Officials announcing controversy-laden public school ratings Friday could barely contain their upbeat unease.
August 2010
Posted in
Health care
Banned Parenthood?
State Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, wants Planned Parenthood’s clinics out of the state’s Women’s Health Program, which provides family planning services — but not abortions — to impoverished Medicaid patients. He says a 2005 law should exclude them already. But for years, the state’s Health and Human Services Commission has allowed those clinics to participate, for fear that barring them might be unconstitutional. Deuell has asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to clear up the matter, hoping it will free up the agency to push Planned Parenthood out.
Posted in
Health care
An Itchy Situation
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently said that children should not be kept out of school if they get head lice — the opposite of what Texas law requires. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune has this report.
Posted in
State Government
The New Math
Despite just-released ratings that show huge improvements, a Texas Tribune analysis finds that the performance of the state’s public schools — when decoupled from the controversial Texas Projection Measure — is little changed from 2008, the year before the accountability formula took effect.
Posted in
Demographics
Checkpoint Blues
As more U.S. Border Patrol agents descend on the Texas-Mexico border, residents of some of the most remote West Texas towns say they feel harassed and disrespected by the new arrivals watching over their communities.