Oct. 3, 2025: What the shutdown means for Texas

The federal government has shut down, and that is bad newsfor Texas. As the Texas AFL-CIO notes, our stateis home to the third-most federal workers in the country and the highest number of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) members.

Thisshutdown will lock out hundreds of thousands of federal employees from doing their jobs while forcing hundreds of thousands more - like TSA officersor VA caregivers - to work without pay.

Let'sbe clear: We do not want this shutdown.Our members, our families, and our communities deserve stability. But we also cannot support a deal that slashes Medicaid and ends Affordable Care Act(ACA) premium tax credits.

This shutdown comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's big, ugly bill that cut Medicaid coverage for millions. If Congress does not extend the ACA tax credits, an estimated 4.2 million Americans will lose their health insurance coverage and another 20 million will face significant premium increases.

Ending those credits will drive up costs for everyone and force some health care facilities to close their doors. Some rural hospitals already areclosing.

That's not a solution- it's cruelty. And it's completely preventable. Write to your lawmakers and tell them to fund the government, fix the healthcare crisis,and put working people first.

We wish we were surprised by the latest reportfrom the Economic Policy Institute, which has tracked relative wage data for teachers and other degreed professionals for more than four decades. The results for 2024 are in: the "teacher pay penalty," the wage gap between teachers and similarly educated professionals in other fields, hit a record high of 26.9%.

This means that all else being equal, teachersearned 26.9% less than other college graduates. Texas compares slightly better than the national average at only a 23% teacher penalty.

The controversy surrounding Senate Bill 10, the Texas law requiring every public schoolclassroom to display the Ten Commandments, shows no sign of slowing down.

Fourteen additionalschool districts are now facing lawsuits over the mandate, broadening what was already one of the most closely watched education-related legal battles in the state.

To help our members continue to grow professionally, Texas AFT has adopted a union's approach to alternative teacher certification. This summer, delegates to the Texas AFT conventionin Dallas directed our union to explore the feasibility of a Texas AFT-owned accredited alternative certification program (ACP).

But a first step was visible on Sept. 27 in the Cy-Fair AFT union hall, as our local union held the first session for aspiring certified teachers as part of a partnership with iTeach.

✍Save the date and get ready for The Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13-15 in downtown Austin. Join bold thinkers and doers for three days of conversations and big ideasshaping the future of Texas and beyond.

Texas AFT will be on the ground for Open Congress! Visit our table for goodies and information on the future of public education in the state.

Get your tickets today: https://trib.it/tribfest2025-sponsor!

Texas AFT expresses concern over proposed changes to the way history is taught in schools."We need to be very mindful as this framework is developed and as the content standards are rolled out that that perspective is maintained and that we are not doing our students a disservice by narrowing what they learn and therefore their worldview," our policy analyst Kelsey Kling explains. (KENS5, Sept. 26)