TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
(copyright 2009 Texas AFT)

* Texas AFT Comments on Proposed Changes in State Rules on Teacher Appraisal
* Getting the Facts Straight on Health-Care Reform--Myth #5
 
Comments on Teacher Appraisal: The state commissioner of education has been endowed by the legislature with more and more power over education policy in recent years, as evidenced by the steady stream of administrative regulations issuing from the Texas Education Agency. One policy area addressed by a recent rule proposal from the commissioner is teacher appraisal, and yesterday Texas AFT filed a formal comment on the proposed rules recommending some changes.

The proposal from Commissioner of Education Robert Scott includes some positive changes, such as one requiring that documentation of certain information must be provided by a certified appraiser. However, among other things, Texas AFT is urging the commissioner to rethink the proposed deletion from state rules of the requirement that an appraiser have three years of teaching experience. As Texas AFT legislative counsel Patty Quinzi wrote to the commissioner, "An evaluation is an opportunity for professional growth and improvement. Teaching experience provides an appraiser with a greater understanding of the challenges that teachers face every day. An administrator with too little teaching experience cannot adequately guide teachers toward teaching excellence."

Getting Facts Straight on Health Care: Courtesy of the American Federation of Teachers, here's a new installment in AFT's series of "mythbusters" on health-care reform:

MYTH #5: America's deficit will increase by $1 trillion due to health-care reform and force many families to go broke.
 
THE FACTS: President Obama has said he will not sign a bill that would add to the national debt or deficit. To honor this commitment, he has proposed that two-thirds of the cost of reform be paid for by reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in existing programs and ending overpayments to insurance companies. The remaining revenue will come from limiting the itemized tax deductions for couples making more than $250,000 a year.
 
The current health-care system results in $700 billion a year in wasteful and inefficient spending--causing financial strain on many families. Placing caps on out-of-pocket expenditures, including co-payments, and limiting extravagant spending by insurance companies are some of the new proposals to hold down rising health-care costs for many working families.
 
For some further mythbusting on a global scale, we encourage you to read a "just the facts, ma'am" article by reporter T.R. Reid comparing the current U.S. health-care system with the health-care services in other major industrial countries: see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR2009082101778.html.