skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

San Antonio Educators Make Case to Legislature

play audio
Play

Monday, March 14, 2011   

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Thousands of school employees and their supporters from across the state are converging on the State Capitol today, hoping to convince lawmakers that growing numbers of Texans will not accept looming cuts to public education.

Shelley Potter, president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel (American Federation of Teachers), is one of those making the case.

"The more people see what's happening in Austin and are paying attention, the more outraged they get."

Potter warns that if the Legislature passes its draft budget - which emphasizes spending cuts over new revenues - San Antonio schools would lose close to 12 percent of the total funds they need to maintain services.

Potter disputes Gov. Rick Perry's claim that school districts can withstand the shortfall by cutting more non-essential, non-campus spending. That has already been done, she says.

"There's no way to make the kind of cuts that school districts are having to make without cutting into classroom personnel."

Potter believes increasing public awareness of the planned cuts to education is one of the reasons legislators from both parties have recently been considering tapping into the state's $9.4 billion dollar "rainy day fund" - something Perry has repeatedly opposed.

Rally/Lobby Day begins at noon today at the Texas State Capitol, 1100 Congress. More information is available at http://tx.aft.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021