Here is this week's recap of the latest education news from your ATPE Governmental Relations team:

• CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: TEA updates guidance, schools tweak reopening plans, and ATPE hosts a survey on school health and safety
• FEDERAL UPDATE: Education Department delivers webinar on reopening schools
• Upcoming events focus on TRS and retirement planning
• More on COVID-19: New data show 6,295 cases in Texas public schools
• Federal judge extends census count through October
• ELECTION UPDATE: Early voting ends in SD 30; voter registration deadline approaches

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Schools around Texas continue to tackle difficult decisions on reopening and whether to offer virtual or in-person instruction. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) slightly modified its COVID-19 guidance this week on attendance and enrollment, aiming to address some recent questions about school reopenings and remote learning options. Many school boards are deciding whether to request waivers from the state that would enable their districts to operate in a remote environment longer than the initial four-week transition approved by TEA for all districts.

The new TEA guidance indicates that the agency will consider granting additional flexibility based on metrics announced recently in Gov. Greg Abbott's plan for business reopening. Specifically, TEA will "take into consideration" whether a school district lies within one of the hospital regions where COVID-19 patients make up more than 15% of all hospitalizations. While we appreciate state officials' recognizing the importance of considering objective health-related data on COVID-19, as ATPE has recommended, new guidance remains vague and leaves the ultimate discretion to unelected state leaders. Read more about the updated guidance and how school districts are approaching the return to campus in this post by ATPE Governmental Relations Director Jennifer Mitchell. Last week, ATPE launched an anonymous member-only survey through our Advocacy Central section of the ATPE website that asks two questions about how educators feel their health and safety is being ensured. Join hundreds of other survey responders and share your responses by Sunday, September 27. Here are additional coronavirus resources from ATPE:

• Find answers from our legal team on our COVID-19 FAQs and Resources page.
• Earn CPE by watching COVID-19/legal webcasts through ATPE’s professional learning portal.
• See the pandemic and ATPE's response evolve through our updated, interactive timeline.
• Use our Parent-Teacher Toolkit, featuring a new video on giving each other grace.
• Communicate easily with your elected officials through Advocacy Central (for ATPE members only).

FEDERAL UPDATE: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos reiterated her support for school choice and in-person schooling this week during a U.S. Department of Education webinar on school reopening. The panel presentation featured private, public, and charter school administrators who shared best practices on how they have reopened their schools this fall. Some of the strategies may be unattainable for the majority of public schools who need increased funding for pandemic-related increased costs. Read more about the presentation in this blog post by ATPE Lobbyist Andrea Chevalier.

A few upcoming events are scheduled that are geared toward educators who are retired or considering retiring in the near future. First, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) has opened registration for its 2020 TRS-Care virtual information sessions. These webinars are intended to help retired public education employees, or those considering retirement, learn more about the TRS-Care Standard and TRS-Care Medicare Advantage plans for 2021. They will also introduce the new providers that will administer TRS health plans starting Jan. 1, 2021. You can register for these webinars at trs.texas.gov/trs-care-events.

Next week the Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA) plans to host two virtual townhalls on teacher retirement issues. The first townhall will feature incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) on September 29 at 4 pm. The second townhall will feature Cornyn's challenger, retired U.S. Air Force combat veteran M.J. Hegar on October 3 at 2:15 pm. Find more details on the two events here.

The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) are sharing with the public data on the prevalence of the coronavirus in Texas public schools. The online dashboard shows Texas public schools have reported 6,295 COVID-19 cases on their campuses. According to the data, 3,445 students have tested positive for COVID-19 out of 1,101,065 on campus. The agency reported 1,212 new positive cases during the week ending September 20, up from 1,046 new cases the previous week. The agency reported 2,850 school staff members tested positive. Of those, 660 were new cases during the week ending September 20, down from 859 new cases reported the previous week. The agency has not maintained a count of how many staff are present on campus at the moment.

It's difficult to draw conclusions from this data. Relatively few students are on campus at the moment, and social distancing measures will become more difficult to maintain as more students return to classrooms. ATPE Executive Director Shannon Holmes weighed in on the numbers in this article by the Houston Chronicle.

Jimmy Lee

RELATED: As schools deal with COVID-19 occurrences on campus and their employees' fears of catching the virus, some districts are worried about finding enough substitute teachers. ATPE State President Jimmy Lee was interviewed this week in a story on CBS Austin about the concern. Lee shared his own experience working as a sub and highlighted challenges faced by rural districts . Watch the full story here.

A federal judge ruled Thursday, Sept. 24, that President Donald Trump cannot stop the U.S. Census count next week, ordering it instead to continue through October 31. This is the deadline U.S. Census Bureau originally requested before the Trump administration decided to shorten that window. You can read more about the court decision in this article by the Texas Tribune.

The census is constitutionally required every 10 years in order to apportion seats in the U.S. Congress. Many important decisions, including how federal funding is distributed, depend on how communities respond to the census. The census also determines how much power each state wields in Congress, and Texas is on track to add representatives if everyone responds on time. Read more about the census in this recent blog post by ATPE Lobbyist Andrea Chevalier.

ELECTION UPDATE: Today is the last day of early voting in Texas Senate District (SD) 30, where a special election is scheduled for next Tuesday, Sept. 29. This election is to finish the term of outgoing state Sen. Pat Fallon (R-Prosper), who is running for U.S. Congress.

Earlier this week we recognized National Voter Registration Day. October 5 is the deadline to register to vote in time for the November 3 election if you are not already registered. Click here to find out if you are registered and your information is correct, especially if you have moved. Early voting for every position from president on down begins October 13 and lasts for three weeks through October 30. Find more voting dates and reminders here.

Voting is the only way to ensure people who support public education are the ones making the decisions about public education. For more on who makes those decisions, check out this post by our partners in the Texas Educators Vote coalition. Also, click here to learn about candidate forums being sponsored by Raise Your Hand Texas starting next week.