​This week, the State Board of Education will consider five new charter school applications recommended by Commissioner Mike Morath and the Texas Education Agency. The Texas State Teachers Association urges the board to reject all of them. “With many school districts across the state already suffering serious budgetary shortfalls following Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to shut the door on additional state funding last year, this is no time to increase the amount of tax dollars being drained from traditional public schools by charters,” TSTA President Ovidia Molina said. “Texas public school districts already are losing more than $4 billion a year to charter schools, many of which are lower performing than the neighborhood schools they are raiding for students and tax dollars. The five charter applications that the commissioner and TEA are recommending this year are lackluster at best and offer little expectation they will improve educational opportunities for students in their proposed attendance zones.” All five applications would cut financial corners to the detriment of students. Some would decline to offer classes such as PE, foreign languages or fine arts. One says it would offer special education without planning to hire a special education teacher in its first year. Some would not offer transportation services. But all, if approved by the board, would take students and tax dollars from existing school districts. Maybe the worst application to get the commissioner’s endorsement is the proposed Unparalleled Preparatory Academy, which would try to eventually enroll as many as 1,120 students from grades 6‐12 in Manor ISD, near Austin. A key person involved in this application is a fellow of Building Excellent Schools (BES), a Massachusetts‐based organization that trains, supports and mentors charter leaders. Eleven charter schools involved with BES have been approved in Texas since 2016, and most have been plagued by poor academic performance and low enrollment. Only one has come close to meeting its enrollment projections, and, at last report, seven were underenrolled by more than 50 percent. Five of the BES‐involved charter campuses evaluated under the state accountability system in 2022 were not rated for student achievement because of low STAAR scores. Had the state not made an exception for low scores following the pandemic, each would have received an F in student achievement. One BES‐affiliated school got a C in student achievement, and the remaining campuses were not rated because they did not serve tested grades or opened later than 2022, the last year school accountability ratings have been released to the public.

​The Texas State Teachers Association and its national affiliate, the National Education Association, have endorsed Democratic nominee Colin Allred over incumbent Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, TSTA President Ovidia Molina and NEA President Becky Pringle announced today. “Public education is in Colin Allred’s DNA. His mother was a public school teacher who instilled in her son the importance of public schools and taught him to respect the hard work and dedication of the people who work in them. Education has been one of Allred’s top priorities during his time in Congress, and we are confident it will remain so as a senator,” Molina said. “Ted Cruz, on the other hand, has spent most of his time in the Senate trying to divide his constituents, promoting Donald Trump’s intolerant, authoritarian agenda and ignoring our public schools. The main interest Cruz has shown in public education during almost two terms in the Senate has been how to privatize it with a national program of school vouchers,” Molina added. Pringle called Allred “a proven champion for America’s students and Texas’ working families.” “Allred knows how critical it is to ensure that every student – no matter their race, place or background – has access to quality public schools,” the NEA president said. “In a time when some extreme politicians are focused on banning books and taking away learning opportunities for students, Colin Allred has partnered with parents and educators to ensure students can get the one-on-one support they need, keep students and educators safe from gun violence, expand school-based mental health programs and address educator shortages. In the Senate, Colin Allred will continue helping level the playing field for working families.” Molina praised Allred for his efforts at bipartisanship “in a Congress where that is very difficult to accomplish.” “He worked with Texas’ other senator, Republican John Cornyn, to pass the first meaningful gun safety legislation in almost 30 years. Ted Cruz voted against that bill, as he has other sensible gun safety measures. Unlike Cruz, Allred will work to keep our educators, students and their communities safe,” she said.

SEA collaborated with Ysleta Teachers Association and El Paso Teachers Association on Friday, November 17th to have a rally in front of Congressman Will Hurd’s Socorro district office. The rally was held to demand that Congressman Hurd co-sponsor a clean Dream Act. A clean Dream Act would provide undocumented youth with a pathway to citizenship without political add-ons including increased border militarization and immigration enforcement.
 
This rally is a part of NEA and TSTA’s campaign to push Congress to pass the Dream Act in response to the presidential administration’s rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that provided undocumented youth who met specific requirements with a work permit, social security number, and protection from deportation. An estimated 800,000 undocumented youth participated in the DACA program nationwide. Of the 800,000 DACA recipients, 20,000 are educators nationwide and there are approximately 2,000 educators with DACA in Texas.
 
SEA firmly believes that since many members of SISD are undocumented immigrants including students, family members, educators, and community members, it is of utmost importance to advocate for immigrant rights.
 
Here is a link to news coverage of the rally.
Here is a link to Facebook live video of the rally.