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

• Early voting starts Monday—make your plan to vote!
• ICYMI: Watch the Cruz/Allred U.S. Senate debate
• ATPE supports educator preparation community at CSOTTE conference
• TEA announces rebrand for open education resources (OER)

VOTING: Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 21, and continues through Friday, Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 5. That means you have 13 days to cast your ballot for pro-public education candidates! ATPE Lobbyist Tricia Cave has an important message to share with the #txed community: 

Here are a few resources to help you make your plan to vote: 

• This very website, ATPE’s TeachtheVote.org, offers a candidate search tool where you can enter your address to learn more about the individuals running for the Texas Legislature and the State Board of Education in your district! This includes candidates’ answers, if available, to the 2024 ATPE Candidate Survey. 
• Visit Vote411.org, a League of Women Voters website, to find your polling place and build a personalized ballot reference sheet to download and print to take with you when you vote. Remember: You cannot use your smartphone inside a polling place! 
• The Texas Tribune has created a voter toolkit with specific resources in Spanish and guides for young voters, voters with disabilities, and mail-in voters. 
• Texas Parent PAC, a respected political action committee for parents, grandparents, parents-to-be, and anyone who supports high-quality public education, released its list of 2024 general election endorsements Oct. 11. This Teach the Vote blog post lists those endorsements. 
• The most recent episode of The ATPE Podcast features a conversation with ATPE Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter about what’s on the line for public education this election. 

After you vote, don’t forget to take a selfie outside your polling place wearing your “I Voted” sticker! Post it on social media using the hashtag #txedvote and be sure to tag @OfficialATPE so we can showcase strong public educator turnout at the polls! 

U.S. SENATE: WFAA, the Dallas-Fort Worth ABC affiliate, hosted a televised debate Tuesday between the two major-party candidates for one of Texas’ two U.S. Senate seats: Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (TX-32). Watch a replay of the debate on the WFAA YouTube channel.

CSOTTE: The annual Consortium of State Organizations for Texas Teacher Education (CSOTTE) conference took place Oct. 13–15 in San Marcos. ATPE had a big role in the conference, serving as an event sponsor, taking part in a Lege 101 presentation, recruiting new members, and even seeing a past state president honored during the awards dinner Sunday evening. ATPE Lobbyist Tricia Cave has a recap in this blog post.

OER: The Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced Wednesday it has rebranded the open education resources (OER) developed in response to House Bill (HB) 1605. The OER will be known as “Bluebonnet Learning Instructional Materials,” and, as part of the Instructional Materials Review and Approval (IMRA) process, the State Board of Education (SBOE) will vote during its Nov. 19-22 meeting whether to include the Bluebonnet Learning materials on its list of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM). If included as HQIM, the Bluebonnet Learning materials will be available as an optional resource for school districts, but under HB 1605 districts are financially incentivized for using the materials. You may review the materials at tea.texas.gov/bluebonnet.