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Who can teach CTE courses as a 4th math/science credit?
As we mentioned in the July 28, 2010, eUpdate, the State Board of Education approved a proposed State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) rule regarding teaching assignments. Due to the additional career and technology education (CTE) courses approved to meet graduation requirements for the fourth year math or science credits, questions arose as to what kind of certification educators teaching those classes would hold (math/science or CTE certification). Read more...
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The budget crunch and what it may mean for you
The shaky economy has hit Texas school districts hard with many having to make difficult choices to balance the budget for the 2010-11 school year. More than half of Texas school districts are dipping into reserve funds to pay day-to-day expenses, with some cutting positions, health insurance contributions, bus routes and programs. Read more...
President's Message: TCTA - It's the Right Choice
An organization is only as good as its membership. This is especially true with TCTA. As members we do have a voice, and TCTA listens to what we say. We have a great staff who work very hard for the best outcome for the membership. I have seen this firsthand. Read more...
November elections: an opportunity to select decision-makers who affect you
Teachers have the numbers to make a big difference in the elections, so be sure to vote! Election Day is Nov. 2, and early voting runs from Oct. 18-29. Read more...
The Texas Projection Measure: A common-sense idea, but does it “meet expectations”?
It started as a simple, common-sense idea in the midst of a push to take our state accountability system to the next level. Learning from the mistakes of the past, policy leaders began to talk about the need to update the old paradigm of giving schools and educators credit for how many students meet or exceed a passing standard and start recognizing and rewarding them for achieving student growth. Read more...
Hot for teachers webinar -- video now available!
If you missed the first TCTA back-to-school webinar, where members of the TCTA legal and lobby teams brought you sizzling-hot news, gave reminders of the laws that every teacher should know, and answered live questions from teachers, you are not totally out of luck! Read more...
Teachers can now search for jobs by school district!
The beginning of the school year is right around the corner for most Texans, but what if you don't have a job lined up yet? Luckily for you, the Texas Education Agency has debuted a website where you can search from the state’s 1,200 public school districts and charter schools. Read more...
Ever want to teach abroad? Now's your chance to apply!
The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program is now accepting U.S. teacher applicants interested in teaching abroad for the 2011-12 school year. Trade classrooms with a teacher in France, Mexico, the UK and more! The deadline is Oct. 15.
Jobs bill revived
Congress successfully revived a faltering jobs proposal that will provide $10 billion to help school districts avoid teacher layoffs. HR 1586, which also includes $16 billion for Medicaid programs, passed through Congress and was signed by President Obama on Aug. 10. The bill will extend programs enacted in last year’s stimulus law and provide relief for thousands of teachers. Read more...
Social Security report released
The Social Security Board of Trustees is reporting that the long-range outlook for the Social Security funds remains as previously projected: the combined assets of the funds (Old-Age/Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance) will be drained by 2037. Read more...
Texas Education Agency releases 2010 accountability ratings
TEA announced on July 30, 2010, this year's accountability ratings, so be sure to check out how your school/district performed.
Texas standards compared to Common Core
The national effort toward developing common curriculum standards for states to use, called the Common Core State Standards Initiative, released its first set of standards (covering English language arts and math) on June 2, 2010. States competing for the federal Race to the Top fund must adopt the standards in order to receive RTTT funds. Read more...
TCTA testifies on ways to keep teachers in profession
At the invitation of the Senate Education Committee, TCTA's Holly Eaton testified at a teacher quality hearing about several strategies to improve teacher retention, including comprehensive teacher induction, self-selected and high quality professional development, assessing and improving school climate and the importance of the teacher/school match factor. Read more...
What if I want to resign?
Every year about this time we receive inquiries from members who, often because of a change in circumstances, wonder if it’s too late to resign from their districts. The answer is maybe. Read more...
SBOE votes to include charter schools in PSF asset allocation
In a surprise reversal of an earlier decision, the State Board of Education voted on Friday to include charter schools in the Permanent School Fund’s asset allocation. This essentially means that the board set aside $100 million to be invested in real estate that could then be leased by charter schools in need of facilities. Read more...
AG agrees with TCTA position regarding required salary step increases
In an eagerly awaited decision, the Texas Attorney General has ruled that the pay raise approved by legislators in the 2009 session requires a step increase for many employees throughout the state for the 2010-11 school year. Read more...
Judge upholds minimum grading policy
On June 28, 11 school districts got their day in court regarding the minimum grading bill and the letter of guidance issued by the Commissioner of Education regarding its implementation. This bill, inspired by a show of hands at a TCTA convention in 2009, amended the Education Code to prohibit school districts from requiring teachers to assign minimum grades to students. Read more...
$10B bill to save 140,000 teacher jobs passes through House
Texas Congressional representatives inserted language in the bill designed to ensure that new money will supplement, rather than supplant, existing education spending. The House version of the emergency supplemental bill contains $10 billion for education jobs and $4.95 billion for Pell Grants. The bill proposes to pay for this investment in part by making $800 million in education program cuts. Read more...
TCTA testifies on special education programs
TCTA's Holly Eaton testified in a Senate Education hearing last week that teachers need more support with special education students in the regular classroom. Eaton called for a standard to be set for the percentage of special education students in each regular education class, which, if exceeded, would trigger a school's duty to provide additional support to the teacher if requested. Read more...
Financial crisis facing public education also threatens education reform
Calling the impact of the recession on jobs an “education catastrophe,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has urged Congress to approve additional stimulus funds to save jobs in public schools. Read more...
TCTA successfully impacts teacher incentive rules
The TEA responded favorably to TCTA concerns about proposed rule changes to the District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) program by eliminating objectionable language and reinstating the requirement that local awards plans be submitted to TEA with evidence of a campus majority vote for participating campuses in the final rules. Read more...
TRS Board begins search for new executive director
The TRS Board of Trustees began the process of replacing Executive Director Ronnie Jung, who has announced his intent to retire as of July 1, 2011. Jung made the announcement at the Board's previous meeting, and on Friday, the Board hired an executive search firm to help find suitable candidates for the position. Read more...
TCTA delivers your CPE: It's online and FREE
We have just unveiled several new online sessions that bring the total continuing professional education (CPE) credit hours available to more than 50. All Texas teaching certificate holders who earned their certificates after Sept. 1, 1999, must accumulate 150 CPE hours every five years to keep the certificate active, and we're here to help.
Executive director's message: Since when are teachers the problem?
The concept of "teacher bashing" is not a new one. The first time I heard the term, and was informed that blaming the teacher is a relatively normal part of education reform cycles, was in the 1980s, during the time period in which House Bill 72 and the TECAT (also known as the teacher competency exam) were among the manifestations. In hindsight, though, those were kinder, gentler times. Read more...
Tightening the screws on teachers: What’s behind the latest round of teacher bashing?
What started as a fairly marginal and benign emphasis on teachers as a factor in students’ academic success has, over recent years, turned into an intensive and increasingly punitive focus. The cover of a recent Newsweek magazine screams “WE MUST FIRE BAD TEACHERS” as “the Key to Saving American Education.” Read more...
An expert’s view of education: TCTA talks with Dr. Darvin Winick
The nameplate on the desk reads, in somewhat gothic lettering, “Ancient Sage of Public Education,” so we had clearly come to the right place to get a broad and expert view of the meaning of recent and heightened criticism of public education and teachers. TCTA recently met with renowned education researcher Dr. Darvin Winick. Read more...
Connecting the social media dots: How to stay linked in over the summer
Twitter and Facebook are very beneficial ways to stay in touch with TCTA and your colleagues over the summer (and during the school year). Read "The Classroom Teacher" article to learn how to use these social media networking sites to make your lives easier. Read more...
Counselors making the right call
School counselors and other Texas educators are routinely confronted with issues involving the confidentiality of student records and related information. Decisions must be made - especially by school counselors - concerning receipt of, safekeeping and distribution of such information. Read more...
New TCTA President Brad Willingham takes office
Brad Willingham is in his 31st year of teaching and has spent the last eight years as a physical education teacher for S.S. Conner Elementary School in the Dallas Independent School District. As statewide president, he will guide TCTA’s efforts as it works to enhance the teaching profession and provide a full array of services and advocacy to its 50,000 members. It will also be a legislative year, which should make things interesting. Read more...
Share your summer: School's out and summer's here
Time to rest and relax, rejuvenate and regroup, revive and replenish. Take a moment to read how your fellow TCTA members will spend the summer, and enjoy your well-deserved break. Read more...
Accolades and Memoriam
TCTA members from all over the state are being honored. Read more...
TCTA welcomes new statewide leaders
TCTA congratulates our 2010-11 president, Brad Willingham of Dallas, as well as our new statewide committee chairs Cristal Isaacks (Budget), Grace Mueller (Curriculum & Instruction) and James Merrell (Teacher Personal Services). Delegates from each TCTA district also elected directors to serve on the TCTA Directors' Council. Terms began June 1, and officers will be officially sworn in on July 8.
Who's Who in TCTA->
TRS, TEA among agencies affected by additional 10% budget cuts
In a press release sent out May 28, Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Joe Straus instructed state agencies to trim another 10% off of their budgets for the upcoming biennium. Agencies such as the Teacher Retirement System and the Texas Education Agency are in the process of planning their requests for the budget that will be approved during the 2011 legislative session. Read more...
New $23B emergency funding for teachers stalls in House
The House of Representatives has stalled a $23 billion nationwide emergency budget bill supported by the Obama administration that would have prevented school districts from making thousands of personnel cuts. Read more...
SBOE approves social studies standards
The State Board of Education approved new social studies curriculum standards on a series of 9-5 votes on May 21. The final votes came after two days of lengthy debate in which the board considered 213 amendments to the standards for kindergarten through 12th grade. Read TEA's press release.
TCTA submits comments on proposed charter school rules
Regarding proposed amendment to §100.1033(c)(6), TCTA has general concerns about granting current charter holders the fast-tracked ability to add additional charter campuses, given the limited resources TEA has to monitor existing charter schools and the problems many charters have experienced. Read more...
AG opinion attempts to limit teacher political activity
Attorney General Greg Abbott, at the request of State Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler), has ruled that Texas law prohibits school districts from processing political action contributions through payroll deduction. The effect of the decision, if districts choose to abide by it, would be to hinder political activity by teachers – which is very likely the intended result. Read more...
Lawmakers hear dire predictions for state finances
The House Appropriations Committee met Tuesday, May 11, 2010, to discuss current and projected state finances. Budget and revenue experts predict that the Legislature will be faced with a budget shortfall of $15-18 billion when the next session begins in January 2011. Read more...
Vast majority of students meet TAKS promotion requirements
An overwhelming majority of fifth and eighth-grade students have passed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading and math tests, which means they met the state promotion requirements that are tied to the testing program. Maybe they did so well because of the kind of teachers who would be willing to dance in a video to get their students pumped up about TAKS.
TCTA testifies on teacher salaries, class-size caps and contracts
TCTA joined a panel of teacher associations Thursday to testify before the Select Committee on Public School Finance Weights, Allotments & Adjustments. Though slated to address school finance issues such as teacher salaries, TCTA ended up also defending teacher legal protections and class-size caps in a wide-ranging discussion on education reform. Read more...
Education Commissioner rules to be re-examined
In the name of providing school districts with some regulatory relief, the Commissioner of Education has announced that he is conducting a comprehensive review of the Texas Education Agency regulations, including those important to teachers. Public comments are due by July 23, 2010. Read more...
TEA releases Commissioner's final accountability decisions
The Commissioner of Education's final decisions for the state accountability system for 2010 and 2011 (for both standard and alternative procedures) have been released and can be viewed on TEA's 2010 Accountability Rating System web site.
Highlights from April 2010 TRS Board meeting
TRS Executive Director Ronnie Jung announces his upcoming resignation, the $98 billion pension fund continues to rebound, cuts are in store for the current biennial budget, etc. Read more...
TCTA positively impacts proposed student promotion rules
TCTA successfully advocated for a key change in the Commissioner of Education’s proposed rule revisions to incorporate changes made in HB 3. The proposal seemed to require that all students receiving accelerated instruction, not just those in grades 5 and 8, must complete it before being promoted, potentially resulting in large numbers of retentions. Read more...
New TEA Best Practices website incorporates TCTA suggestions
After seeking ideas from TCTA and others about ways to improve its Best Practices Clearinghouse website, TEA took those ideas to heart and recently unveiled its new design. Read more...
Help for certain elementary teachers impacted by USDE highly qualified reinterpretation
The USDE is providing additional flexibility for elementary teachers hired prior to the 2009-10 school year who were impacted by USDE’s recent reinterpretation of highly qualified provisions. Read more...
A reduction in force has been announced, now what?
As districts continue to struggle with limited resources and concern that the next legislative session may not provide much relief, declarations of "financial exigency" and accompanying reductions in force (RIFs) are becoming increasingly prevalent in districts throughout the state. Contact the TCTA Legal Department toll-free at 1-888-879-8282 to speak with an attorney for advice and information relating to your specific situation, and read about the general guidelines to follow.
Healthcare Reform Act mandates breaks for breastfeeding
The 2010 Healthcare Reform Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by requiring that employers provide a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child's birth each time the employee has need to express milk. The FLSA does not require employers to pay employees for such break time. Read more...
Special SAT/ACT offer this spring for Texas juniors
High school juniors who are enrolled in a Texas public school district or charter school have a one-time opportunity to take one free college admissions test (SAT or ACT) this year. Students who registered for either test prior to this offer will be reimbursed and those who still need to register should get a voucher from their counseling office. More detailed information on the SAT is available for educators and counselors.
Live chat for educators with certification questions
The Texas Education Agency has recently launched a "live chat" system to answer questions about teacher certification, bypassing sometimes clogged telephone lines. Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the "live chat" can be reached via the gray chat box located on TEA's Educator Certification Web page. For those who prefer to reach TEA's credentialing division by telephone, certification questions still can be answered via this toll-free TEA number: 1-888-863-5880.
Texas receiving nearly $338 million to improve low achieving schools
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently announced that Texas will receive nearly $338 million to turn around its persistently lowest achieving schools through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program. Read more...
TCTA testifies in support of campus "climate" surveys
TCTA's Holly Eaton testified in support of using campus climate survey results in any system designed around improving school leadership during a meeting this week of the House Public Education Committee. The committee met to consider interim charges related to studying the best leadership and management practices of campus administrators for improving student achievement. Read more...
TCTA challenges proposed federal Teacher Incentive Fund criteria
TCTA was among only a handful of statewide teacher groups in the nation submitting comments, expressing concerns about the proposal to give significant weight to student growth based on standardized tests in making teacher compensation decisions. Read more...
TCTA participates in stakeholder meeting regarding Educators’ Code of Ethics
On March 25, TCTA attended a stakeholders’ meeting at the Texas Education Agency to discuss potential revisions to the Educators’ Code of Ethics. The proposed revisions are being made as part of a routine rule review process that all administrative regulations must undergo. Read more...
Delaware, Tennessee awarded in first round of Race to the Top
Out of the 40 states and the District of Columbia which applied for round one of the federal Race to the Top money, including many which changed their laws in order to increase their chances of winning, only two have been named as winners in the first round. Delaware won as much as $107 million, and Tennessee could be awarded $502 million, leaving more than $3 billion in the fund for a possible future round.
TCTA analyzes Obama administration's education reform plan
The Obama administration recently released its blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In analyzing the blueprint, TCTA found, as expected, many of the education reforms we objected to in a series of federal grants released by the administration last summer. Read more...
Tell TEA about the student data you want
TEA wants to hear from teachers specifically - take advantage of this prime opportunity by checking out the "Student Snapshot" sample and give feedback to TEA via the website.
TCTA fights to keep charter school caps
TCTA's Lindsay Gustafson attended a Senate Education Committee interim hearing on March 22 to testify on charter schools. While TCTA believes there is a place in the Texas education system for charter schools, we took this opportunity to address some of our concerns with the current charter school system in Texas. Read more...
Another good performance review for Texas teachers and students
African-American fourth-grade students in Texas earned the sixth highest score on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test, results released March 24 show. The exam, often called “the nation’s report card,” was taken by 172,533 fourth-grade students in the nation’s public schools, including 5,954 youngsters in Texas. Read more...
TCTA attends first school finance committee meeting
The Select Committee on Public School Finance Weights, Allotments and Adjustments started its first meeting with a three-hour primer on the Texas school finance system, including past court decisions on the subject. Committee members commented on the complexity of the system, and Co-Chair Sen. Florence Shapiro asked committee members to come back to the next meeting with some “out-of-the box” ideas on how to rewrite the school finance system from scratch. Read more...
College tuition and partial fee exemption for educational aides
The purpose of the 2010 College Tuition and Partial Fee Exemption for Educational Aides Program is to encourage educational aides to complete full teacher certification by providing need-based exemptions from the payment of tuition and certain mandatory fees at Texas public institutions of higher education.
TCTA comments on DATE rules
TCTA submitted comments to TEA about proposed rule changes to the District Awards for Teacher Excellence program, a teacher incentive program adopted by the 79th Legislature in 2006, but which was amended by the 81st legislature last session. Read more...
Updated: 09/03/10
