The next four days will probably be the most critical period in determining the fate of the session's major education bills, which address standardized testing and curriculum requirements, as well as charter school expansion.

Elementary and middle school students will take fewer standardized exams under legislation approved by the state Senate on Tuesday — if Texas can get a waiver from the federal government.

UPDATED: After Senate Bill 1718 died in the House, Sen. Royce West, the Dallas Democrat who carried it, amended the measure onto another piece of legislation that passed out of the upper chamber late Tuesday night.

Senate Education Chairman Dan Patrick announced on Monday that CSCOPE, the state's curriculum delivery system, would no longer offer lesson plans to Texas school districts.

Police officers, oil and gas pipeline inspectors, news photographers, and movie producers may now all have access to drone footage under certain conditions in language added to legislation banning the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as it passed the Texas Senate. 

UPDATED: A measure targeting a Turkish charter school network was added to major legislation from Senate Education Chairman Dan Patrick that would increase the number of publicly funded, privately operated schools as it passed the Texas House on Thursday, 105-34.

Medicaid providers would have clearer due process rights during fraud investigations under a measure the House gave tentative approval to on Wednesday.

At the start of the legislative session, bills that would strengthen the state's charter school system, overhaul teaching requirements and address accountability for underperforming school districts were a top priority for many advocacy groups and some lawmakers. Use our interactive to track their progress.

UPDATED: A divisive measure requiring the disclosure of certain unreported political donors passed the House on a 95-52 vote on Tuesday with little of Monday's debate. The measure now heads to Gov. Rick Perry.

Raise Your Hand Texas has been a key player this session, impacting bills like Sen. Dan Patrick's charter school legislation. The advocacy organization's influence in policy negotiations has won it both respect and exasperation in education circles.

A state district judge ruled Wednesday in favor of cheerleaders at an East Texas high school in their national headline-grabbing lawsuit to display religious messages during athletic events.

As major charter school legislation awaits consideration in the House, school choice supporters gathered at a Capitol rally to hear from several lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston.

The Senate version of House Bill 5, which it approved Monday, still allows students to complete diplomas in specialized areas, or "endorsements." But it changes the courses required to graduate under those endorsements.

Some critics of Texas' largely subjective state teacher evaluations want them to include more emphasis on measures of student performance like standardized exams. But with support among lawmakers to scale back testing, those efforts have hit a roadblock.

More than 80,000 fifth-graders and 60,000 eighth-graders in the state are at risk of being held back this year because of poor performance on state standardized tests under a Texas law banning social promotion.