The latest Texas Education Agency news from The Texas Tribune.
A new state law decentralizing the selection and purchase of instructional materials for Texas students has sparked debate about how it will affect the politically charged State Board of Education's power to control what’s taught in Texas classrooms. Full Story
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We'll be liveblogging throughout the weekend from The Texas Tribune Festival's public and higher education track — which includes panels on the role research should play at state universities and how to pay for public education. Full Story
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Despite more details from the Obama administration today about how it would exempt states from complying with the law's signature requirements, the Texas Education Agency has yet to decide whether it will apply for a waiver on federal accountability requirements under the 2001 act. Full Story
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Abstinence still rules on a state policy level, but from Midland to Spring Branch, a quiet message is spreading through Texas schools: It's time to start teaching students about contraception. Full Story
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With the Tribune’s Texas Public Schools Database, parents, students and other readers can access key academic, financial and administrative information about every public school district and campus in the state. Full Story
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DAY 23 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: The state's prison education system, known as the Windham School District, eliminates or reduces classes for inmates. Full Story
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DAY 23 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: The state's prison education system, known as the Windham School District, eliminates or reduces classes for Texas inmates. Full Story
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DAY 8 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Armed with fewer resources, educators prepare students for rigorous new STAAR test. Full Story
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The vise squeezing Texas schools since the Legislature voted to remove $4 billion in state funding is getting a little tighter. Full Story
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DAY 1 of our 31-day series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Thousands of Texas teachers will not have jobs to return to in the fall, the result of a school finance plan that cut $4 billion from districts statewide. Full Story
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After changing its formula, the Texas Education Agency has released the 2011 accountability ratings for the state's 1,228 districts. Search our ratings database and compare how your school fared this year compared to last. Full Story
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The new accountability ratings released Friday for public school campuses in the state's 1,228 districts and charter schools are markedly lower from the ratings given last year. Full Story
A new standardized testing system will replace the TAKS exam this year, and as Kelsey Sheridan of KUT News reports, the switch to more difficult tests comes as schools are already grappling with reduced budgets. Full Story
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This will be the first year school accountability ratings will not contain a mechanism that, for some schools, had boosted their scores and led to higher ratings. Now they'll have to explain to parents what the change means for their kids. Full Story
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Supporters say the new chairwoman of the State Board of Education is a mild-tempered, fair leader who is well suited to oversee the fractious board. Her critics say she is a culture warrior who injects her religious and political agenda into classrooms. Full Story
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It took a series of often rancorous debates this session to reach agreement on how to finance public education for 2012-2013. Use the Trib's latest interactive to track what lawmakers said about Texas education. Full Story
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There's a day in July that school districts eye with a mixture of anticipation and dread. This year, it's on the 29th, when the Texas Education Agency will publicly release the accountability ratings for the state's more than 1,000 districts. Full Story
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Even as it is coping with deep reductions to its own budget, the Texas Education Agency faces criticism from school districts and lawmakers, although not necessarily for the same reasons — vivid evidence of the pressure on the TEA. Full Story
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The most drastic change for many students will come in the spring, when approximately 350,000 new ninth graders will be the first to take the end-of-course exams that are part of the new standardized testing system known as STAAR. Full Story
When the Senate passed her two signature education bills, Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, made an effort to keep her colleagues from weighing them down with extra amendments. The lower chamber took a different approach. Full Story
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