• Teacher pay raises taken hostage in desperate last minute bid for vouchers
• State agency employees will see first across the board pay raise in a decade

Brothers, sisters, and siblings, 

We have (nearly) made it to the end of the 88th Texas Legislative Session. There were 140 days to improve the lives of all Texans. Many of our legislators spent them not only ignoring our state’s greatest needs, but actively stripping people of their rights, trying to take our power away, and making our communities more dangerous. In the final three days, there’s still a lot more damage they can do.

In what we hope could be  a stunning victory for our teachers, education staff, and public schools, with the successful killing of SB 8, vouchers are now hanging on by a thread. However, in another desperate bid to push vouchers through, the teacher pay raises that had a chance of making it into law have been taken hostage in exchange for voucher bills.

If vouchers do fail, Gov. Abbott has already clearly signaled he is prepared to call a special session if he doesn’t get them by the time the regular session ends on Monday. By attempting to force so-called “school choice” into law, Abbott is going against the will of the majority of Texans, who have made it clear in every possible way, they do NOT want to use public taxpayer money for private schools. 

No matter what they call them -- vouchers are nothing more than a scheme to subsidize private education for the wealthy, at the cost of defunding public schools and jeopardizing the education for every kid who attends them. We fought vouchers this session and we will keep fighting them again if Abbott forces the issue in a special session.

• Pay raise for state employees
  • State agency employees will see the first across the board pay increase in a decade this year, once legislators approve a 5% raise with a $3,000 minimum for each year of the biennium. While this is a good start, it may not be enough to slow the turnover in Texas state agencies, which has reached an all time high. In a huge blow to higher education, state university employees were excluded from the raise.
• No relief for retired state employees
  • Despite having been given every opportunity to do something -- our legislators ignored the desperate and immediate need for a Cost of Living Adjustment for retired state employees. The people who dedicated their lives to the service of our state should not be struggling to live in it. Now they must go another two years wondering if our legislators will do anything to give them what they are owed for their life's work.
• Teacher & school staff pay

  • In the final days of the session, there’s been an unbelievable amount of $0 allocated for educator pay raises. With a $33 billion surplus this session, it is unthinkable that our teachers and school staff, the majority of whom must work more than one job to make ends meet in our state, have left this session with *no* pay increase. 

    
    In the words of Texas AFTs President, Zeph Capo, “Budgets are a moral document, they show you what you believe in.” Our legislators have shown us exactly what they believe in.

Over the weekend, the Legislature will finalize bill language (which may involve sneaking in some bad bills –  we’ll be watching closely) and take care of any remaining loose ends. While the session is not officially over until Monday, one thing won’t change -- our legislators have completely, utterly failed working people. 

In the coming weeks, we will be compiling a record and analysis of the entire session, and what it meant for working people. Ultimately, this material is intended to be a tool for us all, so we don’t forget what happened this year, and so we can be prepared to make sure it never happens again. Stay tuned!

In solidarity,