC News reported that Carroll ISD, advised teachers during a training that they should provide books with an “opposing” view when discussing the Holocaust. The training took place several days after a parent pressured the Carroll school board into disciplining a teacher for using a book the parent found offensive. Read press release
October 12, 2021
Vulnerable children are left to suffer
Don Huffines, who is challenging Governor Abbott in next year’s Republican primary, may have stooped to a new low, bordering on cruelty, when he attacked the important, sometimes life-saving services the state has provided LGBTQ youth in foster care. Read blog
October 6, 2021
TSTA statement on Timberview school shooting
Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina released a statement today on the shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington. Four people were reported injured, including a 15-year-old boy in critical condition, in the latest outbreak of gun violence at a school. As always, we offer our thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families and the Mansfield ISD community. Read news release
Keeping the Promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Thousands of educators from across the country have taken action to demand that the US Department of Education fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. We have been heard: The US Department of Education has announced they are overhauling the PSLF program. Join the events below to learn what these reforms mean for you and how we can continue to advocate for affordable higher education for all.
You are invited to join a special telephone town hall with Secretary Cardona, Under Secretary James Kvaal, NEA President Becky Pringle, and AFT President Randi Weingarten to learn what the PSLF reforms will mean for you. The event will be today, October 6, at 6:15 p.m. ET.
On Thursday, October 7, at 7:00 p.m. ET join student debt experts at the NEA for a Q&A on the PSLF reforms and an inside look at what is next for the student debt movement. Ask NEA your questions during our PSLF briefing. NEA experts are ready to answer your questions about the PSLF reforms. Join us to explore how these updates affect the larger movement around student debt cancellation. Read more
October 5, 2021
Civics education hasn’t failed us; well-educated politicians have
Some prominent people continue to blame an alleged failure of civics education in our schools for the partisan gridlock and turmoil that is increasingly paralyzing our federal government and spreading to many states, including Texas, as well. That is not the main problem though. Read blog
September 27, 2021
Virtual charters are getting a windfall, students are getting shortchanged
Virtual charter schools claim to specialize in education, but mostly they specialize in making profits with our tax dollars, and the pandemic is proving to be a windfall for them. Or, as one virtual charter executive put it, a “lasting tail wind.” Read blog
September 22, 2021
TSTA supports federal investigation of Texas mask policy
TSTA applauds the federal investigation of the dangerous impact that Governor Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates poses for students with disabilities, who are particularly vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. All of our students, school employees and their communities are at risk. Barely a month into the new school year, the number of COVID cases reported in Texas schools has almost exceeded the number for all of last year. Read news release
September 21, 2021
Pfizer says COVID vaccine safe for elementary-age kids
Pfizer announced on Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine works for children aged five to 11, and that it will be seeking authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this age group by the end of the month. For elementary school-aged kids, Pfizer tested a much lower dose, a third of the amount that’s in each shot given now. Yet after their second dose, children ages five to 11 developed coronavirus-fighting antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults. Pfizer said it studied the lower dose in 2,268 kindergartners and elementary school-aged kids. Read more
September 20, 2021
The redistricting starts today
In theory, the 2021 cycle of redistricting is about revising district boundaries to evenly distribute Texas’ fast-growing population and ensure voters have fair representation. But with the mapmaking in the hands of politicians, and their individual electoral survival at stake, it has also become an exercise in political rigging. That exercise will formally begin today when the Legislature convenes for a special legislative session to redraw the state’s maps for Congress, the Texas House and Senate and the State Board of Education to account for a decade’s worth of growth recorded in the 2020 census. Read more
September 17, 2021
District judge blocks Round Rock mask mandate
A state district judge in Williamson County has temporarily blocked Round Rock ISD from enforcing its mask mandate, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who sued the school district. In a tweet Thursday night, Paxton’s office declared “Another WIN!” in its legal fight against school districts that have defied Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive orders banning schools from requiring masks. Paxton sued Round Rock along with Elgin and other school districts with mask mandates last Friday. Read more
September 15, 2021
Texas sues nine more school districts over mask mandates
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced another wave of lawsuits against school districts over their masking policies, but one of them says it doesn’t even require face coverings. Midway ISD is among nine that Paxton announced on Tuesday that he is suing for allegedly defying Abbott’s executive order banning public schools and local governments from enacting local mask mandates. However, the district says it has been unable convince the attorney general’s office that it has no such mandate in place. Under Midway’s virus protocol, campuses can issue 10-day “mask directives” that encourage mask-wearing on the premises if virus transmission reaches a certain level, but doesn’t require it. In addition to Midway, Paxton announced lawsuits against Diboll, Honey Grove, La Vega, Longview, Lufkin, McGregor, Paris and Waco, on top of the six districts he announced action against last week. Read more
September 14, 2021
White House launches Hispanic education initiative
President Joe Biden signed an executive order intended to coordinate efforts across the federal government to improve educational and economic outcomes for Hispanics on the eve of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will serve as chairman of the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics; it will focus on policies that address “systemic causes” of challenges faced by students, improve their access to high-quality teachers, and address racial disparities in education funding, among other issues. Read more
George W. Bush is no historian, but he knows something about terrorists, foreign and domestic
Is it too much of a stretch to fear that someday, if Trumpism continues to control the GOP, that similar ideological efforts will be made to require teachers to describe the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters as patriotic defenders of the American way of life? Read blog
September 13, 2021
FDA vaccine chief hopeful younger kids can get shots this year
The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief said Friday the agency will rapidly evaluate COVID-19 vaccinations for younger children as soon as it gets the needed data. Dr. Peter Marks said he is “very, very hopeful” that vaccinations for five- to 11-year-olds will be underway by year’s end, and possibly sooner, with Pfizer expected to release study results at the end of the month. Read more
September 10, 2021
Ed Dept announces grants to support districts facing state penalties over masks
The US Department of Education has launched Project SAFE (Supporting America’s Families and Educators), a grant program established to support districts penalized by states over COVID-19 prevention strategies. The program is expected to use Education Department funding provided by the Every Student Succeeds Act under Title IV, Part F, School Safety National Activities for applicable districts where funding has been withheld by state leaders.
“We should be thanking districts for using proven strategies that will keep schools open and safe, not punishing them,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a release. “We stand with the dedicated educators doing the right thing to protect their school communities, and this program will allow them to continue that critical work of keeping students safe.” Read more
September 8, 2021
Two Texas teachers die, and a small town rethinks masks
Masks are now mandatory for students and staff in the Connally Independent School District, on the outskirts of Waco. The decision, made late last week, followed the two teacher deaths and a surge of cases in the community. Read more
September 1, 2021
Texas Senate sends virtual learning bill to the governor
Less than a week before the special session ends, Texas lawmakers sent a bill to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk that would expand and fund virtual learning, but would exclude students who failed their STAAR exams. Opponents of the long-term establishment of virtual learning say that students learn best in classrooms and cite declining standardized test scores last school year, especially in districts that had most of their instruction online. Read more
August 31, 2021
Texas House cuts students who failed STAAR tests out of virtual education funding
Students who failed their STAAR exams and racked up lots of unexcused absences could be excluded from virtual learning programs under a legislative proposal approved by the Texas House. For schools to get funding for virtual students, the students must have passed all their STAAR exams or equivalent assessments the previous year, earned a C grade or higher in foundation curriculum courses and have no more than 10% unexcused absences the previous year. Read more
August 30, 2021
Judges back schools in mask mandate lawsuits
State judges in Florida and Texas on Friday sided with school districts, ruling that those states’ governors exceeded their authority in barring officials from introducing mask mandates in schools. In Texas, District Judge Catherine A. Mauzy ruled that challengers are likely to prevail on their claims against Gov. Greg Abbott, who “is not authorized to declare by executive fiat that school districts are prohibited from requiring individuals to wear face coverings.” Read more
August 13, 2021
NEA announces support for vaccination or testing for educators
The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, has offered its support to policies that would require all teachers to get vaccinated against COVID or submit to regular testing. “It is clear that the vaccination of those eligible is one of the most effective ways to keep schools safe,” NEA president Becky Pringle said in a statement. Read more
August 12, 2021
Cardona raises COVID policy concerns with Governor Abbott
Miguel Cardona, US Secretary of Education, said he’s spoken with Abbott and shared his opinion on Texas’ COVID-19 policies. Cardona sat down for a virtual webinar with the National Press Foundation on Wednesday to discuss several topics related to the start of school. Abbott has repeatedly said that he encourages personal responsibility and does not believe governmental entities should force Texans to wear a mask. Read more
August 11, 2021
Judge grants temporary block on school mask mandate ban
A Texas judge on Tuesday approved a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of Governor Abbott’s ban on mask mandates in schools, just hours after leaders from San Antonio and Bexar County filed a challenge. Bexar County Civil District Court Judge Toni Arteaga approved the order following an hourlong hearing Tuesday, allowing county and city school officials to require masks in public schools until an additional decision is made on Abbott’s executive order on Monday. Read more
August 9, 2021
TSTA applauds Dallas ISD for defying governor and requiring masks in schools
TSTA applauds the Dallas Independent School District for putting the health and safety of its students, employees and local community first and requiring mask use in its schools. We urge other school districts to join Dallas ISD and ignore Gov. Abbott’s politically motivated order prohibiting mask mandates. Read press release
August 6, 2021
How Educators and School Staff Can Talk About COVID-19 Vaccine
We know that the way to end the pandemic is by having as many people as possible choose to get vaccinated. Join this virtual training on Tuesday, August 10 at 6:00 p.m., EDT. Educators and school staff can help students and their caregivers find credible vaccine information and get the facts to respond to misinformation. Read more and RSVP
TEA releases new COVID-19 public health guidelines
The Texas Education Agency has released new health guidelines for public schools, offering districts across the state some much-sought flexibility amid rising infections that have area parents and staff nervous about the start of school in the coming weeks. The new guidance now allows up to 20 days of remote instruction to be counted as attendance for funding purposes. Schools can apply for a waiver for additional distance learning time if needed in certain circumstances. The guidelines also require districts to bar students who test positive or are sick with COVID from attending class in person. Read more
August 5, 2021
Texas lawmaker asks AG to consider constitutionality of critical race theory
A Republican lawmaker is asking the Texas attorney general to issue an opinion on whether “anti-racist” teachings in public schools, universities and state agencies are unconstitutional. Such an interpretation could potentially influence efforts by schools, police departments and other public agencies to address racism, unconscious bias and inequities in their systems. Rep. James White, the only Black Republican House member, sent a letter this week to Attorney General Ken Paxton asking him to weigh in on the ongoing political battle over the idea of critical race theory – an academic framework that probes the way policies and laws uphold systemic racism. Read more
August 3, 2021
Kickstart your new school year with a professional support webinar
NEA Teacher Quality is presenting a series of webinars to support our members as they prepare for this new, post-pandemic school year. The kickoff webinar in on August 9! Read more and register
July 30, 2021
President Biden calls for full school reopenings in fall
President Joe Biden has called for all schools to open this fall for in-person learning. He pointed to funding through the $1.9T American Rescue Plan from March that allowed schools to implement improved ventilation systems, and he noted teachers were prioritized through the Department of Education when COVID-19 shots first became widely available in the spring, with almost 90% of educators and school staff now vaccinated. “We can and we must open schools this fall, full-time,” he said. “It’s better for our children’s mental and emotional well being, and we can’t afford another year out of the classroom. Every school should be open, and we’re giving them the tools to be able to do so safely.” Read more
July 28, 2021
CDC recommends universal masking in schools
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing the highly transmissible Delta variant, recommended Tuesday that K-12 schools adopt universal masking for teachers, staff, students and visitors regardless of vaccination status. The move marks a change from CDC guidance in May that said vaccinated people no longer needed to mask or physically distance in most indoor and outdoor settings.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said this change is “not a welcomed piece of news” and “was not a decision that was taken lightly,” noting only 30% of children 12-17 are currently fully vaccinated. The new recommendations say children do not need to mask when they head outdoors for recess or physical education, for example, unless they will be standing in a crowd for long periods of time. That also puts the health agency in line with the American Academy of Pediatrics, which last week recommended that everyone over the age of two wear masks in school.
TSTA is calling on Governor Abbott to urge him to rescind his shortsighted blanket prohibition on mask mandates he ordered in mid-May. This is a decision best left to the communities and districts most impacted by the pandemic.
July 27, 2021
TSTA calls on Abbott to allow school districts to require masks when students go back to school
The Texas State Teachers Association calls on Governor Greg Abbott to withdraw his prohibition on mask mandates and allow individual school districts to require mask use in their facilities if local officials believe masks will help protect the health of their communities as schools reopen for the fall semester. Read full statement
July 26, 2021
Austin schools to offer virtual learning for kindergarten through 6th grade
Austin ISD will offer a virtual option for students in kindergarten through sixth grade this fall, district officials told staff in an email Monday afternoon. The goal is still to have the “bulk” of students take advantage of “face-to-face learning,” but the district wanted to add the virtual option in response to community concerns, said Anthony Mays, the district’s chief officer of schools. He said the virtual option “will be for a limited number of students that may not be eligible for the COVID vaccine.” Further details will be released by the end of the week. Austin is the second Central Texas school district to add a last-minute virtual option after previously canceling online classes due to a lack of state funding. Last Thursday, the Round Rock school district announced it will offer a virtual option for the fall semester “to allow time for vaccine approval for children under 12.”
July 20, 2021
Texas judge orders stop to granting of new DACA applications
A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the DACA program, which allows certain immigrants to temporarily avoid deportation and receive renewable work permits, is illegal. He ordered the Biden administration to stop granting new applications. The ruling stems from a 2018 lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and eight other states against the federal argument. Read more
July 19, 2021
Relief for retired educators a hostage to governor’s efforts to dumb down Texas
Governor Greg Abbott claims he wants to help retired educators by putting an extra pension check on the special session’s agenda, but he would have more credibility with the education community were he not so intent on dumbing down Texas. Many retired educators are suffering financially. The average Teacher Retirement System annuitant receives just $2,118 per month, and 31 percent of them receive less than $1,000. Read blog
July 16, 2021
Anti-critical race theory bill heads to Senate
Texas teachers and students denounced a more strict anti-critical race theory bill as censorship and anti-civics education at a Senate committee hearing yesterday. The special session proposal builds off a bill Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law last month that seeks to ban critical race theory from the classroom. Read more
July 13, 2021
Racism, not teaching about it, produces trauma
The right-wing campaign to suppress what children are taught about racism and limit efforts to promote diversity in our public schools was a topic of discussion at the Conservative Political Action Committee’s gathering in Dallas, and truth was an optional agenda item. Read blog
July 12, 2021
State lawmakers file new critical race theory bills for special session
Texas lawmakers have filed at least three bills targeting how racism, current events and the country’s founding principles are taught in K-12 schools. This includes a senate bill that would strip out upcoming requirements that students learn white supremacy is morally wrong and study particular writings by women and people of color. Senate Bill 3 features more changes than two House bills that have been filed for the special legislative session that began Thursday. The legislation comes after Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill from this year’s regular legislative session that restricts how current events and America’s history of racism can be taught in Texas schools. Read more
July 9, 2021
NEA statement concerning the CDC’s updated school guidance for the fall
NEA President Becky Pringle released the following statement in response to the Center for Disease Control’s new guidance for school openings in the fall: “As the National Education Association has consistently said, there is no substitute for in-person learning, and we look forward to all students returning to school in the fall. The CDC’s latest guidance provides an important roadmap for reducing the risk of COVID-19 in schools. And it is up to all of us in communities across the country to make it possible for all school buildings to be fully open, to stay open, and for all students, staff, and families to remain healthy.” Read full statement
July 8, 2021
Special session convenes today; agenda includes several education issues
A voter suppression bill, which TSTA opposes, is the main reason Governor Greg Abbott called the session, but on Wednesday, the governor added several other items, including education-related bills, to the session’s call, or agenda.
One education issue, as we anticipated, will be another effort to suppress how educators can teach about the role of racism in our history and culture. Ignoring opposition from TSTA and other education and community groups, the Legislature enacted HB3979 in the regular session to address this issue. It is not clear what else Abbott wants lawmakers to do, but we suspect he will seek revisions to the new law to make it even worse.
In addition to imposing restrictions on classroom discussions about racism and other controversial events, HB3979, which goes into effect Sept. 1, will prohibit teachers from awarding students’ course credits for participating in many political or advocacy activities. These restrictions threaten to interfere with the development of critical thinking skills so important to a student’s future success.
This attack on education, which also is being waged in many other states, is a coordinated effort by the right-wing to divide communities along racial lines for political purposes. TSTA will continue to fight for honesty in education.
On a more positive note, the governor also added a 13th check for retired educators to the session’s agenda, after similar proposals died during the regular session. A 13th check would give some relief to retirees on limited incomes, but a long-overdue cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, would be better.
Here are other education-related issues the governor has directed lawmakers to consider in the special session:
- Legislation similar to SB1109 from the regular session, which would require middle and high schools to provide age-appropriate instruction about dating violence, domestic violence and child abuse. SB1109 was approved with strong bipartisan support, but Abbott vetoed it because it did not include a provision allowing parents to opt their children out of this instruction. He asked lawmakers to pass the bill again with the opt-out provision.
- Legislation identical to SB29 from the regular session, which would prohibit transgender students from participating in school sports on teams matching the gender with which they now identify. They would have to compete on teams matching their sex identification at birth. This controversial bill died during the regular session.
- Property tax relief, which could have an impact on school district budgets.
Feds release remaining stimulus funds to Texas
Earlier this year, the US Department of Education released two thirds of the funding provided to state education agencies through the American Rescue Plan, the third round of federal stimulus funding intended to aid in pandemic recovery. The final third of the funding was contingent on detailed plans from the states on how they are using and plan to use ARP funds to safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the needs of students, including by equitably expanding opportunities for students disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Texas is part of the the first cohort of seven state plans to be approved by the DoE, clearing the way for more than $4 billion in additional funding to flow to the state. Texas indicated to the DoE that it plans to use the funding to address the academic impact of lost instructional time for Texas students, and plans to offer high-dosage tutoring, high-quality instructional materials, and job-embedded professional learning to help address the academic impact of lost instructional time. Read more
July 6, 2021
Going back to school
Remote learning won’t be an option for many parents in the fall, as the Texas Education Agency pushes districts toward returning to in-person learning citing data showing that it leads to better learning outcomes than remote instruction. But the return to in-person learning is not a simple transition for some parents — particularly parents of students of color — after a year in which they say their children reaped some benefits from remote-only learning.
As of January, about 56% of Texas students had returned to on-campus instruction, including 75% of white students, about 53% of Black students, 49% of Hispanic students and 31% of Asian students. Experts say it’s necessary to consider the intersection of circumstances that could lead to such rates. Read more
June 30, 2021
Pandemic ‘widened in-person learning disparities,’ CDC warns
New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that the pandemic widened disparities in full-time, in-person learning between white and minority students. While in-person learning increased for all school children in 2021, it increased the most for white students. In-person learning increased to 74.6% for whites from January 2021 to April 2021, to 63.4% for blacks, 58.9% for Hispanics, and 56.9% for all other races. Though the study had a number of limitations, including sampling primarily from larger school districts, researchers found that students in the South had the highest rate of in-person learning, on average, at 62.5%. Read more
June 23, 2021
Special session announced
A special section of the Texas Legislature will start July 8, Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday. Abbott’s office has not said what legislative priorities will be included on the special session agenda, only that such items “will be announced prior to the convening of the special session.”
But Abbott previously said he plans to ask state lawmakers to work on two elections and bail bills that died late on the last day legislators were in session, after House Democrats walked out of the chamber. More recently, Abbott said the agenda will also include further restricting the teaching of critical race theory in Texas public schools, which refers to an academic discipline that explores the role racism plays in institutions and structures of governance. Read more
June 22, 2021
More school superintendents opting to step down
More and more school superintendents are leaving their posts, far more than in a typical year, a result of the extraordinary challenges of keeping kids learning after schools closed in spring 2020 and serving as crisis managers for months on end while dealing with pandemic pressures on their own families.
The turnover this year has been unprecedented, superintendents say, with the usual job responsibilities and tensions exacerbated by crisis management and debates with communities and school boards over when and how to reopen schools during the pandemic. Conflicts over equity and education that addressed racial issues also boiled over, with superintendents often feeling the brunt of the disputes. Read more
June 18, 2021
HB3979 was enacted to whitewash racism, not address critical race theory
Critical race theory is not the reason the legislative majority enacted HB3979, the new anti-education law, despite what Governor Greg Abbott and the law’s other supporters claim. The law’s real purpose is broader and more sinister. Read blog
June 17, 2021
Biden administration declares that Title IX protects transgender students
The rights of transgender and gay students are protected at school by Title IX, the Department of Education said Wednesday, reversing previous guidance that said those students were not protected by any federal laws. The department said that its new position comes out of its interpretation of a landmark Supreme Court decision a year ago in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended protections in the Civil Rights Act against discrimination in the workplace to gay and transgender Americans. “The Supreme Court has upheld the right for LGBTQ+ people to live and work without fear of harassment, exclusion, and discrimination — and our LGBTQ+ students have the same rights and deserve the same protections,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement. I’m proud to have directed the Office for Civil Rights to enforce Title IX to protect all students from all forms of sex discrimination,” he added. The new guidance is particularly important for students in places where state-level protections for transgender youth don’t exist, said Christy Mallory, legal director at the University of California-Los Angeles’ Williams Institute, which conducts research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy. Read more
June 16, 2021
Texas Gov signs ‘anti-critical race theory’ bill into law
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law a bill that prescribes how teachers can talk about current events and America’s history of racism in the classroom. His signature makes Texas one of a handful of states across the country that have passed such legislation, which aims to ban the teaching of “critical race theory” in K-12 public school classrooms. Teachers can’t be “compelled to discuss a particular current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs,” according to the new law. Teachers also aren’t allowed to give credit for students to participate in lobbying or public policy internships. Rep. Steve Toth, the bill’s author, said the legislation was necessary “at a time when racial tensions are at a boiling point,” adding that “we don’t need to burden our kids with guilt for racial crimes they had nothing to do with.”
“This will stifle the teaching of huge, important facts about history, which still affect much of our life today,” said Clay Robison, spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association. “Teachers and students need and deserve the whole truth about our history, our culture and what our problems are.”
Governors in Idaho and Tennessee have signed similar bills into law with more than a dozen other states considering legislation. Read more
June 15, 2021
Texas Supreme Court orders commissioner to hear NEA-Dallas’ grievance over Dallas ISD teacher appraisal system
Education Commissioner Mike Morath has been ordered to hear a grievance, which he earlier dismissed, brought by teachers against Dallas ISD over the district’s teacher appraisal system, the Teacher Excellence Initiative (TEI). Both the school district and the commissioner had dismissed the grievance, contending wrongly that the teachers had missed a district-imposed deadline for filing it. Their dismissals were upheld by a state district court. The Third Court of Appeals in Austin delivered a mixed opinion. Read press release
June 9, 2021
Giving lip service to patriotism
Governor Greg Abbott chose June 7, the day after the 77th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, to sign a law creating the “1836 project” to promote what he calls “patriotic education.” The new law, HB2497, creates a nine-person committee that will be charged with increasing awareness of the state’s history, including its independence from Mexico (hence the 1836 modifier), and advising the governor on how the “core principles” of Texas’ founding “enrich the lives of its residents.” Read blog
June 8, 2021
Spring Branch announces summer teacher pay hike
Spring Branch ISD teachers began summer school this week with a 20 percent pay increase, an incentive to attract educators to campuses to help offset learning losses for more than 3,000 students. The district is focusing heavily on their youngest students, SBISD Superintendent Jennifer Blaine said in a statement, with about 750 pre-K and kindergarten English language learners expected for the Special Language Academy. Read more
June 4, 2021
Central Texas districts cancel fall online classes
At least two Central Texas school districts are discontinuing online classes in the fall, after a bill to continue funding remote learning programs failed in the closing hours of the legislative session. Acting Round Rock Superintendent Daniel Presley said the district had counted on House Bill 1468 to offer a virtual option for families with health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. But the district announced Thursday it is planning for a “full return to in-person, face-to-face instruction and activities.” The Hays school district also is scrapping plans for a virtual learning option, district spokesman Tim Savoy said in a statement.
The bipartisan bill would have authorized public schools, including charters, to count students in remote learning programs as part of enrollment, which is used to determine public school funding. However, it fell short of final approval on Sunday night, when House Democrats walked out of the Capitol to kill the divisive Republican voting bill ahead of a midnight deadline to pass legislation. Austin school district officials had expressed support for the legislation, and said they were still reviewing the implications of its demise. Alejandro Delgado, the district’s new executive director of student enrollment and advocacy, said the district had been working on a “really rigorous virtual option” and would seek a waiver to continue virtual learning if made available by the Texas Education Agency.
June 3, 2021
New state law allows seniors to graduate in spite of STAAR results
High school seniors who have struggled to pass their STAAR tests can now petition to graduate. House Bill 999 allows a senior who failed any of the required STAAR exams to petition an individual graduation committee, showing alternative work deserving of graduation. The legislation temporarily expands the petition option for current high school seniors because of learning difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Normally, only a high school senior who failed up to two of the five end-of-course tests but passed all classes and fulfilled other requirements could petition to graduate. Each failed exam requires a separate petition to a committee, made up of the student’s teacher, the lead instructor for the subject, the principal and parents, and the committee must give unanimous approval for the student to graduate.
June 1, 2021
Texas bill limiting teaching of historic racism heading to governor
On Friday night, state senators revived a bill that would limit how Texas teachers can talk about current events and America’s history of racism in the classroom, hours after it appeared to have been jettisoned. House Bill 3979 originated in the House, but the Senate substantially changed it earlier this month. Those changes included stripping out more than two dozen requirements that students study the writings or stories of multiple women and people of color. When the bill went back before the House on Friday, state Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock) raised a procedural violation, arguing that some changes from the Senate were not relevant to the bill. His point of order was sustained, appearing to block the bill in the final days of the Legislature. However, the language of the legislation was later amended, bringing the measure back into play. The bill says teachers cannot be compelled to discuss current events, and must explore various view points without giving deference to either side. Many educators and education advocacy groups had opposed the bill, saying it limits honest conversations about race and racism in American society.
May 24, 2021
Public safety, democracy at risk as legislative session winds to a close
Public health and safety, education and the protection of democracy are three of the basic responsibilities of our system of state and local government. But the governor, the lieutenant governor and their allies in the Legislature are tossing those responsibilities out the window. Read blog
May 20, 2021
Texas must spend the remaining $7 billion in federal education stimulus funds to increase school budgets
As the legislative session winds to a close, uncertainty remains over the remaining federal stimulus funds, about $7 billion, earmarked for public education in Texas. House and Senate conferees, it has been reported, have reached agreement on a new state budget that removes all legislative oversight over how those funds are to be spent and gives that responsibility to the governor. Read press release
May 19, 2021
Students have a right to learn an accurate account of history
TSTA believes that denying our students the benefit of a meaningful engagement with civics, history, social studies and current events does nothing to prepare them for the academic rigor of higher education or for life in a complex society. Our best hope of furthering our goals for a more equal and inclusive future lie with students who have a clear-eyed and accurate understanding of our past.
Tell your Texas senator to vote no on HB 3979. Doing so shows support for Texas teachers and ensures that our students will be academically prepared to succeed in higher education and in life.
May 18, 2021
The commissioner of education must follow the law, not dictate it
The Texas House will soon be debating Senate Bill 1365, which attempts to rewrite the state’s accountability rules so that the Texas Education Agency can circumvent inconvenient court rulings in its attempts to take over school districts and their locally elected boards.
The bill removes the guardrails protecting elected school boards from jurisdictional overreach by the appointed commissioner of education, bestowing “final and unappealable” power to a single unelected official and offering no recourse in the courts for communities to appeal.
Write to your Texas representative today to say we believe SB 1365 creates a monumental conflict of interest by allowing the appointed commissioner of education to create and implement his own rules for evaluating our schools and also bestowing the power to assume control over any district that doesn’t measure up to those rules.
Please voice your opposition to SB 1365. The commissioner of education should be compelled to follow state law, and our courts must retain the authority to assure that he does so.
TSTA: Abbott’s ban on masks in schools premature
The Texas State Teachers Association believes Gov. Greg Abbott’s order ending all masking requirements in Texas public schools, effective June 4, is premature. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that schools require masks and social distancing for the remainder of the school year because many students have not been vaccinated and will not complete their two-dose regimen of Pfizer vaccines until well into the summer. Read press release
TFA to Gov: Allow higher ed to continue mask requirements
The Texas Faculty Association urges Gov. Greg Abbott to reconsider his order ending mask requirements in government facilities, including universities. We urge him to allow colleges and universities to continue requiring masks, at least until a larger number of Texans are vaccinated against the coronavirus. Read press release
May 11, 2021
TSTA, faculty group urge conferees to invest in higher ed to free up more stimulus funds
State Comptroller Glenn Hegar has added more than $3 billion to the biennial revenue estimate for the upcoming budget period. The Texas State Teachers Association and the Texas Faculty Association urge budget conferees on Senate Bill 1 to use part of that additional revenue to add $1.2 billion to the higher education budget. Doing so would meet the federal government’s “maintenance of effort” requirement for releasing the remaining stimulus funds for Texas public schools, about $6.7 billion. Read full statement
May 10, 2021
Texas Democrat revives trans athlete bill
Democratic state Rep Harold Dutton on Friday revived and helped advance a bill that would restrict transgender students from participating in school sports, in what appears to be a retaliatory effort directed at members of his own party for sinking one of his bills. Senate Bill 29, the subject of fierce criticism from Mr. Dutton’s fellow Democrats, would require the University Interscholastic League to force students to play on the sports teams based on their biological sex instead of their gender identity. Read more
May 5, 2021
Voter suppression bill a desperate attempt at political survival
The Texas State Teachers Association opposes House Bill 6, the voter suppression bill that the Texas House of Representatives is expected to debate tomorrow. This bill undermines the democratic process for which people have died, it perpetuates the lie of “widespread voter fraud” and it sends the wrong message to Texas’ school children, who have been taught from the earliest grades to value the right to vote. Read full press statement
Districts must include education allies in stimulus funds planning
Texas school districts are required to engage in “meaningful consultation” with stakeholders, including “educators, school staff, and their unions,” when applying for their share of the American Rescue Plan stimulus funds Texas has finally made available. #TeamTSTA has developed a template you can use to inform your district that it must include stakeholder engagement and opportunity for public comment when developing its plan for the allocation of ARP ESSER funds.
Pfizer vaccine for 12-15-year olds could be approved next week
President Joe Biden has announced a new phase in his administration’s push to vaccinate the nation against COVID-19 that includes a focus on children as young as 12. Although no vaccine is currently authorized in the United States for people under 16, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve Pfizer’s request to amend its emergency use authorization to include adolescents ages 12 to 15 as early as next week. Read more
Let social studies teachers teach all the facts, including the sins of Texas, past and present
The war over American and Texas history and how it should be taught is expanding – in the nation’s capital as well as in Texas and other states. On one side are political spin and lies. On the other side are education and facts. Read blog
May 3, 2021
Tell educators they are extra special too
Teacher Appreciation Week is always a special time for educators, but it is extra special now, at the end of a school year when Texas teachers and their support staff have heroically met the needs of their students during a most difficult time with unprecedented challenges. These educators are heroes. Like never before, they deserve this special week and day of recognition. Tomorrow, May 4, is Teacher Appreciation Day. Read press release
April 30, 2021
Every kid deserves to go to school and be themselves
The Texas House’s State Affairs committee on Thursday took up Texas’ CROWN Act, a bill from Dallas Democratic Representative Rhetta Bowers that would prohibit discrimination based on hair texture or hairstyle associated with race in the state. The CROWN Act – Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair – comes as part of a national movement with 10 other states having passed their own CROWN legislation and several others working to do the same. Bowers told the committee it is important to note that the bill does not aim to create a new “protected class” or encourage frivolous lawsuits and is of no cost to the state. The proposal awaits a committee vote. Read more
April 28, 2021
TSTA members’ efforts to get federal stimulus funds to districts starting to pay off for school children
The Texas State Teachers Association is pleased that our members’ demands are beginning to pay off for Texas school children and applaud state officials for releasing $11.2 billion of the federal stimulus money earmarked for public education in Texas. Now, we urge the state to consult with educators and do whatever is necessary to free up the remainder of the stimulus money that the federal government has allocated to Texas schools and release it to school districts. The total was $17.9 billion. Read press release
April 26, 2021
Texas falls farther behind most states in two key indicators of education funding
Despite increased education funding from House Bill 3, the 2019 school finance law, Texas this year fell farther behind the national average in two key indicators, per-student spending and teacher pay, the National Education Association’s latest report on state-by-state education spending shows. Read press release
April 23, 2021
TSTA applauds House anti-voucher vote and amendment requiring Legislature to spend federal stimulus funds
Once again private school vouchers were rejected and two key amendments passed to the budget to govern the state’s allocation of almost $18 billion in federal stimulus funds for public education. Rep. Eddie Rodriguez’s amendment was adopted to require the federal funds to be appropriated to supplement state education spending, as Congress intended, not to replace it. Also adopted was Rep. Geanie Morrison’s amendment to require the entire Legislature to appropriate stimulus funds and not leave the decision to the governor or a small group of lawmakers. Read press release
April 19, 2021
School year ending as it began: Student and educator safety not the highest priority for state officials
As the 2020-21 school year draws to a close, what has been obvious since last August remains unchanged: the safety of students and educators has not been a high enough priority for state officials. Read blog
April 12, 2021
White House discretionary funding request includes billions for education
President Joe Biden’s funding request includes discretionary funding proposals only, while the President’s forthcoming Budget will include major, complementary mandatory investments and tax reforms. It proposes a $36.5 billion investment in Title I grants, a $20 billion increase from the 2021 enacted level, to provide historically under-resourced schools with the funding needed to deliver a high-quality education to all of their students. Read more
April 6, 2021
Another reason STAAR testing during a pandemic is absurd
Even in normal years, the STAAR testing regime is a waste of classroom time and taxpayer dollars. During a pandemic, it is absurd to require students to take a test that doesn’t count and won’t accurately measure the learning loss that state officials claim it will. Read full press statement
TSTA: Educators are angry at the Senate’s failure to appropriate federal education stimulus money; school kids need the extra resources
Texas educators are angry that the Senate has refused to include any of the almost $18 billion in federal stimulus money earmarked for public education in Texas in its version of the new state budget. Our school kids need these additional resources, especially at a time when our public schools are dealing with the most critical and expensive emergency of our lifetimes. Read full press statement
March 31, 2021
TSTA suspects legislative scheme to ignore federal directives for stimulus funds, including much‐needed education money
The Texas State Teachers Association suspects the proposed Board on Administration of Federal Funds is little more than a ploy by state leaders to ignore the intentions of President Biden and the congressional majority when it enacted billions of dollars in federal stimulus aid for Texas. This includes $12.4 billion earmarked for public education, in the American Rescue Plan. Another $5.5 billion in federal money for public education was allocated to Texas under the last COVID stimulus bill enacted in December when Donald Trump was still president, and it remains unspent.
March 29, 2021
Do teachers need to disclose their vaccination status?
Education Week speaks to experts about teachers and COVID-19 vaccines. At present, it is not permissible for school or district leaders to require teachers to get vaccinated, as the shots are currently under emergency use authorization. Even after the vaccines have full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, at which point employers could mandate them, they will still have to make exceptions for individuals with certain medical conditions or religious beliefs when imposing any requirements. Read more
States’ calls to cancel standardized testing rejected
On Friday, the Biden administration formally denied requests from Georgia and South Carolina to cancel statewide testing entirely. In its request, Georgia had emphasized that its districts could choose to offer a diagnostic exam, but the department said that was not enough. South Carolina had sought to skip a statewide test in favor of allowing districts to choose their own exam. The department also told Oregon that it could not substitute a survey of students for a standardized test. Read more
March 19, 2021
TSTA calls for Abbott to restore mask mandate for all schools, following change in CDC social distancing guidelines
We are concerned about the CDC’s change from six to three feet for socially distancing guidelines for public schools, especially in districts that have removed their masking requirements for students and employees. We agree with the CDC that students and school staff must be masked, and we call for Gov. Abbott to reinstate his mask mandate, at least for all public schools. Read full press statement.
March 18, 2021
Bill would mandate districts to provide school nurses
State Representative Shawn Thierry (D-Houston) has filed a bill this legislative session to require all districts to employ at least one full-time nurse per school – and also keep a ratio of at least one full-time nurse for every 750 students enrolled. Similar bills have failed in previous sessions, however Thierry hopes the coronavirus pandemic has shown the scope and importance of school nurses’ jobs. Read full press statement
March 15, 2021
Legislature should use federal stimulus money to increase public education budget, not replace state funding
About six in 10 likely Texas voters believe public schools need more funding on top of what they received two years ago, and they say the federal stimulus funding allocated to Texas is the best way to provide that, according to a poll commissioned by the Texas State Teachers Association.
“Voters agree with educators that these federal funds were earmarked for school kids, not to help the Legislature balance the next state budget by replacing state education dollars,” TSTA President Ovidia Molina said. Read press statement
March 12, 2021
Congress approves American Rescue Plan
The US House this week gave final passage to the American Rescue Plan, the COVID relief bill championed by President Biden, which includes nearly $170 billion for public education nationwide. The $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill includes $15.7 billion for public K-12 and higher education in Texas. Biden is expected to sign the legislation tomorrow. Read more
March 10, 2021
ARP passes
Congress today passed a historic economic relief package, the American Rescue Plan, which will provide critical funding to help alleviate suffering felt by millions of Americans. Read press statement
March 4, 2021
Hold harmless decision on school funding may have a catch
We believe the hold-harmless decision issued by Governor Greg Abbott and other state leaders could be a positive step in funding for our public schools, but there may be a catch. For districts to receive full funding for the remainder of the spring semester, regardless of attendance losses, they will have to “maintain or increase current levels of on-campus attendance.” Read press release
March 3, 2021
Biden acted, while Abbott failed educators on vaccines
The Texas State Teachers Association applauds President Biden for acting where Governor Abbott had failed in ordering all school employees and childcare workers to receive priority for COVID-19 vaccines. Read press release
March 2, 2021
Don’t let your guard down, governor, educators and voters still want safe schools and vaccine priority for school employees
Like the governor, we believe we are making progress against the COVID‐19 pandemic, but we are not there yet. Far from it. The COVID numbers have been coming down, but there were still 1,637 new confirmed cases of COVID in Texas yesterday and 59 deaths. Gov. Abbott needs to quit obeying his political impulses and listen to the health experts, who are warning that it is too soon to let our guard down without risking potentially disastrous consequences. Read press release
Miguel Cardona confirmed as Education Secretary
The Senate confirmed Miguel Cardona to serve as education secretary Monday, on a bipartisan 64-33 vote. The son of Puerto Rican parents, he grew up in public housing in Meriden, Conn., and attended public schools throughout his life. He started as a struggling English-language learner and went on to become an elementary-school teacher, an award-winning principal, an assistant superintendent in that school system and Connecticut’s first Latino commissioner of education. He will be sworn in this morning by Vice President Kamala Harris. Read more
March 1, 2021
TSTA poll shows overwhelming support for teacher priority for COVID vaccines
Texas voters overwhelmingly across demographic and partisan groups think that Texas should designate public school teachers as essential workers and give them priority for vaccinations against COVID-19, a bipartisan poll commissioned by the Texas State Teachers Association shows. Read more.
February 28, 2021
NEA updates disaster relief fund with more counties
Effective February 19, 2021, NEA Member Benefits has activated its Disaster Relief Program (DRP) in response to a FEMA-declared major disaster for the incident period of February 11, 2021 and continuing.
The DRP will be effective for all counties included in President Joe Biden’s major disaster declaration. More than 100 Texas counties are covered by the declaration, which allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to also start distributing assistance. For a list of covered counties please visit disasterassistance.gov.
NEA MB and its business partners stand ready to assist by providing resources to affected members and affiliates, and special accommodations to NEA member-participants in NEA MB programs.
A specially designed DRP Web page at www.neamb.com/disaster-assistance.htm provides details about the resources and accommodations available to affected members.
If you are interested in pursuing relief through the DRP, please contact your NEA Member Benefits Affiliate Relations Specialist, who will serve as your liaison during disaster recovery and provide important data and information that will benefit your Affiliate and your members.
If you have any questions about the Disaster Relief Program or assistance available, please contact Kimberley Adams, Director of Affiliate Relations & Communications, at kadams@neamb.com or 301-527-6243.
February 22, 2021
What is the difference between faux STAAR accountability and real accountability? Abbott may be about to find out
Accountability is a word that Texas politicians don’t often like to accept but love to preach. As preached and practiced in the Texas political system, there are two versions of accountability, one faux and the other real. Read blog
February 14, 2021
More than 1000 employees have left Killeen ISD during pandemic
A total of 1,061 employees — 39% of whom were teachers — have left the Killeen Independent School District since March 2020, the month Governor Greg Abbott temporarily forced the closure of all Texas school districts. Read more
February 5, 2021
Schools must keep identification statuses this year
The Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education has released a document informing states that schools must keep their identification statuses from 2019-20 for the 2020-21 school year. Any school with the status of comprehensive support and improvement, targeted support and improvement, or additional targeted support and improvement will keep that identification status this year. The Department of Education is providing flexibilities for certain accountability and school identification requirements, but it maintained that assessment, accountability, school identification, and reporting requirements under Title I are not waived for the 2020-21 school year. Read more
February 3, 2021
Calls mount to strike Marjorie Taylor Greene from House Education Committee
The two largest teachers’ unions in the United States released a joint statement on Tuesday calling for the removal of Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from the House Education Committee. In a letter to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers argue that Ms. Greene lacks the “judgment, empathy or wisdom” to have responsibility over learning environments, as demonstrated by her associations with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Read more
February 1, 2021
TEA says students must take STAAR tests on campus
There will be no online alternative for STARR testing for parents who don’t want to send their children back to school over COVID-19 concerns. The Texas Education Agency announced Friday that students will have to take the standardized tests in person under the supervision of a test administrator. School districts can set up sites outside of their schools where they can ensure equitable access and maintain test security. Read more
January 28, 2021
Texas House Speaker supports ‘hold-harmless’ funding for school districts
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan said yesterday that he supports a move that to allow the state’s school districts receive millions of dollars in funding. Schools could lose millions because of enrollment drops and absenteeism caused by the pandemic, as state funding is tied to student attendance. Soon, administrators may need to make up those funding losses by pulling money from reserves or, worse, cutting staff. Phelan, along with more than half of the Texas House, have been outspoken in support of extending the hold-harmless period through the end of the current school year, as school leaders have requested. Read more
January 25, 2021
Biden boosts food benefits for children
An executive order signed by President Joe Biden on Friday aims to address food insecurity caused by the pandemic by extending a federal nutrition program and focusing resources on children who have missed meals due to closed schools. It directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to consider issuing new guidance to allow states to increase emergency benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that Congress has approved but have not been made available to those in need due to the pandemic. It also asks the USDA to issue guidance increasing Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) payments by 15% in order to “increase access to nutritious food for millions of children missing meals due to school closures.” Read more
January 22, 2021
Biden rolls out new strategy to reopen schools
On his first full day in office, President Joe Biden set out details for how his administration plans to get the country’s public school system back up and running for in-person learning. The 200-page federal plan, and executive orders he signed Thursday, call for “sustained and coordinated” efforts with the cooperation of states and new resources, guidance, and data for schools as they continue to respond to the pandemic. Read more
January 21, 2021
Pause on federal student loan payments extended
The US Department of Education announced Wednesday that it would extend the suspension of federal student loan payments through September 30 and keep the interest rate at 0%. “Too many Americans are struggling to pay for basic necessities and to provide for their families. They should not be forced to choose between paying their student loans and putting food on the table,” the Department said in a statement. Read more.
January 20, 2021
College Board is scrapping SAT’s essay and subject tests
The College Board is eliminating the optional essay component of the SAT, and will no longer offer subject tests in US history, languages and math, among other topics, as the pandemic accelerates a push for changes in college admissions. The decision doesn’t affect the main SAT. The organization, which administers the college entrance exam in addition to several other tests, including Advanced Placement exams, said the coronavirus crisis has “accelerated a process already underway at the College Board to reduce and simplify demands on students.” Read more.
January 14, 2021
Legislative session convenes
With restricted access to a heavily guarded state Capitol, the biennial session of the Texas Legislature convened Tuesday, with the House, as expected, overwhelmingly electing Representative Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, as its new speaker.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has made the revenue outlook tighter than it was two years ago, when lawmakers increased funding for public schools by several billion dollars, both Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, said public education will be a top priority again this year.
January 11, 2021
Districts must not be penalized for ending in-person instruction until educators are vaccinated
The Texas State Teachers Association is disappointed that Governor Greg Abbott has not added school employees to the COVID-19 vaccination priority list, and we continue to urge him to do so.
Meanwhile, we encourage every school employee who is 65 or older or who has underlying health conditions to take the COVID vaccine, if their physicians approve. But our public schools and students will not be safe from this pandemic until every educator who wants a vaccine can get one, and it may be some months before Texas has enough vaccine doses to cover all educators and other high-risk groups. Read more.
Legislature must provide virtual testimony option
As the Texas Legislature prepares to convene during a deadly pandemic, the Texas State Teachers Association calls on legislators to provide an option for virtual testimony for all committee hearings. The lawmaking process must remain accessible to all members of the public, including those who need or prefer the safety of participating remotely. Read more.
January 8, 2021
Betsy DeVos resigns as Education Secretary
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos submitted her resignation in a letter to President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying she would step down over the rampage at the Capitol. Although she went on to praise the President for championing her school choice agenda, she lamented: “Impressionable children are watching all of this, and they are learning from us. They must know from us that America is greater than what transpired yesterday. Read more.
NEA’s statement on the resignation of Betsy DeVos
January 7, 2021
Talking to kids about the attack on the capitol
Wednesday’s violence at the United States Capitol is an attack on our country and on our democratic institutions and most children are aware of more than we realize. Our nation has never witnessed an event like this in recent history and it’s difficult to make sense of the confusing, frightening scenes, let alone explain the situation to our children. But what is most important to remember and to tell kids is that the brave people who are helping will eventually bring order and peace. Read more
January 4, 2021
Plans to introduce weekly COVID testing at all schools
President-elect Joe Biden is weighing a multibillion-dollar plan for fully reopening schools that would hinge on testing all students, teachers and staff for COVID-19 at least once a week, with the cost covered by the federal government. Transition officials are still trying to determine the exact price for regular testing in the nation’s schools, with one person close to the deliberations putting the cost at between $8 billion and $10 billion over an initial three-month period. Mr Biden has pledged to reopen the majority of schools within his first 100 days in office, amid growing concerns about the educational and mental health toll that months of remote learning has taken on a generation of students. Read more
New Texas bill would compel schools to rehire teachers who quit due to COVID
Teachers that quit their jobs due to COVID-19 concerns would get the chance to return to their old desks with benefits and all if a newly filed bill in the Texas Legislature is passed into laws. COVID-wary teachers driven from the job by the virus would be entitled to return to the same pay and benefits under the bill. Read more
