TCTA staff members spend about 30 minutes answering members' questions about hot topics in education.
Upcoming sessions
Dec. 6 | 2023 Legislative Preview: Members of TCTA's lobby team will recap the November elections and preview the upcoming 2023 session of the Texas Legislature, sharing TCTA's legislative priorities before answering questions from members. Click here to register and submit questions.
If you have topics you'd like us to address in future sessions, please email communications@tcta.org.
Members who need immediate assistance with a job-related problem or question should call the Legal Department at 888-879-8282. For general inquiries, submit an Ask-a-Lawyer question.
Previous sessions
Nov. 1: Leave & Absences
Dohn Larson and Julie Leahy discuss requests for time off, explaining state vs local leave, when your district can deny a request for leave, how absences could impact your job and how leave factors into retirement.
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Oct. 4: STAAR Redesign
Jordan Runge, the director of Strategy and Operations with the Student Assessment Division at the Texas Education Agency, previews changes coming to STAAR tests to better align the exams with classroom instruction, showing examples of new question types and sharing resources for teachers to prepare students for the redesigned exams this spring.
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Sept. 6: Back to School: Working With Parents
Michael Currie and Gerald Francisco discuss the laws relating to parent-teacher conferences and share 10 best practices for meetings with parents.
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Aug. 23: Back-to-School Checklist
Dohn Larson and Julie Leahy review common questions that pop up as the school year starts, including the rules regarding planning and preparation time, extra duties and lesson plans.
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Aug. 9: K-3 Reading Academy Flexibility
Dohn Larson reviews changes to the K-3 Reading Academy that will give teachers more flexibility beginning with the 2022-23 school year.
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May 3: Year-End Checklist and Summer Training
Michael Currie and Gerald Francisco review items that should be on every educator's end-of-year checklist and discuss summer training/professional development rules and requirements.
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April 5: Getting Ready to Retire
TRS Chief Benefit Officer Barbie Pearson joined TCTA to discuss the steps involved in getting ready to retire from public school districts in Texas. She walked through resources available on the TRS website and answered questions from TCTA members about retirement.
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March 1: Contracts
Dohn Larson and Michael Currie review types of teacher contracts and explain the new rules regarding late resignations and sanctions for contract abandonment.
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Feb. 1: 2022 Elections & Public Education
Paige Williams and Pamela McPeters explain what you need to know before voting in the 2022 elections, which begin with the March 1 primaries. They review the legislative outlook for public education in Texas, how you can find and support education-friendly candidates and why it's so important for teachers to vote to make public education a key issue in every election.
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Jan. 11: COVID-19, Appraisals and Contracts
Julie Leahy reviews the latest COVID-19 guidance from TEA, and Gerald Francisco provides an overview of teacher appraisals and contract renewals, highlighting key timelines in the process and deadlines to protest an evaluation.
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Dec. 7: Student Discipline
Dohn Larson and Michael Currie explained key provisions of Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code related to student discipline and answered questions from members.
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Nov. 2: Extra Duties, Planning and Preparation
Gerald Francisco and Julie Leahy reviewed the law and answered questions about extra duties and planning and preparation time.
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