State Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, has filed three bills aimed at regulating the practice of ticketing students for misbehavior in public schools.
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
Public Education
In West Texas, a Town’s Fate Tied to Its School
With just 56 students, Marathon ISD is one of the state’s smallest. But its fate is critical to the West Texas town’s survival. And if what is happening here works, it could serve as a model for other towns looking to shield their way of life from the death knell of school closures.
Posted in
Public Education
Athletics: Where Budget Balancers Fear to Tread?
With Texas public schools facing cuts of as much as $10 billion in state funding, predictions of the consequences have been dire: teacher layoffs, bigger class sizes, fewer instructional days. One topic conspicuously absent from the conversation: athletics.
Posted in
Public Education
LiveBlog: TribLive with Rob Eissler
House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler talked with Texas Tribune CEO and Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith this morning. Here is our liveblog.
Posted in
Public Education
Ed Commissioner: Don’t Lose Cool Over Cuts
“Now is not the time to point fingers and scream and yell. Now is the time to solve the problem,” Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott told more than 6,000 public school leaders from across the state today.
Posted in
Public Education
Gail Lowe Reappointed as Education Board Chair
Pending Senate confirmation, Gail Lowe will serve another term as head of the State Board of Education.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: Superintendents Speak Out
Leaders from school districts across Texas had tough words for lawmakers as they gathered this morning to denounce the “devastating” cuts to state public education funding.
Posted in
Economy
The Pre-K Predicament
Just how important is full-day pre-kindergarten for the state’s youngest and most disadvantaged kids? Is it more important than after-school tutoring? Than canceling music and art classes? As public school officials brace for a proposed $10 billion less in state funding, that’s one decision they’ll have to make. “It’s choosing between bad and worse and bad and bad,” says one superintendent. “It’s definitely not a good day when we are sitting around talking about whether class size going up could help salvage all-day pre-K, or vice-versa.”
Posted in
Public Education
Closing Time
Texas public schools are facing what could be $10 billion less in state financing — a stark prospect that could empty school buildings across the state as districts consolidate campuses to reduce costs. What should happen to these structures, which are built with taxpayer money?
Posted in
Economy
The Tenure Trap
Despite the budget crisis, thousands of Texas teachers know their jobs are safe. They possess a “continuing contract” — the public education equivalent of tenure. Many of the most senior educators are employed under these contracts, which may complicate the efforts of some districts to cut personnel costs.
