Morgan, Ross, Julian and Evan discuss the public education debates now playing out at the Capitol, the prospect of comprehensive immigration reform and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's emotional defense of UT-Austin President Bill Powers.

More than 100 witnesses signed up to testify before the House Public Education Committee Tuesday on a massive bill restructuring student testing, graduation requirements and the public school accountability system in the state.

Democrats in the Texas House last week launched an effort to restore public education cuts, setting up a potential battle over an emergency supplemental appropriations bill.

The speaker of the House dampens expectations for vouchers, tax breaks and transportation without ruling any of those things out. And the lieutenant governor unpeels another layer of problems he says arose from a campaign manager's embezzling.

M. Smith on the decision that Texas school funding is unconstitutional, E. Smith’s TribLive conversation with House Speaker Joe Straus, Rocha and Dehn’s look at how Texas got its current ethics laws, Ramshaw peeks into the lobby’s bag of gifts for lawmakers, Batheja finds state lawmakers who lobby other government entities, KUT’s Philpott on federal health care in Texas, Murphy reveals the geography of House committee assignments, Hamilton on a Caribbean medical school that wants to operate in Texas, Grissom at a court of inquiry on a murder prosecutor’s conduct, Aguilar on a decision that allows an open-pit coal mine to operate on the state’s Mexican border and Aaronson’s report on legislative inquiries about the state’s cancer prevention agency: The best of our best for the week of Feb. 4, 2012.

CSCOPE, the controversial statewide curriculum delivery system, will undergo a review process and ensure better transparency, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee announced Friday.

After the $5.4 billion cut to public education during the 2011 legislative session, the advocacy group Children at Risk teamed up with a coalition of nonprofit foundations to provide comprehensive data on how Texas schools were coping with less money. 

Ongoing school finance litigation will likely prevent the Legislature from discussing education funding issues this session, two Republican budget leaders said at a TribLive event Thursday. 

The challenge for Texas leaders is: How do we ensure that our children can compete and thrive in this ever-changing economy?

Police and educators were among those who testified before senators on Monday about how to ensure school safety and whether school employees should carry concealed handguns on campus.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst talked about whether public education funding in Texas is sufficient and where additional money might come from.

Batheja on growing calls for infrastructure spending, Dehn and Rocha report on voters’ legislative wishes, Murphy counts noses in the new Legislature, KUT’s Philpott sniffs out a push for tax relief, M. Smith tracks House Speaker Joe Straus after his re-election, Kalifa’s lovely time-lapse look at the Legislature’s first day, Aaronson on the Medicaid expansion, Aguilar on hopes for immigration reform, Grissom on the tribulations of Kerry Max Cook, Hamilton looks into a college curriculum battle, and E. Smith’s TribLive interview with Michael Williams: The best of our best for the week of Jan. 7, 2013.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams addressed the hottest topic in public education in Texas today: the state's standardized testing regimen.

A final decision in the school finance trial against the state involving more than two-thirds of its districts and charter schools likely won’t happen until after the lights go out in the 83rd Legislature. But that doesn’t mean what’s happening inside of the courtroom now won’t have an impact on policy under the pink dome.

For public education in Texas, 2012 was the year of accountability. At the state's universities, the competition for dollars to boost research and status heated up. Here's a look back at the year's biggest stories about public and higher education.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Dan Patrick gave the first details of what they promised would be a wide-ranging set of proposals for public education policy during the upcoming legislative session.

As the El Paso school district continues to reel from a testing scandal, one district program is focusing on the students who dropped out as a result of pressure from school officials. 

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, on Wednesday will unveil education reform legislation that some expect to reignite a fiery debate over the potential use of school vouchers in Texas.