News

On her very first day of student teaching at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, N.Y., Martha Strever pushed, pulled and pounded on the school’s door, which was locked. No one came. Where was everybody? It was, after all, the first day of school.

It turned out everybody was exactly where they were supposed to be: inside, having entered through the school’s front entrance. Strever had been knocking on a side door. Flustered but undeterred, she not only found her way inside, she also found her life’s calling.

Strever’s sentences are punctuated with laughs when she recounts the story to

Paraprofessionals and school-related personnel are often overlooked because of their support roles. They are the last ones hired and often the first ones fired when budgets get tight. This certainly seems true right now as the Trump administration withholds nearly $7 billion in education funds, effective July 1, which has hamstrung summer school programs, hindered English language support, halted professional development this summer, and left before- and after-school programs in limbo for the coming school year.

Paraprofessionals are key employees in all these programs. For example, in Alabama

It is clear that higher education is under attack. The Trump administration has frozen funding for science, from cancer research to reproductive care; has hamstrung student financial aid programs; has stripped colleges and universities of diversity, equity and inclusion programming; has strangled affirmative action designed to expand access to college; and is demanding that some institutions sign a “compact” that forces them to adopt Trump’s ideology in exchange for federal funding.

On Nov. 7, students, faculty and staff rose up at more than 100 universities and colleges across the country and

On Aug. 14, Social Security will mark its 90th anniversary—but instead of celebrating, labor leaders and activists say the program faces the gravest threats in its history. Speaking during a virtual town hall on Aug. 7, AFT President Randi Weingarten warned that the Trump administration is pursuing policies aimed at dismantling Social Security. “They’re not going to tell people that they don’t want it,” she said. “We have to fight in every which way we can, particularly those of us who are not yet on Social Security, … for people to have it and to keep it … for our children and our

15 May 2025

Dear President Rothman, UW System Chancellors, and UW System Board of Regents,

Recently, three different judges in three different federal courts halted the actions by the U.S. Department of Education to stifle and shutter efforts in schools, colleges and universities to advance educational opportunity for all students through inclusive curriculum and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

On Feb. 14, 2025, the department issued a Dear Colleague letter that threatened to revoke federal funding for any school or college that engaged in certain DEI efforts, which the department did

From locals to the state fed, AFT-Wisconsin has been active in making our voices heard in the budget process.

Here are a few highlights:

Op-Ed by Higher Ed Members Neil Kraus and Jon Shelton

AFT-Wisconsin Budget Statement