available for

Texas AFT
Texas Teacher
A Union of Professionals Spring 2015
Let them know you’re watching
Ways to get involved at the Capitol, p. 10
Losing ground on
health-care costs?
What you can do
about it, p. 2
Local unions fight to preserve planning and
preparation time rights, p. 12
CONVENTION 2015: Sign up now for our
Professional Issues Day
Texas AFT Convention and Professional Issues Day
Make plans now to attend the Texas
AFT Convention Friday, June 12, through
Sunday, June 14, 2015, at the Omni
Colonnade in San Antonio. The convention
will come to order at 2 p.m. on Friday, June
12, 2015. On Friday convention committees
will make recommendations on submitted
resolutions.
On Saturday we will focus on the
Reclaiming the Promise Professional
Issues Day with our keynote speaker Mary
Cathryn Ricker, executive vice-president of
the American Federation of Teachers, and a
choice of three sets of workshops, plus our
awards luncheon. Officer elections will take
place Saturday evening.
All Saturday events and workshops
are open to non-delegate members who
register for the single day as well as to
the credentialed convention delegates.
Sunday will consist of action on proposed
amendments, resolutions and other
convention business. The convention
will conclude by 3 p.m. Sunday, or when
business is finished.
Interested in being a delegate?
Contact your local union if you’re
interested in being a delegate to the
convention. You can find a link to locals at
www.texasaft.org > About Us.
Convention fees and
registration
is $119 per night, single or double, plus
hotel taxes (16.75 percent). Delegates and
attendees may register with the hotel online
via a link at www.texasaft.org/convention.
Room deadline is May 15, 2015.
Reclaiming the Promise
Professional Issues Day
Saturday, June 13
The cost for the convention (including the
Professional Issues Day) is $65. An “early
bird” registration fee of $50 is available
through May 15, 2015. (The fees for
individuals attending only the Reclaiming
the Promise Professional Issues Day are the
same.)
Workshops on topics like
social media dos and don’ts,
engaging immigrant families,
teacher evaluation overviews,
school finance, identifying and
resolving conflicts, and more!
Hotel reservations
For a full list of workshops and
registration information, visit
www.texasaft.org/convention.
The room rate at the Omni Colonnade
(9821 Colonnade Blvd., San Antonio)
Member Benefits
Save on auto insurance and get cash
back for drivers education courses
As a Texas AFT member, you’re eligible for a host of rewards
from our benefits partner, Union Plus. For instance, with Union
Plus auto insurance, you get:
• Competitive group auto insurance rates­­—members
who’ve switched have saved an average of $534* on car
insurance.
• Driver education grants—up to $250 for driver training,
including Defensive Driving and your kids’ drivers
education courses.
• Disaster Relief Grant to help those facing hardship due
to a natural disaster.
• Free online auto insurance quotes and rate
comparisons—compare rates before switching.
• Coverage for motorcycles, mobile homes, boats, ATVs
and more available.
To request a free rate quote call all 1-800-294-9496. To
access all your discounts and more information on benefits,
visit www.unionplus.org
Lobby Days
and rallies
showcase
education
issues at the
Capitol, p. 6
CONTENTS
Convention 2015 Inside Cover
Member Benefits 1
Viewpoint2
Health-care costs survey results 3
From the Secretary-Treasurer 4
Union leaders retire 4-5
Lobby Days 2015 6
Legislative updates 8
Local unions fight for planning/prep time 12
Houston union starts “Reading and Riding”13
facebook.com/TexasAFT
SPRING 2015
“Thanks to Union Plus, our family
has saved hundreds on insurance
coverage,” says Carmel Sinopoli, a
teachers union member.
The Sinopoli family says they
saved $440 on their auto insurance premium, while bolstering their coverage. Carmel also
recently received a $250 grant to
put towards her daughter’s drivers education course. Once offered
in public schools at an affordable price, beginner’s driver education
courses now routinely cost several hundred dollars.
Texas Teacher
Texas Teacher is the award-winning publication of Texas AFT.
The publication is printed quarterly.
For advertising inquiries, or to be added to our mailing list,
contact [email protected].
Texas AFT
3000 South IH-35, Suite 175
Austin, Texas 78704
800-222-3827
512-448-0130
www.texasaft.org
Louis Malfaro: President
John O’sullivan: Secretary-Treasurer
Rob D’Amico: Editor
Texas AFT represents more than 65,000 teachers,
paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees
across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.6-million-member
American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.
twitter.com/TexasAFT
Texas Teacher1
ViewPoint
Sick and Tired:
School Employees in Texas are Losing Ground on Health Care
Texas AFT recently conducted a survey
of public school employees to gauge the
effect on our members of rising health
insurance costs. We were prepared to
hear some bad news because we’ve been
tracking the trend over the last decade
during which premium costs have risen
consistently while state contributions
toward active employee premiums have
remained unchanged. The statistics
Louis Malfaro
we collected are sobering and the
President
testimonials poignant and heart-rending.
Texas passed a law in 2001 requiring school districts to offer
health-care coverage to their employees and also created a statewide
insurance plan called TRS-ActiveCare. Currently about half of all
public school employees participate in ActiveCare while the rest
are covered by plans sponsored through their school districts. The
law initially provided for a state contribution of $75 per month and
required a minimum school district contribution of $150 monthly
for all school employees in ActiveCare and on local health plans. At
the time the law was passed, this combined $225 covered roughly
two-thirds of the cost of employee-only health insurance on the
TRS-ActiveCare 2 plan.
Despite significant medical inflation over the last decade and
a half, and premium increases averaging over 10 percent per year,
the minimum contribution required by the law has remained
unchanged for 14 years! Today, school employees are shouldering
about 60 percent of the costs of their own health insurance
premiums and those covering dependents are spending much
more.
The data generated by our survey were predictably bleak. 94
percent of the respondents report rising health insurance costs
in the last several years and 62 percent also reported decreased
benefits. While some school districts provide additional assistance
to cover employee premiums at rates above the minimum required,
nearly half of employees reported small or no pay increases due in
part to rising health-care costs.
We know that average teacher pay in Texas has declined
by 6 percent since 2001 when adjusted for inflation. Noted one
respondent: “Any raises have come with higher health costs. When
we hear there will be a pay raise, we joke that it must be time for the
insurance to go up again. In ten years my take-home pay has risen
only $200 per month—all my raises go to rising health insurance
costs.”
Respondents who are covering dependent family members
2
Texas AFT
No surprise here...
“Have you seen your health-insurance costs
rise in the past few years?”
reported spending a minimum of $500 per month for coverage
with many paying closer to $1,000. Reports of dropped coverage
for children and spouses due to high costs were common. Higher
deductible plans and increased out-of-pocket costs have led to
school employees not going to the doctor or waiting until routine
medical matters become acute.
One survey taker told us: “Last year I delayed seeking care
for a respiratory infection due to the high out-of-pocket costs.
When I became so ill I had to see the doctor, I was sent for surgery
to remove a bronchial obstruction. Had I not been so worried
about the cost, I would have sought treatment sooner and avoided
surgery.”
Another respondent told about the staff at her school taking
up a collection for a co-worker going through chemotherapy who
wept when presented with the gift, in part because she had delayed
a treatment because she couldn’t make the co-payment.
Has it come to the point in the great state of Texas where
teachers and school employees have to beg to be allowed to have
full access to medical care?
The fight for improved health insurance is a state fight and
a local one as well. Texas AFT is leading the effort for affordable
health care for all education employees and retirees with the
ultimate goal of fully paid coverage for every employee and
50 percent for their families—health coverage as good as the
Continued next page
www.texasaft.org
Texas AFT Survey on Rising Health-Care Costs
March 2015
Survey Respondents 1,885
Have you seen your health-insurance benefits decrease in
the past few years?
Yes: 62.4%
No: 25.8%
Unsure: 11.8%
Have your district’s health-insurance costs impacted decisions on salary increases for school employees in your
district?
Yes: 43%
No: 5.7%
Unsure: 51.3%
Premium Cost per Month
Average: $414
Median: $337
Premium Cost Per Month by Number of Family Members
Covered
1 Covered
Average: $187
Median: $180
2 Covered
Average: $519
Median: $500
3 Covered
Average: $552
Median: $497
4 Covered
Average: $715
Median: $743
Comments
I have to take on extra jobs and hours just to cover the insurance.
If you add our dental, it’s almost as much as our house payment.
Plus our district hasn’t given us a raise in three years.
Employees are not going to the doctor until they are nearly on
their death beds. They try all kinds of over the counter drugs
thinking they will get better. It only prolongs the illness and they
end up missing more work.
At one time health insurance seemed to be a contributing portion
of benefits to lure employees to a district. Now coverage has decreased and the cost has shifted to the employee. This really makes
me think of going back to the Private Sector.
Every year our health insurance costs have increased while the
contribution from the state remains the same. Our TRS health
insurance is basically a catastrophic medical policy. My deductible
is $6,000, which means most medical claims I submit are simply
chipping away at the amount I have to pay to meet my deductible.
SPRING 2015
Continued from previous page
governor’s! This legislative session we are having success working
with allies to get retiree health-care funding increased in both the
House and Senate budget bills. It is now time for us all to apply
pressure to get the Legislature both to increase overall school
funding and to specify that a portion of that increase be directed
to employee health care. We also need to work with local school
boards and superintendents to see that employee health coverage
is a priority in local school district budgets and that employees
are not continually asked to shoulder the full burden of rising
premiums.
I leave you with this final testimonial from a school employee
on the front lines of educating our children: “Several teachers I
know have left the profession due to the high cost of health care.
Teachers simply do not make enough to offset these high costs.
Many are finding that they can get higher-paying jobs with better
benefits elsewhere.”
Bills would double state contribution
to active employee health care
Companion bills by Rep. Cesar Blanco and Sen. Jose
Rodriguez, Democrats of El Paso, would double the state healthcare contribution to $150 a month.
The state contribution has been stuck at $75 per employee
per month for a dozen years, while health-care costs have risen
and the premiums paid by many school employees have nearly
quadrupled.
The bills, HB 1597 and SB 659, would make a strong start
toward restoring health-care affordability for school employees,
whether they are in local district health plans or the statewide
TRS-ActiveCare plan.
You can send an online letter in support of the bills at
www.texasaft.org/take-action.
Texas House budget includes funding
to fill retiree health-care shortfall
The Texas House on April 1 passed a budget that included
funding to cover a $768 million shortfall for 2016-2017 for
TRS-Care retiree health care. Currently, the state contribution
to TRS-Care is capped at an amount equal to 1 percent of the
statewide school payroll, which is not sufficient to keep up with
rising health-care costs. Retirees, active school employees, and
school districts all share in covering the costs of TRS-Care.
If the funding for TRS-Care makes its way into a final
budget with a state contribution hike covering the full cost
of the shortfall, one of Texas AFT’s key budget priorities for
the session will have been achieved. However, a longer-term
funding fix for TRS-Care is a task that still will have to be
addressed.
Texas Teacher3
From the Secretary-Treasurer
Retiring ... Again
The American
Federation
of Teachers
places a heavy
burden upon its
membership.
Namely, it asks
its members
to govern
themselves.
John O’Sullivan
Interim Secretary-Treasurer Members must
elect their own
governing executive boards at the local,
state, and national levels and their own
officers at each of those levels as well.
Yes, “Education for Democracy and
Democracy for Education” has been the
AFT battle cry for decades. Many other
unions rely more heavily upon hired staff
with some identified expertise as the real
decision makers in the operation of their
unions, but not AFT. Instead, we rely
upon our rank-and-file members to rise
to the challenge that leadership requires.
However, there is a problem with
democracy. Voters—and in our case,
union members—often can be apathetic
and inattentive. They often expect that
their democratic institutions will govern
themselves. This is folly.
In truth, whether with the union or
the government at large, most often too
little study and effort is put into selecting
the best of who is available to serve in any
given elected position.
I retired from the position of
secretary-treasurer with Texas AFT in
2010, after 14 terms and 27 years in
the position. The Texas AFT Executive
Council—our local presidents that
“If you care about the governance of your union, I would
encourage you to contact your
local union president about
becoming a delegate.”
form the chief governing body of our
state union—asked me to reassume that
position in February, 2015, on an interim
basis after our beloved president, Linda
Bridge, died unexpectedly. Louis Malfaro,
the secretary-treasurer since 2010,
ascended to the presidency for Linda’s
unexpired term. So Louis and I serve
under the direction of the Texas AFT
Executive Council on an interim basis
until the Texas AFT convention meets in
June.
The elected delegates from our locals
ultimately are the highest authority in
the union. These delegates will elect a
president and a secretary-treasurer for a
full two-year term at the convention in
San Antonio.
If you care about the governance of
your union, I would encourage you to
contact your local union president about
becoming a delegate.
Although honored and pleased to
have served these six months as the
interim secretary-treasurer, I will not be a
candidate. In fact, I am anxious to return
to retirement and all of the many joys that
it brings.
While my time here must come to
an end again, what will persist is my deep
affection for this organization and the
hope that our local leaders exercise due
diligence in selecting my successor.
Secretary-treasurer is a big job that
involves representing tens of thousands of
Texas AFT members and the management
of millions of dollars.
I encourage you to get involved and
look for a person who has the character,
temperament, record of successful service
to the union and related experiences to
do the job well. Good luck to you all!
Gayle Fallon: Houston’s firebrand leader to retire
Gayle Fallon, the Houston Federation of Teachers (HFT)
president for 32 years, will retire in May after a career marked by
relentless advocacy for teachers’ rights. Zeph Capo, currently HFT
vice president, will lead the union as president after her retirement.
“Gayle Fallon never minces words,” said Louis Malfaro, Texas
AFT’s president. “And for that she gained a reputation for being a
straight shooter, which made her a favorite of the press. Although
small in stature, she is a towering presence in any room, and both
her members and the superintendents she’s worked with hold her
in high regard.”
She also has a knack for reaching out and engaging in dialogue with more conservative lawmakers, who sometimes were
4
Texas AFT
at odds with Texas AFT’s agenda, Malfaro
said. Fallon often assesses these foes with the
phrase, “They can be reasonable.”
Fallon graduated from American
University with a degree in political science
and was recruited by the National Security
Agency to learn Vietnamese and break codes
Gayle Fallon
during the Vietnam War. She then taught in
Aldine ISD from 1969-79 and was very active in the National Education Association chapter there.
She recalls that the turning point in her career came when
she stood up openly to support a slate of Aldine ISD school board
candidates who were challenging the incumbents. The challengers
www.texasaft.org
lost, and a retaliatory administration sent a warning that she would
be transferred to a new school
where the principal was poised to
fire her. Fallon moved to North Forest ISD and started looking for “a
real union to join.”
Fallon went to the Houston of
Federation of Teachers president,
Richard Shaw (now secretarytreasurer for the Harris County
AFL-CIO), and asked to join the
union. Shaw told her there was no
membership activity in her district,
so Fallon went out and started
organizing for the local. In 1981 she Retiring Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon in a familiar role—talking to the media—at a
rally against the misuse of test scores for teacher evaluations.
took a full-time job with HFT as an
rode it as if it were a Shetland pony,” noted O’Sullivan.
organizer.
Under Fallon’s leadership, HFT grew from about 1,200 memTwo years later, the next HFT president, John O’Sullivan,
bers to 6,000 today. “Gayle took HFT from a small yet growing
took the secretary-treasurer post at the Texas Federation of Teachorganization and made it the leading voice for education profesers (now Texas AFT), and Fallon was named as his successor.
sionals and educational issues in Texas,” said HFT Vice President
“When I got my degree in 1966, running what has evolved
Andy Dewey, who has worked with Fallon throughout the years.
into the largest AFL-CIO union in Harris County was not a career
“Her influence with governmental and business leaders has made
move that ever crossed my mind,” Fallon said. “But it has given
HFT a legitimate voice in Houston and Texas politics.”
me an opportunity to use my degree almost on a daily basis.”
Fallon, who likes to retreat to the Jersey Shore each summer
Fallon deftly steered her union through the turbulence that
to unwind from the battles in Houston ISD, said she is looking
naturally comes with big urban school districts by mastering the
forward to a bit more down time after more than three decades
politics of dealing with superintendents and by organizing around
at the helm. “While this has been a high-stress job, it has also
local issues.
been very rewarding being able to help the dedicated educators in
“Houston ISD is the wildest bull in the rodeo and Gayle
HISD,” she said.
Union leader and staffer championed support personnel
Julie Bowman, a former local AFT
union leader and long—time staff member
at Texas AFT, retired in April after some 30
years of activism.
“Julie has left a strong mark on the
Texas AFT as both a leader and a developer of leaders,” said Texas AFT President
Louis Malfaro. “Many of our local presidents and key leaders can trace their own
development back to the work Julie has
done. Her impact on our union will continue to be felt long after she retires.”
Bowman, who started out in education as a bus driver for special education
students, drove for nine years and became
active in her local union—the AFT-affili-
SPRING 2015
ated Allied Education Workers. She served
as its president until it combined with the
Austin Federation of Teachers, and she was
named co—president with Malfaro.
Bowman, Texas AFT’s director of
leadership development, also served on the
AFT Program and Policy Council and won
the Albert Shanker Pioneer Award, the
highest AFT honor for Paraprofessionals
and School Related Personnel.
It was in working with PSRPs that
Bowman made her most indelible mark,
said her longtime collaborator, Rachel
Martinez, a vice president with the San
Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support
Personnel. “Julie made PSRPs feel welcome
in the union, and
she developed specific programs to
train them, honor
them and increase
their activism,”
Martinez said.
Her colleague
Eric Hartman,
Julie Bowman
Texas AFT’s director of government relations, said that, “as
a local leader and trainer of local leaders,
Julie Bowman by her example has educated us all about what it takes to be an effective union activist—smart, savvy, steady,
steadfast. We miss her already.”
Texas Teacher5
LOBBY DAYS
2015
Roaring in the Rotunda
Because Spring Break was fairly evenly split among districts between
March 9 and March 16, Texas AFT held two Lobby Days this legislative
session.
On March 9, more than 1,000 members, parents, students and activists
rallied in the Capitol Rotunda before visiting lawmakers.
On March 16, more than 1,000 more headed to Austin for a rally on the
Capitol Steps before another round of visits to state representatives and
senators.
6
Texas AFT
www.texasaft.org
SPRING 2015 Texas Teacher7
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Snapshots from the Capitol
State Budget
The Texas House debated hundreds of
budget amendments but ended up passing
a budget that left the House leadership’s
priorities intact by a vote of 141 to 5 a bit
before dawn on April 1. Those priorities
include an extra $800 million for formula
funding to school districts, on top of $2.2
billion already in the committee version of
HB 1, the general appropriations bill for
fiscal 2016-2017.
The total of $3 billion thus earmarked
for school-finance improvements is good
as far as it goes, but billions of dollars more
would be needed to make up lost ground
and achieve true equity and adequacy
as required by the state constitution.
Unfortunately, the House leadership was
unwilling to touch some $8 billion more
in available general-purpose revenue, not
to mention $11 billion in the Economic
Stabilization Fund (also called the Rainy
Day Fund). All that money was left on
the table unspent, and a big chunk of it
is being reserved to cover the cost of tax
cuts instead of meeting neglected needs.
The Senate passed $4.6 billion in tax cuts,
while the House was expected to develop
a tax cut package amounting to about $4.9
billion.
The Texas Senate was poised to
consider the Senate budget, a substitute
for HB 1, the week of April 13, at Texas
Teacher deadline. Under the Senate budget,
formula funding for Texas public schools
in this Senate budget would stay stuck
nearer the current level per pupil—leaving
our schools far short of the 2008 level of
funding from all sources, after adjusting
for inflation. (The 2008 benchmark is
important because that was the last fiscal
year before the Great Recession and
ensuing budget cuts.)
School Finance
House Public Education Chairman
8
Texas AFT
Jimmie Don Aycock (R-Killeen) has
spearheaded a process to implement
some school finance fixes this session.
His bill, HB 1759, attempts to bring
more equity to the system by using the
$3 billion for increased school funding
in the House budget to adjust the state’s
formulas for aid to school districts.
Most districts would see more funding
under the bill, although it’s uncertain if
the changes proposed would improve
funding enough to impact the lawsuit filed
by hundreds of school districts against
the school finance system. A state district
judge ruled the system unconstitutional on
the grounds of inadequate and inequitable
funding two years ago, but the state has
appealed. Aycock has said his bill is not
intended to be a “permanent fix.”
Pre-K Action in Texas House, Including a
Key Vote
A bill backed by Gov. Greg Abbott
to make a modest increase in the state’s
investment in pre-K passed in the Texas
House by a wide margin on April 9, 128
to 17. The bill, HB 4 by Rep. Dan Huberty
(R-Humble), would add $100 million to the
$30 million for pre-K already in the House
version of the budget. But that would still
be less than the $200 million per budget
cycle that the state was investing before the
severe funding cuts of 2011.
Another difference: Up until 2011,
the pre-K money was for grants to expand
pre-K to a full day. Under HB 4, fullday expansion is not the goal. Instead
the dollars will flow on a per-pupil basis
to all pre-K programs that meet new
state-set standards for program quality.
Based on projections of participation in
the program cited by Rep. Huberty, the
amount of funding added per pupil would
be under $700 per child—far below the
additional funding needed to cover the
cost of expansion to full-day pre-K. The bill
also does not expand eligibility for pre-K
beyond current categories (such as the
economically disadvantaged and English
Language Learners). Nor does it set a cap
on the number of pupils per teacher in each
pre-K classroom—a key aim of many pre-K
advocates, including Texas AFT.
In spite of the modest scope of this
bill, it came under attack on the House
floor from a handful of members who
called it an expansion of “big government.”
Their attacks on the bill were defeated, and
their attempt to bar any increase in pre-K
funding beyond the $130 million proposed
by Rep. Huberty backfired. When Rep. Jody
Laubenberg (R-Parker) on April 8 offered
that spending cap, Rep. Trey Martinez
Fischer (D-San Antonio) countered with
an amendment to her amendment setting
the ceiling at whatever amount ultimately
is enacted in the budget for 2016-2017.
In other words, Martinez Fischer’s move
leaves the advocates of increased pre-K
funding free to keep on fighting for that
goal throughout the budget-writing
process this session. Martinez Fischer’s
good amendment prevailed with bipartisan
support by a vote of 78 to 66.
A-F Ratings
SB 6 by Sen. Larry Taylor
(R-Friendswood), the bill that would have
Texas mimic Florida’s ill-conceived A-F
rating system for campuses, passed in the
Texas Senate by a vote of 20 to 10, but
not before it was amended in a couple of
important ways.
In order to get the bill okayed in the
Senate, Sen. Taylor first amended SB 6 to
put off its effective date until the 2017-2018
school year. Taylor said that would allow
www.texasaft.org
AFT President Randi Weingarten (third from left) meets with students and school officials at Austin’s ISD’s Reagan High School to discuss the merits of Community
Schools, an initiative that turned around the once-struggling campus. Also pictured, first row from left, are: Allen Weeks, Austin Voices for Education and Youth
executive director; Anabel Garza, Reagan High principal; Paul Cruz, Austin ISD superintendent; and Montserrat Garibay, Education Austin vice president.
time to reform the flawed state assessments
on which the new rating system would
rely. The postponement also tacitly gives
the Legislature a chance to dump the A-F
ratings altogether when lawmakers gather
again in regular session in January 2017.
As Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas)
ably pointed out in floor debate, other
states are in the process of rethinking
their infatuation with A-F ratings, which
seem more and more like yesterday’s fad.
Virginia has repealed its A-F scheme
without ever implementing it. Other states,
including Florida itself, have tweaked their
A-F schemes often to avoid ill effects. Chief
among those is that these schemes tend
to stigmatize struggling schools in highpoverty neighborhoods with simplistic
labeling that drives away high-caliber
teachers and highly engaged parents,
SPRING 2015
without ever delivering the resources or
support needed for a turnaround.
SB 6 has headed over to the Texas
House but was not scheduled for a hearing
yet at Texas Teacher deadline.
Vouchers
At the March 27 hearing of the Texas
Senate Education Committee on privateschool vouchers, Sen. Donna Campbell
(R-New Braunfels) offered up a remarkable
rationale for her own voucher bill, SB 276,
which would drain taxpayer funds from
the public schools to subsidize vouchers
for unaccountable private schools. Said
Campbell: “We have a monstrosity, a
monopoly. It’s called public school.”
The hearing also had other low
moments of vituperation in lieu of reasoned
argument on the part of voucher advocates.
Texas AFT President Louis Malfaro, one of
the witnesses testifying against Campbell’s
bill and other voucher proposals on the
agenda, decried the “demonization of
public schools” at this hearing.
Campbell terms her bill a “taxpayer
savings grant” program. Other voucher bills
also carry innocuous names—such as SB 4’s
“education tuition grants” and SB 642’s “tax
credit scholarships.” SB 4 was revised and
passed as a tax-credit voucher bill in the
Senate Education Committee on April 7.
The other voucher bills remained pending
in committee at press time, and no voucher
bill was moving in the Texas House, at
Texas Teacher press time.
Texas Teacher9
Privatization and Charter Schools
Also heard in the Senate Education
Committee on April 7 was a batch of bills
that would take neighborhood public
schools by various routes to the same
result: takeover and operation by private
entities, especially charter management
organizations.
The labels chosen for these bills
disguise their content. Thus, SB 895 by Sen.
Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) and SB 669
by Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) refer to the
state-takeover mechanism allowing charter
control of neighborhood public schools
as an “opportunity school district” while
removing state quality safeguards like classsize limits. Similarly, SB 1241, also by Sen.
Taylor, would authorize “innovation zones”
and “districts of innovation”—in which
students, parents, and education employees
would lose the protection of educational
quality standards and safeguards in state
law, with neighborhood schools operating
by the same rules as state-approved charter
schools. These bills had not yet passed in
committee as the Texas Teacher went to
press.
“Parent trigger” bills, (SB 14 by Sen.
Larry Taylor and HB 1727 by Rep. Harold
Dutton) are described by proponents as
Can we ask you a
personal question?
We want to stay in touch! And unfortunately, a
school-district e-mail address isn’t always the best
way to communicate. So can we ask you a personal
question? What’s your personal e-mail?
Visit www.texasaft.org/update to submit Visit www.texasaft.org/update
your personal e-mail (and if you’d like, your mobile
number) and customize how we communicate with you. And here are some other great
resources that will help you make a difference for our schools and our professions.
• Legislative Hotline: Daily e-mail that covers the Legislature, education policy and
union news. Subscribe at www.texasaft.org/blogs. Subscribing to the Hotline also
will add you to our e-mail list for Action Alerts.
• Texas AFT Web site: The Web site includes an archive
of all Legislative Hotlines as well as press releases and
Action Alerts for letter campaigns and petitions.
• Social Media: Keep in the loop with social media by
following us at facebook.com/
texasaft and @TexasAFT on Twitter.
• Our Agenda: Want to know
where we stand on the issues?
Download the Legislative Agenda Brochure at www.texasaft.
org/legislative-agenda.
• Text Alerts: Stay up to date on all our events and action
campaigns by subscribing to our Texas AFT text message system!
Text “TEXAS” to 69238 to subscribe. (You may unsubscribe at any time, and there
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Texas AFT
parental empowerment, authorizing a
majority of parents at a school deemed
low-performing for two years to force
wholesale removal of faculty and staff, turn
it over to private management, or close it.
However, when the Senate version of the
bill came up for a hearing on March 19, the
hollowness of this “empowerment” rhetoric
was revealed.
Orchestrating the testimony in support
of “parent trigger” were lobbyists and
organizers from groups such as Texans for
Education Reform and Parent Revolution,
which draw heavy financial support from
corporate-connected private entities like
the Walton Foundation and the Laura and
John Arnold Foundation. These corporateconnected funders and the network of
organizations they support are deeply
involved in efforts to privatize control over
public schools nationwide. (John Arnold, a
Houston-based billionaire, also is behind a
nationwide attack on pensions of teachers
and other public employees.)
Parent Revolution has pioneered the
use of parents through misleading petition
campaigns for charter takeover of public
schools, though it has succeeded in only
one instance, at a school in California.
Parent Revolution organizers are active
in Dallas and Houston, and at the March
19 Senate hearing they produced a
handful of parents to serve as their upfront spokespersons. While some casual
onlookers may have been fooled by the
appearance of parent-initiated activity
these witnesses provided, anyone who
listened to all the testimony would come
away with grave concerns about the
“parent trigger” model. The Senate bill was
awaiting action of the full Senate at Texas
Teacher deadline.
Nurse notification bill
Companion bills—HB 1938 by
Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) and SB
69 by Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) require
that parents be notified when their child’s
school lacks full-time nurse staffing. This
health and safety measure has long been
championed by Texas AFT, and the Senate
bill was heard on April 9, with further
action expected soon.
www.texasaft.org
Education aide tuition exemption
Texas AFT also has long called
for restoration of funding for a highly
successful program of tuition scholarships
for educational aides. The Educational
Aide Exemption program has helped many
teacher aides become successful teachers
in our public schools. Unfortunately, the
82nd Legislature eliminated funding for the
Educational Aide Exemption. After strong
testimony by Texas AFT in support of the
program, funding for it was added to the
House budget bill. Texas AFT will continue
to advocate funding for this worthwhile
program as the budget moves forward.
Community Schools
AFT President Weingarten visited
Austin on March 9 to tour a successful
Community Schools initiative at Reagan
High in Austin ISD, before leading a
Capitol Rotunda rally calling for lawmakers
to support legislation to support the
program. Community Schools is an
“all hands on deck” approach that pulls
together parents, faculty and staff, and
community partners in designing and
implementing their own, home-grown
plan for improving their neighborhood
school, turning it into a community hub for
coordinated educational, health, and social
services to students and their families.
The initiative at Reagan has
transformed that once-struggling campus
academically. Graduation rates have soared
from below 50 percent to above 80 percent,
and many students are graduating with
“early college” course credits giving them a
strong start on a college education.
The key to success at Reagan and
other Community Schools has been
collaboration among parents, faculty and
staff, and community partners to pinpoint
needs and redesign their school to meet
those needs.
Two bipartisan bills—HB 1891 and HB
1892 by Democratic Rep. Eddie Rodriguez
of Austin and Republican Rep. Marsha
Farney of Georgetown—would foster the
creation of Community Schools as a proven
tool for school improvement, especially at
struggling campuses.
SPRING 2015
Texas AFT mobilized thousands of members to oppose bills that would give the commissioner of education authority to mandate teacher evaluations tied to student test scores. The bills would also eliminate
the state minimum salary schedule, a proposal that drew the ire of many teachers in letters to legisla-
This legislation would authorize
funding for campus-level coordination of
external resources, and it would reform the
current system of accountability by making
the Community Schools model a preferred
strategy for schools that are struggling
academically.
An April 7 Senate Education
Committee hearing on a Senate companion
bill—SB 1483 by Sen. Sylvia Garcia
(D-Houston)—also highlighted the proven
track record of the Reagan program and
similar efforts around the nation. Texas
AFT President Louis Malfaro testified in
support of the bill, which was left pending
in committee.
Teacher evaluation and pay
The Senate on April 7 passed SB
893 by Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), a
bill that would grant the commissioner
of education a blank check to mandate
that school districts use standardized
tests scores as a significant component of
teacher evaluations, while also killing the
long-standing state salary step schedule for
teachers. (HB 2543, a House companion
bill by Rep. Marsha Farney, R-Georgetown,
was heard in the House Public Education
Committee the same day and left pending.)
Texas AFT President Louis Malfaro
said SB 893 would exacerbate the misuse
of standardized testing. “It’s odd that while
parents, educators and even a majority
of legislators have spoken out against the
overemphasis on standardized testing, the
Senate nevertheless has chosen to reinforce
the misuse of testing with passage of SB
893,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine a better
way to drive off high quality, veteran
teachers than to tell them their minimum
pay under state law is now reduced to
$27,540 a year. It’s insulting, and it devalues
a profession that already is suffering from
lackluster pay, crushing health-care costs
and an environment that continues to
promote teaching to the test.”
Proponents of the bill sought to
paint it as a teacher quality initiative with
provisions included for mandatory annual
evaluations and professional development
requirements. But the reaction from
teachers—who viewed the $27,540 figure
with disbelief and anger—was swift and
unanimous, noting that the bill would have
the opposite effect: yet another law that
would push teachers out of the profession.
Proponents said abolishing the salary
schedule would give districts flexibility
to craft compensation plans tied to
evaluations, but as Texas AFT testified,
that flexibility already is allowable in
law and has been used in many districts.
Proponents also said most districts pay well
above the state minimum schedule, so it
wasn’t needed anymore.
“Just because many districts pay above
the legal minimum doesn’t mean that you
open the door for them legally to pay less
and devalue experience,” Malfaro said.
Texas Teacher11
Local unions fight for planning and preparation rights
They say death and taxes are the only certainties, but in the
teaching profession one issue might nudge its way on to that list:
eventual problems with loss of planning and preparation time.
Two Texas AFT local unions stepped up recently to defend
members’ planning/prep rights, which were being eroded by
mandatory group meetings initiated by district administrators. It’s
an issue that seems to arise every year, and every year Texas AFT
is ready to defend its members’ rights.
Texas law requires that teachers be given at least 450 minutes
of planning time every two weeks in blocks of time not less than
45 minutes during the instructional day (Texas Education Code,
Section 21.404).
Corpus Christi AFT filed a request for an informal grievance
hearing with Corpus Christi ISD in January after a district
administrator required teachers at certain campuses to change
their schedules and attend group meetings to coordinate efforts to
Texas law requires that teachers be given
at least 450 minutes of planning time every
two weeks in blocks of time not less than 45
minutes during the instructional day (Texas
Education Code, Section 21.404).
raise standardized test scores—a move that would have knocked
planning/prep time below the 450-minutes mark for a two-week
period.
“Planning and preparation time is really meant for the
teacher to decide how to spend that time,” said Ray McMurrey,
Corpus Christi AFT president. “It’s work time for them to grade
papers, call parents, write test questions—all the things needed to
do to be ready for the kids.”
In the grievance, the union requested that the practice
of required attendance at meetings in lieu of planning/prep
time be stopped, and that the district inform all teachers and
administrators of the expectation that the law would be followed.
The district initially countered that it was following the law
and that the conflicts arose from “misunderstandings and
misconceptions of the intent of administrative requests.”
McMurrey eventually negotiated an amicable agreement on
the issue with Superintendent Roland Hernandez, and the district
agreed to communicate expectations for following the law and
train administrators on compliance. Hernandez told the Corpus
Christi Caller-Times newspaper that the negotiation process was
helpful. “It was good to kind of take a look at what’s happening
across our district,” he said. “This is a big district, and you’re
always going to find a little variation.”
Texas law does allow for teachers to voluntarily use their
planning/prep time for group meetings or other requests from
12
Texas AFT
administrators, but
teachers can’t be coerced
into obliging, which was
the case recently in El
Paso ISD.
El Paso Federation
of Teachers and Support
Personnel President Ross
Moore said top-level
administrators were
Ross Moore
ordering teachers to
meetings—resulting in a
loss of required planning/prep time—with use of coercion. “They
basically threatened to hold them on duty on the campus until 7
p.m. at night if they didn’t comply with the request,” he said.
To ensure he had the proof to backup teacher claims, Moore
launched a “Planning and Prep Time Tracker” campaign with
calendars to turn in each month to the union showing total
planning and prep time. Hundreds of calendars were submitted
showing violations of the law. The union then filed an association
grievance with the district last
fall.
The problem stemmed
from teachers being coerced
into Admission, Review and
Dismissal (ARD) meetings
during their planning/prep
time, and change of course
schedules at local schools that
reduced the daily planning/
prep time from 60 to 45
minutes, with a required
group meeting one day a week
during that time.
In March, Moore
A planning and preparation
came to an agreement
time tracking calendar in El Paso
with Superintendent Juan
helped bolster the union’s case
Cabrera that the law would
that the district wasn’t in compliance with state law.
be communicated to
administrators, and that if a
“non-negotiable” meeting like an ARD meeting were to be held
during planning/prep times, teachers would be given another
block of time to ensure they received their 450 minutes every two
weeks.
“Planning time is crucial, and it relieves some of the pressure
on an already high-stress profession,” Moore said. “So it was nice
to collaborate with the district and get a win together on this.”
www.texasaft.org
How to join us...
1. Check the list of local unions and organizing committees
and their school or college districts below. If you work in one
of those districts, contact the local union directly.
Aldine ISD: Aldine AFT
(281) 847-3050
Alief ISD: Alief AFTSE
(281) 589-6644
Amarillo ISD: Amarillo AFT
(806) 359-4487
Austin Community College: ACC AFT
(512) 448-0130
Austin ISD: Education Austin
(512) 472-1124
Bastrop ISD: Bastrop AFT
(512) 448-0130
Brazosport ISD: Brazosport Federation of
Teachers (979) 265-9701
Calallen ISD: Corpus Christi AFT
(361) 855-0482
Channelview ISD: Northeast Houston AFT
(281) 864-5491
Corpus Christi ISD: Corpus Christi AFT
(361) 855-0482
2. If not, you will be joining the Associate Member Program.
Contact us directly at 800-222-3827, or go to texasaft.org and
click on “Membership.”
Dallas ISD: Alliance AFT
(214) 942-4663
El Paso ISD: El Paso Federation of Teachers &
Support Personnel (915) 562-3738
Flour Bluff ISD: Corpus Christi AFT
(361) 855-0482
Fort Bend ISD: Fort Bend
Employee Federation
(281) 240-1865
Galena Park ISD: Northeast Houston AFT
(281) 864-5491
Goose Creek ISD: Goose Creek
Education Federation (281) 427-2091
Gregory-Portland ISD: Corpus Christi AFT
(361) 855-0482
Houston ISD: Houston Federation
of Teachers (713) 623-8891
Houston ISD: Houston Educational
Support Personnel (713) 660-8435
Killeen ISD: Killeen Federation
of Teachers & Support Personnel
(254) 690-2538
La Joya ISD: La Joya AFT
(956) 682-1143
Lone Star College: AFT Lone Star
(281) 889-1009
Del Rio ISD: Del Rio AFT
(512) 448-0130
McAllen ISD: McAllen AFT
(956) 682-1143
Waco ISD: Waco AFT
(254) 755-0276
Edinburg ISD: Edinburg AFT
(956) 502-5340
North East ISD: Northeast AFT
(210) 227-8083
West Oso ISD: Corpus Christi AFT
(361) 855-0482
Cy-Fair ISD: Cy-Fair AFT
(713) 466-1125
Northside ISD: Northside AFT
(210) 733-9777
Pflugerville ISD: Pflugerville AFT
(512) 448-0130
Round Rock ISD: Education Round Rock
(512) 448-0130
San Antonio ISD: San Antonio Alliance of
Teachers and Support Personnel
(210) 225-7174
Sheldon ISD: Northeast Houston AFT
(281) 864-5491
Socorro ISD: Socorro AFT
(915) 593-2801
South San Antonio ISD: South San Antonio
AFT (210) 227-8083
Spring Branch ISD: Spring Branch AFT
(713) 468-4700
Tuloso-Midway ISD: Corpus Christi AFT
(361) 855-0482
Victoria ISD: Victoria AFT
(512) 448-0130
HESP union focuses on student literacy on the bus
The Houston Education Support
Personnel Union launched a new program
at Houston ISD in April called “Reading
and Riding,” in which school bus attendants
read to students on the way to and from
school.
Bus drivers and attendants play a
critical role in a child’s school day. With
SPRING 2015
Reading and Riding, they can play a role in
a child’s literacy, vocabulary development,
and overall success. HESP represents HISD
blue collar workers which include: bus
drivers and bus attendants. This program
is designed to more fully incorporate the
support personnel that work with special
need students day to day outside of the
classroom into the child’s holistic education.
Board member Paula Harris called
the new literacy program “awesome and
powerful,” and said, “I’m happy to see HESP
and the administration working together to
make Houston ISD one of the first school
districts to have a reading program like
this one.”
Texas Teacher13
Texas AFT
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Texas AFT
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