Volume 17, Issue 8
April, 2009
MCALLEN AFT NEWS
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
HAVE YOUR SAY IN TESTING!!!
Test-Based Accountability Bills Heading for Floor Votes--Have Your Say:
HB 3 and SB 3, nearly identical companion bills coming up for votes in the Texas House and Senate tomorrow, would rewrite state law on the role of state tests in our public schools. Unfortunately, these bills do not yet add up to a fundamental reform of test-driven accountability. HB 3 and SB 3 would make Texas the first state in the nation to require that students demonstrate "college readiness" (the ability to do well on college-level courses) as a prerequisite for a high-school diploma. But imposing this higher standard on a relatively unchanged foundation of "snapshot" testing, punitive sanctions, and inadequate resources will just define more of our schools and students as failures. To help our students and schools succeed, higher standards need to be backed up with supportive interventions, not more tripwires triggering adverse labeling and punitive sanctions. You can send that message to your state senator and state representative by e-mailing the letter we've provided you on this issue directly from the Texas AFT Web site at http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/sb3.
Flu Outbreak's Impact on Schools:
Texas AFT and our national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, are both closely tracking reports of a highly dynamic swine influenza type A (H1N1) outbreak in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Our priority is preventing the spread of the disease in schools. We are assessing recommendations from federal and state officials and will have more information to share with you soon.
The federal government already has declared a public health emergency for swine flu.
Several schools in Texas have been closed temporarily as a precaution after students were diagnosed with the disease. AFT is recommending policies that:
- clearly communicate good practice to all staff, students and parents;
- actively exclude sick staff and children from school and communicate that to the school community;
- create a process to quickly refer children with acute respiratory symptoms to the nurse for assessment and possible isolation;
- provide additional support to teach and encourage hand hygiene (soap and water, opportunities to wash hands and alcohol gel);
- address the status of employees if the system closes; and
- provide for appropriate cleaning of all classrooms, cafeterias, bathrooms, gymnasiums and other common areas.
The AFT health and safety program has posted online a fact sheet answering many questions on the current outbreak of swine flu: http://www.aft.org/topics/health-safety/downloads/Swine_Influenza_Fact_Sheet.pdf
In addition, the Texas Education Agency has posted information to guide school districts that may be affected by the flu outbreak with regard to TAKS testing and paying employees in the event of closure, waivers of missed instructional days and low attendance, and health evaluation of current students and new arrivals. You'll find this TEA guidance and other information on swine flu online at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/
Social Security Fairness—Who's on Board in Congress?
The count of cosponsors of the Social Security Fairness Act is climbing fast. So far 265 U.S. House members and 23 U.S. senators have signed up in support of H.R. 235 and S. 484, the companion bills to repeal two unfair Social Security offsets that cut pension benefits for retired school employees in Texas and more than a dozen other states. Support for the legislation runs across party lines, with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents joining forces in the effort to get rid of the Government Pension Offset of spousal benefits and the so-called Windfall Elimination Provision.
Neither one of the two U.S. senators from Texas, Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, has seen fit to cosponsor this vital legislation to restore earned Social Security benefits for current and future retirees. However, a bipartisan majority of 20 out of 32 Texans in the U.S. House has now signed up to cosponsor H.R. 235.
The 20 supporters of Social Security fairness in our U.S. House delegation from Texas include 12 Democrats and eight Republicans. The dozen Texas Democrats in support are: Henry Cuellar of Laredo, Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Chet Edwards of Waco, Charles Gonzalez of San Antonio, Al Green of Houston, Gene Green of Houston, Ruben Hinojosa of Edinburg, Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston, Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas, Solomon Ortiz of Corpus Christi, Silvestre Reyes of El Paso, and Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio.
The eight Texas Republicans cosponsoring H.R. 235 are: John Carter of Round Rock, Mike Conaway of Midland, Louie Gohmert of Tyler, Ralph Hall of Rockwall, Mike McCaul of Austin, Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock, Ron Paul of Lake Jackson, and Ted Poe of Humble.
Of the 12 U.S. House members from Texas who have yet to sign up in support of Social Security fairness, four were cosponsors in the last session of Congress. These four--Republicans Michael Burgess of Flower Mound, Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Kenny Marchant of Irving, and Pete Sessions of Dallas--need to get on board again, and to that end they need to hear from active and retired school employees in their districts. You can send them an e-mail letter on the issue from the Texas AFT Web site at http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/socialsecurity16 (updated as of today) or you can call them via the AFT toll-free line to the U.S. Capitol switchboard, 866-327-8670.
The other eight Republican members from Texas include freshman Rep. Pete Olson of Sugar Land and seven who have failed to support the Fairness Act in previous sessions: Joe Barton of Ennis, Kevin Brady of The Woodlands, John Culberson of Houston, Jeb Hensarling of Dallas, Sam Johnson of Plano, Lamar Smith of San Antonio, and Mac Thornberry of Amarillo.
If one of them is your U.S. representative, you can use the Texas AFT e-mail letter and toll-free line noted above to prod him to do the right thing this session