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2020 Legislative Agenda

Say “YES” to: 

HB 513, Sponsored by Representative Sandra Scott

• Relating to public school property and facilities, so as to prohibit a local school system from leasing or selling a public school in such system to a private entity unless such public school has been in existence for at least 15 years; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

HB 181, Sponsored by Representative Billy Mitchell

• Relating to the "Charter Schools Act of 1998," so as to provide that the initial term or any renewal term of a

Many American education policies reinforce the inadequacies of our approach to education: the misues of standardized testing, the narrowing of the curriculum, the emphasis on competition over collaboration, and other top-down reforms that have divested parents and teachers of input and have led to inadequate support and difficult conditions - all producing rampant teacher turnover. 

Read the Quality Education Agenda here

PISA is the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment. Every three years it tests 15-year-old students from all over the world in reading, mathematics and science. The tests are designed to gauge how well the students master key subjects in order to be prepared for real-life situations in the adult world.

Excellence and Equity in Education (Volume I)
English | French | German

Policies and Practices for Successful Schools (Volume II)
English | French

Students' Well-Being (Volume III)
English | French

Students' Financial Literacy (Volume IV)
English

Collaborative Problem Solving (Volume V)
En

The bad news is most state education systems are falling dangerously behind the world in a number of international comparisons and on our own National Assessment of Educational Progress, leaving the United States overwhelmingly underprepared to succeed in the 21st century economy.

The U.S. workforce, widely acknowledged to be the best educated in the world half a century ago, is now among the least well-educated in the world, according to recent studies.

Click here to read the Executive Summary

Click here to read the Full Report

Over the last ten months, the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF), AFT Local 3544, has bargained in good faith with the University of Oregon administration while striving to move toward a living wage, to maintain coverage of health insurance costs, and to make gains in terms of summer funding, support for international students, parental leave, and childcare subsidies. The university is proving reluctant to provide these simple things to graduate employees, despite the fact that graduate employee working conditions are student learning conditions.

GTFF represents over 1,400 graduate

Excellent Schools Project is Not an Excellent Plan

The following is in response to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution's January 2nd article titled Atlanta school board could vote in March on school rating plan.

While the "Excellent Schools Project" is being sold to the public as a way to rate Atlanta public schools and identify those that don’t measure up, it’s really nothing more than a blame game public relations stunt that fails to address the real issue: the school district failed to provide Atlanta’s educators with the resources they need to carry out its lofty “Turn Around Plan,” and now

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Media Advisory for:                                                                                                         
Tuesday, September 10, 2019               

                                                                
Ron Fowler
404-315-0222 o. 
404-731-5205 c.
atlanta@aftgeorgia.org
http://ga.aft.org

Atlanta Federation of Teachers and others speak to the search and hiring process of the next superintendent and the future of Atlanta Public Schools

Atlanta, GA – Education organizations, community groups and others will speak to best practices in searching for and hiring a

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Considerations in Superintendent Search Criteria and Selection

There is no off-the-shelf checklist for the profile of the “perfect” superintendent or school system leader, largely because context and community matter. While credentials, skills, and achievements are, of course, significant, the art of superintendent selection is in the match to context and community. With that in mind, it is not only the content of the candidate profile that matters, but also the process of developing it. Thinking about superintendent characteristics just as a task for the governing body alone is a

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For Immediate Release                                                                                                          
September 8, 2019                                                                                                              

Contact:
Ron Fowler
404-315-0222 o.
404-731-5205 c.
atlanta@aftgeorgia.org
http://ga.aft.org

Atlanta Federation of Teachers’ Open Letter to the Atlanta Board of Education

Maria Carstarphen has pursued a school privatization agenda from the beginning of her tenure as school superintendent. She has contracted out the majority of the Carver

September 5, 2019

Dr. Michael A. Erwin, Board Chair

DeKalb County Board of Education

1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd.

Stone Mountain, GA 30083

Dear Board Chair Erwin:

The Georgia Federation of Teachers concurs with the DeKalb NAACP regarding the school district’s request to raise the millage rate. The present administration has almost double the budget from that which was under former Superintendent Michael Thurmond.

Again, we ask as others have asked for a Forensic Audit.

Sincerely,

Verdaillia Turner
President

VT/ksf

CC:      DeKalb County Board of Education Members