The ATPE Governmental Relations team recaps the past week’s education news, legislative and election updates, and regulatory developments.

• ATPE unveils legislative priorities for the 89th Texas Legislature
• Sneak peek: ATPE Regional Advocacy Challenge—Be a RAC Star!
• Reminder: Lobby Day has been replaced by Capitol Expeditions
• Lieutenant governor announces Senate committee assignments
• Comptroller: Legislature has $24 billion surplus at its disposal
• House lawmakers elect Rep. Dustin Burrows (R–Lubbock) as speaker
• REPEAL! Victory on the WEP and GPO—Don’t miss the latest ATPE Podcast
• Inside Texas Politics examines public education policy with Rep. Aicha Davis (D–DeSoto)

89TH LEGISLATURE: The 89th Texas Legislature convened Tuesday in Austin, and ATPE has unveiled its legislative priorities and recommendations to lawmakers: Increase public educator funding and compensation, strengthen the teacher pipeline, improve working conditions, and protect the state’s educational safety net. Learn more about these priorities in this blog post, and log in to The Rotunda in the ATPE Online Community to vote in our poll about which priority resonates the most with you. The Rotunda is where you can interact directly with the ATPE lobby team throughout the session and beyond.

BE A RAC STAR: Next week, ATPE will announce full details of the new Regional Advocacy Challenge (RAC). If you want to help your region get a jumpstart on this challenge, make sure to enroll in and complete the new ATPE Member Advocate Program (ATPE-MAP) today! Regions and members will have the opportunity to compete in multiple challenges between now and June 2, earning points for their members’ completion of specific advocacy tasks—for instance, each member who completes the State-Level ATPE-MAP Microcredential between now and March 1 will earn 10 points! “RAC Stars” will be recognized in three region categories (up to 2,000 members, 2,000–5,000 members, and more than 5,000 members), and members will have the opportunity to earn excellent prizes! We are teasing this out now, but get started today!

CAPITOL EXPEDITIONS: Completing the State-Level ATPE-MAP Microcredential will also qualify you to join the ATPE Lobby Team on a Capitol Expedition. The combination of ATPE-MAP and Capitol Expeditions are replacing ATPE at the Capitol/Lobby Day this session. Watch this short video from ATPE Marketing and Engagement Director Kate Johanns and ATPE Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter to learn more about the transition away from Lobby Day to Capitol Expeditions.

SENATE COMMITTEES: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) announced Senate Committee assignments for the 89th Texas Legislature Friday. The Senate Committee on Education K-16 will include many familiar faces from previous sessions along with a couple new additions. The 11-member committee will be composed of nine Republicans and two Democrats. Sen. Brandon Creighton (R–Conroe), who authored the Senate's voucher bill during the 2023 legislative session, will once again chair the committee, and Sen. Donna Campbell (R–New Braunfels) will return as vice chair. The rest of the committee includes Sens. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston), freshman Brent Hagenbuch (R–Denton), freshman Adam Hinojosa (R–Corpus Christi), Phil King (R–Weatherford), Jose Menendez (D–San Antonio), Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston), Tan Parker (R–Flower Mound), Angela Paxton (R–McKinney), and Royce West (D–Dallas).

STATE SURPLUS: Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Monday that lawmakers will start the 2025 legislative session with a $24 billion surplus primarily left over from the previous session’s surplus. The amount includes $4.5 billion lawmakers had earmarked for public education but that was not spent because of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) demand that the Legislature pass a voucher program before increasing public education funding. The projection was part of the comptroller’s latest Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE), which is typically released the day before the start of a new legislative session. Learn more in this blog post by ATPE Senior Lobbyist Mark Wiggins. 

HOUSE SPEAKER: On Tuesday, after the Legislature gaveled in, House members elected Rep. Dustin Burrows (R–Lubbock) to lead their chamber as speaker during the 89th Legislature. Burrows was elected in a second ballot over Rep. David Cook (R–Mansfield), the closing act in a dramatic speaker’s race that’s played out on social media over the past two months. Learn more about the speaker’s race and its outcome in this blog post by ATPE Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter.

PODCAST: On Jan. 5, President Joe Biden signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act, the result of more than 40 years of ATPE advocacy. The law repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), two offsets formerly in Social Security law that unfairly reduced the retirement benefits of some public servants, including many Texas educators. David Pore, ATPE’s federal consultant and a partner at Hance Scarborough LLP, joins ATPE Marketing and Engagement Director Kate Johanns on The ATPE Podcast to discuss this momentous victory and the grassroots advocacy that resulted in the Social Security Fairness Act’s passage in the final moments of the 2024 congressional session. This is a must-listen for the many ATPE members who have written letters and emails, made phone calls, and even visited Washington, D.C., to advocate for repeal. Listen on your favorite podcast service or watch on YouTube. 

INSIDE TEXAS POLITICS: Former State Board of Education (SBOE) member and freshman state Rep. Aicha Davis (D–DeSoto) appeared this week on WFAA-TV's Inside Texas Politics to talk about her transition from the SBOE to the Texas House, public education policy, and what she hopes to accomplish as a newly minted member of the Texas Legislature. In the interview, Davis said she is excited to work on a broader range of issues in the Texas House, beginning with increasing teacher pay and giving new teachers the support they need to obtain certification. Learn more in ATPE Senior Lobbyist Mark Wiggins’ blog post.