Texas Education Agency commissioner Robert Scott touched off political controversy this week when he told a gathering of 4,000 school officials in Austin that standardized testing had gone too far in Texas.

Morgan Smith explains how some parents are choosing not to let their children take the new and rigorous STAAR tests. And Kate Galbraith tells us how state officials may use money from BP for coastal restoration.

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott received a standing ovation today after he told a gathering of public school educators that the state testing system has become a "perversion of its original intent."

Tan and Dehn talk to some of Gov. Rick Perry's allies about his return to Texas, Aaronson maps (interactively!) the insured and the uninsured among us, E. Smith's TribLive interview with state Rep. David Simpson on Perry's race and TSA pat-downs, M. Smith on a Texas school so broke it's shutting down sports, Whitney on a split in the legal community over divorce forms, KUT's Philpott on abuse in state hospitals, Ramshaw reports on the governor's decision not to repay taxpayers for protection during his presidential campaign and Aguilar on the state's attempts to put its voter ID law in force: The best of our best content from January 23-27, 2012.

Emily Ramshaw explains how family planning clinics are complying with the state's new abortion sonogram law. Morgan Smith shows us a school district that is canceling its sports program.

In a daring and rare move in a state where the football field is hallowed turf, a superindent has suspended all athletics to help his South Texas district improve its struggling finances.   

Tan and Root on the Texas presidential candidates returning to the state where Rick Perry started his campaign, Philpott on Perry's swipes at Mitt Romney, Ramshaw on Griffin Perry's tweets, M. Smith on the next round of fights over student testing, E. Smith's TribLive interview with Michael Quinn Sullivan, yours truly on the sliding primary election calendar, Hamilton on higher-education efforts to bolster the Texas work force, Grissom's interview with John Raley, Galbraith on the greenhouse gas wars and Aguilar on making it easier for immigrants to return to the U.S.: The best of our best content from January 9 to 13, 2012.

This year, for the first time, students' scores on standardized tests will count 15 percent toward their final grades. It sounds straightforward, but how some districts are applying the so-called 15 percent rule threatens to spark the next political battle over a test that has seen plenty of them.

As it has since the Trib's launch in 2009, data continued to reign supreme on the site in 2011. Today, we take a look at the 10 most-visited data apps since Jan. 1.

Aaronson on Rick Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund, Aguliar on the DOJ's Joe Arpaio problem, Galbraith on the uncertainty about Texas' electric grid, Grissom and Schwartz of The New York Times on the latest in the Michael Morton case, Hamilton on the first leg of Perry's Iowa bus tour, Murphy and McLain unveil our new campaign finance database, Ramsey et al. go live with the first round of our 2012 election brackets, Root on a GOP rival's queries about Perry's pension play, M. Smith contrasts the various school finance lawsuits and Tan, Dehn and Murphy on a shortage of mental health professionals: The best of our best content from December 19-23, 2011.

By the end of the year, there will likely be four school finance lawsuits filed against the state. Here's a primer. 

After 20 years, Scott Hochberg is bailing out of the Texas Legislature. He’ll get back his nights and weekends. But he also won't be at the Capitol to help sort out education policy and financing.

Texas has a long history of school finance lawsuits, many of them fought over the same themes. But in the latest round, one phrase has been conspicuously absent from the discussion: Robin Hood.    

For-profit, alternative certification teaching programs are booming in Texas. Every year since 2007, the two largest programs have produced far more teachers than any other traditional or alternative program.

In this episode of Weekend Insider, Executive Editor Ross Ramsey describes where Texas' legislative redistricting stands, and reporter Morgan Smith explains how Texas became the industry leader in for-profit alternative teacher certification.

The TEA has released new guidelines that set tough thresholds for school districts hoping to take advantage of special legal exemptions passed by the Legislature and intended to help schools cope with significant budget cuts.

The official filing period for State Board of Education races hasn't even begun, but the mudslinging certainly has. That's no surprise: Political control over the divisive board hangs in the balance. 

Voters clearly want good schools and nice roads and low taxes. It's a political and policy question straight out of a business textbook: What's the right balance of price and quality?