October 28, 2021: 州代表试图对学校图书馆关于性别、性别和种族的书籍展开调查; Our McAllen member is Teacher of the Year; Gov. signs bills into law

McAllen AFT member named
Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year

McAllen AFT leaders and members congratulate Jennifer Han, 365在线体育投注上周五被提名为德州小学年度教师. Find out more about Jennifer here.

州代表试图对学校图书馆关于性别、性别和种族的书籍展开调查

On Monday, State Rep. Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth) penned a letter 去了一些学区和德克萨斯州教育局，寻找他认为不合适的关于性的材料, gender, and race, and even health-related resources on AIDS.

克劳斯在信中表示，他是作为众议院一般调查委员会主席进行调查的, 尽管新闻报道表明没有其他委员会成员知道这一行动. The letter asks districts and the TEA to search for 850 books and other materials on Krause-supplied-list to see if they are in use or in libraries on every campus, including their location, and the cost to the district for the materials.

“现在离万圣节还有几天，但我们的州议员却在错误的地方搜寻女巫,” said Texas AFT President Zeph Capo in a response statement. “Rep. Krause has launched a ridiculous, time-consuming, 他不喜欢这些书，因为它们描绘了我们多样化的德州人口，以及德州学生面临的困难问题.”

克劳斯写道，他正在寻找“可能会让学生感到不舒服的东西”, guilt, anguish, 或任何其他形式的心理困扰，因为他们的种族或性别或传达一个学生, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”

The committee’s vice-chair, Rep. Victoria Neave (D-Dallas), told news outlets she was unaware of the letter until it was published and said Krause was using it as a political stunt, 因为他正在共和党初选中与肯·帕克斯顿竞选司法部长.

“我们不需要全州范围内的政客和司法部长候选人来禁止书籍,” Capo said in the statement. “我们需要学校的专业人员为我们多样化的学生提供文学和资源，以激励他们认识到，在未来的挑战中，他们并不孤单.”

While some may view Krause’s letter as political theater, 它是最近针对与种族问题教学有关的学校董事会和教师的攻击的导火线. 今年立法机关通过了HB 3979和SB 3，意在禁止“批判种族理论”的教学——结果令人不安, including:

• The removal of a Grapevine-Colleyville ISD high-school principal 今年夏天，在他被指控推广系统性种族主义教学后.

• 家长对某些书的反对导致了学校董事会的争论 Leander ISD and Katy ISD and led to reviews of the books.

• 十月初，卡罗尔ISD(南湖)的一名老师因为有这本书而受到训斥， 这本书是反种族主义的:关于如何醒来、采取行动和工作的20课, in her classroom library. Two weeks later, 同一学区将成为全国新闻，因为一名课程管理人员在讨论遵循德克萨斯州立法的规则时，告诉一群教师，他们的课堂图书馆是否有一本关于大屠杀的书, they should have a book with “opposing” views.

• 卡罗尔ISD(南湖)关于多元化计划的斗争也是一个主题 NBC News Podcast 这表明，对关键种族理论感到愤怒的候选人是如何得到政治行动委员会的资助，并被选为反对多元化计划的候选人.

• Groups similar to the Southlake PACs are forming throughout Texas, including Save Texas Kids in Mansfield, which somehow managed to get a list of all Dallas ISD teachers’ emails. In an email to teachers, the group implored them to report on their colleagues 如果有任何迹象表明他们在教授批判种族理论或“掠夺性性别流动性”.” One teacher, Alliance-AFT member and high-school humanities teacher Melody Townsel, fought back and used the Save Texas Kids letter for a lesson, asking students to critique it and examine the rhetorical devices used. Save Texas Kids has since called for Townsel to be fired.

克劳斯的信使得一些地区开始争先恐后地响应克劳斯的要求, while others are taking a more cautious approach, waiting to see if TEA offers any guidance. TEA has not yet commented on the issue.

Governor starts process of signing special-session bills into law

上周，德克萨斯州议会忙碌的第三次特别会议结束, 参众两院通过的法案被送交州长最后批准. So far, Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law bills regarding redistricting, transgender student athletes, and the funding of higher education construction projects.

On Monday, 阿博特签署了由立法机构绘制的四幅重划地图——州教育委员会的15个选区地图, the 31-district State Senate map, the 150-district State House map, and the 38-district U.S. Congress map. 这四张地图都因为没有充分代表有色人种而受到攻击, 自上次重新绘制地图以来的10年里，是什么推动了该州95%以上的人口增长. 已经有几起诉讼指控新地图违宪，违反了《365在线体育》.

Also on Monday, the governor also signed HB 25该法案将阻止跨性别学生与自己的性别群体参加体育比赛. The Biden administration has publicly condemned the passage of HB 25, but it has not yet taken any legal action against the bill. The bill takes effect on January 18, 2022.

SB 52, which authorizes the issuance of $3.30亿元学费收入债券用于高等教育机构建设项目融资, was signed by the governor Monday and is effective on January 18, 2022. As of press time, the governor had not taken action on SB 8, the bill allocating federal COVID-19 stimulus money. The governor also had not taken action on SJR 2, which would raise the state homestead exemption from $25,000 to $40,000 for school property taxes, saving the average homeowner about $176, according to the bill’s author, Sen. Paul Bettencourt. After receiving the governor’s signature, 该决议还需要德州选民的批准才能成为德州宪法的一部分. SB 1, 本周早些时候收到州长签名的房主将获得额外的财产税减免.

The governor has until November 8 to sign these bills into law, veto them, or allow them to become law without his signature.

Early voting for state ballot amendments ends today

11月2日全州宪法修正案选举的提前投票今天结束. You can find out more about the ballot items here and more on voting at votetexas.org.