Volume 17, Issue 7
March, 2009
MCALLEN AFT NEWS
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
THE LEGISLATURE IS AT IT AGAIN!
Texas and McAllen AFT Opposes "Sunset" of Key Education Laws:
The House Public Education Committee heard testimony from Texas AFT today in opposition to a bill that would automatically repeal important protections in state law--including class-size limits, the entire Safe Schools Act, teacher contract and due-process rights, employee leave benefits, salary guarantees, and much, much more.
HB 850 by Rep. Rob Eissler, of The Woodlands, would establish a timetable for repeal of selected chapters of the Education Code every two years.
Employee rights to appeal a violation of school law to the commissioner of education would be up for grabs in 2011, along with employee rights to a voice in district decision-making.
In 2015 nearly every employee right and benefit in state law, including assault leave, immunities from liability, planning periods, and duty-free lunches, would be prospectively repealed.
In 2017, the Safe Schools Act establishing teacher authority to remove disruptive students and mandating disciplinary placements for serious offenses would be repealed--along with class-size limits and more.
Texas AFT's Ted Melina Raab told the committee today that lawmakers can get the full benefit of a rolling review of the Education Code without the repeal provision of this bill.
Melina Raab and other witnesses stressed that the pruning of unnecessary undergrowth in the Education Code that has accumulated over the years can be accomplished without risking the loss of hard-won guarantees of educational quality and employee safeguards. Rep. Eissler acknowledged that the bill would be revised and said a substitute would be offered later. We will keep you posted.
Significant Bills Up For Senate Hearing:
In the Senate Education Committee a breakthrough bill to expand pre-kindergarten coverage and enhance pre-k quality will receive a hearing tomorrow.
The bill is SB 21 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, Democrat of Laredo (the House companion is HB 130 by Republican Rep. Diane Patrick of Arlington).
SB 21 would provide school districts with financial incentives to move from half-day to full-day pre-k for eligible students, in classes with 22-to-1 pupil-teacher ratios (and with a paraprofessional as well, resulting in a student-to-staff ratio of 11-to-1).
Texas AFT and McAllen AFT joins a broad coalition in support of this expansion of pre-k scope and funding, as a milestone en route to the long-term goal of universal voluntary access to full-day pre-k in our public schools.
Research overwhelmingly confirms that high-quality pre-k is one of the most cost-effective educational investments our state could make.
For instance, a noted Texas A&M study found that children who experienced a high-quality pre-k program ultimately were 30 percent more likely to complete high school.
Federal Catch-Up Budget for Fiscal 2009 Boosts Base-Line Education Spending:
Congress has finally completed and President Obama has immediately signed a catch-up spending bill for the current fiscal year that boosts the base-line federal effort in a number of key education budget categories.
The legislation substantially increases federal spending above last year's levels for Title I aid to low-income students and for special education.
These two programs also are big beneficiaries of the economic-recovery bill passed last month. The fiscal 2009 base-line increases lend credence to reports we've heard that the feds want to build much higher levels of Title I and special-ed funding, already attained in the recovery bill, into the long-term, base-line federal plan for education.
Incidentally, on the way to final passage of the fiscal 2009 spending bill, the U.S. Senate firmly rebuffed an amendment to extend the Bush administration's five-year voucher pilot program in the District of Columbia beyond its scheduled expiration date.
The vote was 58 against to 39 for preserving the voucher program.
Both Texas senators, Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, voted for D.C. vouchers to continue indefinitely.
Voucher Bills Proliferate:
The private-school voucher lobby after recent elections has seen the ranks of its legislative allies dwindling at the state capitol. But that has not prevented the proliferation of voucher bills in the current legislative session.
The latest entries are SB 1301 and SB 1302, both by Sen. Florence Shapiro, the Republican from Plano who chairs the Senate Education Committee. Both bills are variations on legislation Shapiro offered unsuccessfully last session, granting an entitlement to the parents of students with autism to send their children to private schools at public cost. A similar bill is SB 183 by Sen. Tommy Williams, Republican of The Woodlands. This version would shift taxpayer dollars out of the public schools to pay for the private schooling of up to 500,000 Texas students with disabilities.
HB 1891 by Rep. Jerry Madden, another Plano-based Republican, would create a voucher entitlement for the parents of students enrolled in private pre-kindergarten programs. The other most notable voucher bill is HB 41 by Rep. Frank Corte, Republican of San Antonio, which would create a so-called "pilot" voucher program covering the state's six largest school districts, encompassing roughly 700,000 students.
So far none of these bills has been scheduled for a hearing. We will be keeping them under surveillance and will let you know right away if we have another voucher fight on our hands.
Online Master's Degrees from Lamar University, UT-Arlington:
Texas AFT members have a choice of master's degree programs from Lamar University in educational administration, teacher leadership, or educational technology leadership, and from the University of Texas at Arlington www.texasaft.org. Total cost of each master's degree program is $4,950. Texas AFT members are eligible for a $250 tuition credit.