Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Louis Malfaro who had served as the Texas American Federation of Teachers secretary-treasurer since 2010 was named president of the statewide teachers union by Texas AFTs Executive Council in a meeting on January 24. Malfaro replaces Linda Bridges who died on January 13. The Executive Council also approved the selection of John OSullivan to replace Malfaro as secretary-treasurer.
OSullivan had served in that position before his retirement in 2010. An election for both officer positions will be held at the 2015 Texas AFT Convention in June.
Malfaro began his teaching career in Austin ISD in 1987 at Blackshear Elementary where he taught bilingual education. The school had been designated by the district as one of 16 priority" campuses for focusing on academic improvement. More than 95 percent of the students were low-income with a high percentage of English language learners. While he expected a priority" school to be staffed with veteran teachers Malfaro found himself surrounded by other beginning teachers with little to no guidance or support.
Despite the lack of mentoring and support teaching was a great experience for me" he recalled. It renewed my faith in the importance of public schools especially for kids whose parents are immigrants or did not go to college. Yet too often school systems dont invest adequately in teachers who like students sometimes fail to reach their potential as a result. They never become as good at teaching as they could be because they havent been equipped. I think I was an example of how that happens."
Malfaro said the turning point in developing into a better teacher came when he turned to a local unionthe Austin Federation of Teachers affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. He quickly found that a collective voice for teachers and a family of educators that can serve as mentors was key for improving his professional work. After five years at Blackshear Malfaro left teaching and enrolled in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas to pursue a masters degree in public policy. At the same time he assumed the role of president of the Austin Federation of Teachers.
Malfaro recognized that Austin school employees were not completely unified; another local union (affiliated with the National Education Association and Texas State Teachers Association) competed with the AFT union for membership. He helped forge an agreement to merge the two unions and hold a consultation election. Elected consultation is a process whereby teachers and school employees elect the organization that formally negotiates with a districts administration on employee wages benefits and working conditions. The new merged unionEducation Austinwon the election and after a brief period of co-leadership Malfaro was elected president and served in that role until for seven years.
Education Austin became a model for the effective use of elected consultation and under Malfaros leadership the union and district administrators reached numerous agreements adopted by the school board on higher salaries better health insurance a higher minimum wage for support employees and host of other workplace issues. Remembering his struggles as a first-year teacher Malfaro also successfully pushed for greater professional development and mentoring for new teachers.
Malfaro was elected secretary-treasurer of Texas AFT in 2010 where he worked on a variety of issues for the state union including fighting the misuse of standardized testing working to preserve defined benefit pensions for school employees and working with the Coalition for Public Schools to oppose private-school voucher legislation. He also served as president of the Austin Central Labor Council (2003-2007) and is currently an AFT national vice president and member of the AFT Democracy Committee and the Civil and Human Rights Committee.
Texas AFT represents more than 65000 teachers paraprofessionals support personnel and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.6-million-member American Federation of Teachers.
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Louis Malfaro who had served as the Texas American Federation of Teachers secretary-treasurer since 2010 was named president of the statewide teachers union by Texas AFTs Executive Council in a meeting on January 24. Malfaro replaces Linda Bridges who died on January 13. The Executive Council also approved the selection of John OSullivan to replace Malfaro as secretary-treasurer.
OSullivan had served in that position before his retirement in 2010. An election for both officer positions will be held at the 2015 Texas AFT Convention in June.
Malfaro began his teaching career in Austin ISD in 1987 at Blackshear Elementary where he taught bilingual education. The school had been designated by the district as one of 16 priority" campuses for focusing on academic improvement. More than 95 percent of the students were low-income with a high percentage of English language learners. While he expected a priority" school to be staffed with veteran teachers Malfaro found himself surrounded by other beginning teachers with little to no guidance or support.
Despite the lack of mentoring and support teaching was a great experience for me" he recalled. It renewed my faith in the importance of public schools especially for kids whose parents are immigrants or did not go to college. Yet too often school systems dont invest adequately in teachers who like students sometimes fail to reach their potential as a result. They never become as good at teaching as they could be because they havent been equipped. I think I was an example of how that happens."
Malfaro said the turning point in developing into a better teacher came when he turned to a local unionthe Austin Federation of Teachers affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. He quickly found that a collective voice for teachers and a family of educators that can serve as mentors was key for improving his professional work. After five years at Blackshear Malfaro left teaching and enrolled in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas to pursue a masters degree in public policy. At the same time he assumed the role of president of the Austin Federation of Teachers.
Malfaro recognized that Austin school employees were not completely unified; another local union (affiliated with the National Education Association and Texas State Teachers Association) competed with the AFT union for membership. He helped forge an agreement to merge the two unions and hold a consultation election. Elected consultation is a process whereby teachers and school employees elect the organization that formally negotiates with a districts administration on employee wages benefits and working conditions. The new merged unionEducation Austinwon the election and after a brief period of co-leadership Malfaro was elected president and served in that role until for seven years.
Education Austin became a model for the effective use of elected consultation and under Malfaros leadership the union and district administrators reached numerous agreements adopted by the school board on higher salaries better health insurance a higher minimum wage for support employees and host of other workplace issues. Remembering his struggles as a first-year teacher Malfaro also successfully pushed for greater professional development and mentoring for new teachers.
Malfaro was elected secretary-treasurer of Texas AFT in 2010 where he worked on a variety of issues for the state union including fighting the misuse of standardized testing working to preserve defined benefit pensions for school employees and working with the Coalition for Public Schools to oppose private-school voucher legislation. He also served as president of the Austin Central Labor Council (2003-2007) and is currently an AFT national vice president and member of the AFT Democracy Committee and the Civil and Human Rights Committee.
Texas AFT represents more than 65000 teachers paraprofessionals support personnel and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.6-million-member American Federation of Teachers.
