Texas voted for change. Teachers deserve a seat at the table.

For 79 years, Texas law has barred teachers from bargaining over their pay, class sizes and working conditions. With a new governor and a new House majority, the 2027 session is the first real chance in a generation to change that. They need to hear from you.

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The 90th Texas Legislature convenes January 12, 2027, soon from today. Officials: sign the pledge

What Texas law says today

Two separate laws hold Texas workers back. Fixing them takes two separate changes.

Private-sector workers

Texas Labor Code §§ 101.052–.053 and 101.111, “right to work”

  • Under federal law, a union must represent every worker in a bargaining unit, members or not, including in grievances.
  • Texas voids contracts that require union membership (§ 101.053) and bars unions from charging nonmembers a fee as a condition of work (§ 101.111). Nonmembers get the representation without chipping in for it.
  • The result is a built-in free-rider problem that drains unions and weakens every worker’s bargaining power.

Federal law lets each state decide this question (Taft-Hartley § 14(b)). Texas could change it with an ordinary bill.

Teachers and public employees

Texas Government Code §§ 617.002, 617.0025

  • Teachers can join a union today. What they can’t do is bargain.
  • School districts, charter schools and state agencies are forbidden to sign a contract with a union over wages, hours or conditions, or even recognize one as the bargaining agent.
  • Any such contract is void by law.

Texas already lets local voters approve collective bargaining for police and firefighters (Local Government Code ch. 174). Teachers get no such option.

What changes when Texans can bargain

Collective bargaining gives working people a legal, organized way to negotiate instead of asking one at a time.

Higher pay for everyone, not just members

Wages in right-to-work states are about 3.1% lower than in other states, after accounting for cost of living and worker differences (Economic Policy Institute, 2015). Union contracts set standards that nonunion employers compete with.

Source: Economic Policy Institute, 2015

A real voice for teachers

Bargaining lets educators negotiate the things that decide whether they stay in the classroom: pay scales, planning time, class sizes, duty-free lunch, safety plans and fair evaluation.

Teachers who stay

Every teacher who leaves costs a district money to recruit and train a replacement, and costs students continuity. A contract that teachers helped write is a reason to stay.

Fair share, not forced membership

Repeal doesn’t make anyone join a union. Under federal law, no one can be required to become a member, and workers who object can’t be charged more than their share of representation costs. A fee is possible only if the union and the employer agree to it in a contract.

Safer workplaces

A contract gives workers a protected way to report hazards and enforce safety rules without fearing for their job. That matters in a state with as much construction, energy and industrial work as Texas.

Local choice for school boards

Our teacher bill doesn’t impose anything. It removes a statewide ban so each district and its educators can decide what works for their community.

This has been done before

Other states have changed these laws recently, and Texas already allows bargaining for some public workers.

2023

Michigan repeals right-to-work

Michigan became the first state in decades to repeal its right-to-work law, for both private and public workers. The repeal took effect in 2024.

2020

Virginia lifts its bargaining ban

Virginia passed a law in 2020, effective in 2021, ending its decades-old ban on public-sector bargaining and letting each city, county and school board choose to allow it. Several Virginia school boards have since voted to allow bargaining with teachers.

Texas

Police and firefighters already can

Under Chapter 174 of the Local Government Code, Texas voters in a city or county can approve collective bargaining for police and fire. Teachers deserve the same choice.

Two bills we’re asking legislators to pass

Short, focused changes that are easy to explain and hard to argue against. The teacher bill builds on HB 1077, filed for the 2025 session by Reps. Lauren Ashley Simmons and Ron Reynolds and backed by Texas AFT, which never received a committee hearing. Ours is narrower: it covers school districts only and works by local choice.

Proposed bill one

The Texas Fair Share Act

Lets private-sector employers and unions agree to fair-share provisions in their contracts.

  • Repeals the union-security bans in Labor Code §§ 101.052–.053 and related sections.
  • Keeps every worker’s right not to join a union.
  • Changes nothing for employers who don’t have a union contract.

Proposed bill two

The Texas Teachers’ Voice Act

Lets school districts and their employees bargain collectively, by local choice.

  • Amends Government Code §§ 617.002 and 617.0025 so a school district or charter school may recognize and bargain with an employee organization.
  • Lets local voters petition for an election to allow bargaining, as Chapter 174 does for police and fire.
  • Doesn’t change current strike law.

What we have to accomplish

The new House majority and governor make 2027 the year to build momentum, even if the Senate holds the bill up. Every hearing, recorded vote and public commitment brings us closer to passing it.

Our goals for the 2027 session

  • Pass the teacher bill in the Texas House. A House vote proves it can pass and puts every member on the record.
  • Force a hearing in the Senate. Democrats don’t hold a Senate majority, so passage there needs Republican votes. A public hearing with teachers testifying makes it harder to bury the bill.
  • Get the governor on record. Governor-elect Hinojosa should say publicly that she’d sign it.
  • Build the record for 2028 and 2029. Every senator who blocks the bill will have that vote on their record when they’re next on the ballot.

  1. Now through December 2026

    Make it impossible to ignore

    No one is talking about teacher bargaining yet, so the people who raise it first get to frame it.

    • Recruit a district captain for every House and Senate district, starting in districts that flipped.
    • Collect teacher stories and get them in front of local press.
    • Ask every newly elected legislator to sign the Fair Work pledge before they commit to other priorities.

  2. Prefiling opens November 9, 2026

    Refile the bill with a strong author list

    Work with Texas AFT and allies to refile the teacher bill, building on HB 1077 (2025), with a lead author in the new House majority and as many joint authors and co-authors as possible on day one.

  3. Before inauguration, January 19, 2027

    Get the new administration on record

    Ask Governor-elect Hinojosa and Lieutenant Governor-elect Goodwin to publicly support local bargaining for teachers while they’re still setting their agendas.

  4. February – April 2027

    Win a House hearing and committee vote

    We’ll fill the hearing room with teachers, parents and school staff ready to testify, and press committee members until the bill is voted out.

  5. April – May 2027

    Pass the House, then put the Senate on the spot

    The House needs a simple majority. In the Senate, we’ll push for a hearing and a recorded vote so every senator has to take a public position.

    76of 150 House votes (a majority of the full House) 18of 31 senators to bring it to the floor (16 to pass) 1signature from the governor

  6. 2028 and 2029

    Hold them accountable, then finish the job

    We’ll publish every legislator’s record before the 2028 elections, campaign in the districts of blocking senators who are up for election in 2028, and come back to pass it in 2029. The right-to-work repeal follows the same path once the teacher bill has shown it can be done.

Common questions

Why now?

Recent teacher bargaining bills, like HB 1077 in 2025, never got a hearing. The 2026 election changed that. The House has a new majority and the state has a new governor, so the bill can get a real hearing and a vote. If no one makes teacher bargaining a priority now, other issues will fill the agenda.

Would anyone be forced to join a union?

No. Federal law already guarantees that no one can be required to become a full union member. Repeal only lets a union and an employer agree that everyone the union represents pays a share of what that representation costs.

Can’t Texas teachers already join a union?

Yes. Texas teachers can join professional associations and unions today. The problem is that state law forbids their district from bargaining with them, so the union has no contract to negotiate.

Would teachers be allowed to strike?

Our proposal doesn’t change current strike law. It’s about one thing: letting teachers and school districts sit down at the table and negotiate.

Does repealing right-to-work change anything for public employees?

Not much on its own. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus decision bars fair-share fees for all public employees nationwide. That’s why the teacher bill focuses on the right to bargain itself.

Isn’t this a federal issue?

No. Federal law explicitly lets each state decide whether to allow fair-share agreements, and public-employee bargaining is entirely up to the state. Both changes can be made in Austin.

The new majority needs to hear from teachers.

Teachers, parents, union members, retirees: if you can make a phone call or host a living-room meeting, we need you.

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