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.

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.

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.

Gov. Rick Perry will soon receive a bill the House approved Thursday that will provide a free breakfast to all children at Texas’ poorest schools.

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.

On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: Water, transportation and education were priorities at the beginning of this year's legislative session, but how much progress has been made on each?

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.

The day after the leading measure to fund state water projects stumbled in the House, legislators shifted their focus to a bill that some members hope will also include money for education.

UPDATED: A measure taking aim at the firm that develops the state's standardized tests briefly stalled legislation reducing high-stakes exams for elementary and middle school students before it finally passed the Texas House on Tuesday.

As lawmakers work on charter school legislation, lobbyists better known for their work in other areas have been showing up regularly at education committee hearings.

The Texas Constitution prohibits government entities from recognizing domestic partnerships and offering those couples insurance benefits, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote in an opinion on Monday.  

Some parents and advocacy organizations say the state’s truancy laws are too harsh. The Senate passed a bill last week to change these laws, compromising with judges and district officials who said the reforms were too broad.

Voters asked lawmakers to cut down on the high-stakes standardized tests in schools and to replace some of the budget cuts made in 2011. Will they soon be asking why lawmakers made it easier to get a high school diploma?

A bill by state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, could result in as many as 731,000 additional low-income children in Texas receiving free breakfasts through their schools.