At Tuesday’s Senate Education Committee hearing on a trio of anti-bullying bills, the parents of children who committed suicide after being picked on by classmates asked lawmakers to fix a system they say failed their families.
Morgan Smith
Morgan Smith was a reporter at the Tribune from 2009 to 2018, covering politics, public education and inequality.
In 2013, she received a National Education Writers Association award for “Death of a District,” a series on school closures. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Wellesley College, she moved to Austin in 2008 to enter law school at the University of Texas.
A San Antonio native, her work has also appeared in Slate, where she spent a year as an editorial intern in Washington D.C.
Posted in
Higher Education
SSNs of Laredo ISD Students Missing In Possible Data Breach
A disk holding the Social Security numbers of thousands of current and former students in the Laredo Independent School District — a total of 24,903 — has gone missing, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Posted in
Public Education
Where Do Elected Officials Send Their Kids to School?
Tribune readers, wondering what was personally at stake for the state’s education policy makers, asked us to check where lawmakers send their children to school. We obliged, and posed that question to all 181 members of the Legislature and 15 members of the State Board of Education.
Posted inPublic Education
Interactive: Where Do Elected Officials’ Kids Go To School?
Tribune readers, wondering what was personally at stake for the state’s education policy makers, asked us to check where lawmakers send their children to school. We obliged, and posed that question to all 181 members of the Legislature and 15 members of the State Board of Education.
Posted in
Public Education
Slideshow: Fighting for Public Education Funding
The past few days have seen thousands of students, educators and parents at the Texas Capitol to protest the budget cuts they say will do long-term harm to Texas students. Here are some images of the action.
Posted in
Public Education
DA OKs SBOE Member’s Lobby Connections
The Travis County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit has concluded Thomas Ratliff has not committed a crime in serving on the State Board of Education while employed as a lobbyist.
Posted in
Public Education
Thousands Protest Education Cuts at Texas Capitol
Want to get the attention of 11,000 Texans? Propose a $10 billion spending cut to public education.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
“Loser Pays” Bills Filed in the House and Senate
In advance of today’s bill filing deadline, lawmakers have introduced two bills that would require losing parties to pay attorneys’ fees in a variety of civil lawsuits.
Posted in
Public Education
SBOE: Now With Two-Thirds Approval?
State Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, filed a bill today that would require two-thirds of the State Board of Education to reject recommendations from experts during the approval process for curriculum standards and textbooks.
Posted in
Public Education
Deuell: Lowe Lacks Votes for Senate Confirmation [Updated]
Sen. Bob Deuell, who chairs the Senate Nominations Committee, says Gail Lowe has not been scheduled for a hearing as chairwoman of the State Board of Education because she lacks the votes for a confirmation on the floor.
