SBOE 5: Tuggey Concedes to Mercer
Tim Tuggey conceded the race for the GOP nomination to incumbent Ken Mercer in State Board of Education District 5. Full Story
The latest State Board of Education news from The Texas Tribune.
Tim Tuggey conceded the race for the GOP nomination to incumbent Ken Mercer in State Board of Education District 5. Full Story
With all precincts reporting, State Board of Education incumbent Don McLeroy has lost to challenger Thomas Ratliff in the race for District 9 by a razor thin margin — less than 1,000 votes. Full Story
There’s plenty for Texas-focused Supreme Court watchers to gnaw on today. Also, there’s this election going on, and people really want to vote in it. Full Story
Ramsey on Flintstone truthers, Thevenot on the explosion of "dual-credit" enrollees and the potential sacking of teachers when student test scores don't measure up, Ramshaw on government-subsidized child care providers with troubled track records, Stiles's enhanced state employee salary app and new dangerous day care app, Aguilar on our commie trading partner and the cost of being undercounted in the next census, Philpott on the legal wrangling over gay divorce and how social media fanned the flames of Debra Medina's 9/11 flap, and our roundup of powderkeg party primaries: Hu in HD-20, M. Smith in CD-23, Ramsey in HD-98, Hamilton in HD-127, Grissom HD-76 and HD-78, and Rapoport in SBOE 5. The best of our best from February 15 to 19, 2010. Full Story
In honor of today's kickoff of early voting — a two-week period in which political junkies, committed activists and other go-to-the-head-of-the-class types will line up to cast ballots for their favorite candidates, unable to contain their enthusiasm or anger until March 2 — we present five different installments in our Primary Color series. Brandi Grissom reports on the GOP face-off to take on state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, in House District 78. Elise Hu tackles the four-way scrum between Republicans in HD-20 hoping to succeed retiring state Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown. Ross Ramsey asks why a perenially safe incumbent, state Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, has a fight on her hands this year in HD-98. Abby Rapoport looks at the battle for conservative cred in the race for the District 5 seat on the State Board of Education. And Morgan Smith picks apart the five-way race for the GOP nomination in Congressional District 23 — and the chance to topple U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio. Full Story
Forget about Don McLeroy vs. Thomas Ratliff. The most interesting fight for a State Board of Education seat may be in San Antonio, where well-funded lawyer-lobbyist Tim Tuggey is challenging incumbent Ken Mercer — and the big question being asked is, 'How conservative is conservative enough?' Full Story
It seems the social conservatives on the State Board of Education may be on their way to getting more ink than any other politicians in modern Texas history, a cause that will be helped in this Sunday's printing of The New York Times Magazine. Full Story
Democrats and Republicans running for the State Board of Education in District 5 spoke Thursday at a candidate forum. Ben Philpott, who's covering the 2010 elections for KUT News and the Tribune, filed this report. Full Story
Four Democrats running for the District 5 seat spoke Thursday at a candidate forum: Josiah Ingalls, Rebecca Bell-Metereau, Daniel Boone and Robert Bohmfalk. Here's the full audio. Full Story
Two Republicans running for the District 5 seat spoke Thursday at a candidate forum: incumbent Ken Mercer and Tim Tuggey. Here's the full audio. Full Story
Thevenot on the abysmally low community college graduation rate and higher ed's coming budgetary winter. Ramshaw on Terri Hodge's guilty plea and hasty exit. Grissom on the Department of Public Safety's use of dreaded federal stimulus funds to plug a hole in the state's border security budget. Hu on the first of the intraparty face-offs in our Primary Color series. Ramsey and Stiles on the congressional candidates with the most money on hand. Ramsey on whether Farouk Shami's accent and name are an obstacle to his election. Aguilar on the fever-tick epidemic overwhelming South Texas. Rapoport on TxDOT's hard road and the State Board of Education's lack of finance expertise. Philpott on how Barack Obama's budget will impact Texas. M. Smith on whether lawyers giving to judges is a good thing. Hamilton on the latest transportation innovations on the drawing board. The best of our best from February 1 to 5, 2010. Full Story
State school leaders from across the West are complaining of too much federal intrusion into local curriculum decisions, along with inflexible rules – including that national standards be adopted “word for word.” Full Story
Disability rights advocates say State Board of Education member David Bradley's comment to the Texas Tribune — "If you sit on the mental health commission, do you have to be retarded?" — is offensive and uninformed. Full Story
Few members of the State Board of Education have finance expertise. Should we be concerned that they manage the investments of the $23 billion Permanent School Fund? Full Story
The president announced he would ask Congress for an additional $1.35 billion for the Race to the Top education grant program — which Gov. Perry spurned last week — along with more flexibility in doling it out to individual districts. He also took a swipe at Texas. Full Story
A big week, with the State Board of Education working on social studies textbooks — Thevenot was all over that this week, starting with a story that got national attention — and then the first debate between the GOP gubernatorial candidates, a story we tag-teamed with poll analysis, Hu's and Ramsey's live-blogging, Philpott's audio, and video. Our first TribLive event coaxed some news out of House Speaker Joe Straus, and E. Smith also interviewed Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson on beaches, politics, and, um, politics. We featured M. Smith on athletes in politics, Aguilar on the pack of Republicans chasing U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, Rapoport on women in campaigns, and Hamilton on candidates outside the spotlight. The best of our best from January 11 to January 15, 2010. Full Story
On day three of the State Board of Education's social studies curriculum hearings, targets of the conservatives' ire included Marcus Garvey, Clarence Darrow, and Ted Kennedy. Full Story
In the midst of the social studies curriculum revisions, the SBOE member and former chair kicks off a debate about, of all things, hip-hop. Full Story
State Board of Education members played mostly nice with one another Thursday, as they added and subtracted historical figures to the social studies curriculum. In: the first Hispanic Texas Supreme Court justice, Tejanos who died at the Alamo, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Out: "Ma" Ferguson, Henry Cisneros, and Dolores Huerta. Full Story
When the State Board of Education finally got to amending the social studies curriculum, members burrowed deeply into the weeds, holding extended debates over the parsing of seemingly innocuous phrases, like "citizens" vs. "good citizens." Full Story