Texas teachers grapple with their raises caught up in voucher fight
As a special session starts with a focus on “school choice” but no mention of public school funding, some teachers said they are even considering leaving the profession. Full Story
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![Members of the crowd hold signs and chant during a rally against school vouchers at the Texas Capitol on Oct. 7, 2023. Hundreds gathered to protest two days before a special session was slated to begin on Oct. 9, 2023.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
Primary threats loom over House Republicans as lawmakers again consider school vouchers
Gov. Greg Abbott promised that if House Republicans block school choice again, he’d go after them in the primaries Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during an event held by the Parent Empowerment Coalition at Annapolis Christian Academy on Jan. 31, 2023, in Corpus Christi.]()
Credit: Angela Piazza/Corpus Christi Caller-Times via REUTERS -
A generation of Texas farmers are retiring. It’s not clear who will replace them.
After 70 years on the farm, Jimmy Drake retired from the cotton business. With no family stepping up to take over the farm, he turned to a young neighbor. Full Story
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![From left, Tanner Heffington talks to Jimmy Drake next to Drake’s truck outside of their shop. Drake passed on his farm and equipment to long time neighbor Heffington last year making this the first time in 71 years that a member of the Drake family didn’t harvest the land.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
Residents in one of Texas’ most populous cities are working to decriminalize marijuana
Home to more than 260,000 people, the West Texas town of Lubbock is no stranger to passing local laws by petition. In 2021, residents overwhelmingly approved a local ban on abortion. Full Story
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![Giselle Ramirez stands with her clipboard of signatures to support the petition to legalize marijuana in Lubbock at the South Plains Fair Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, in Lubbock, Texas.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Body camera footage shows February drunk-driving arrest of Sen. Charles Schwertner
Newly released body camera footage shows state Sen. Charles Schwertner’s February arrest for suspicion of drunk driving. Travis County prosecutors dropped the charge in July. Full Story
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![State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, takes a field sobriety test, seen in bodycam footage released by the Austin Police Department. Schwertner was arrested in February for suspicion of driving while intoxicated but will not face prosecution.]()
Credit: Austin Police Department -
Lawsuit by Attorney General Ken Paxton’s accusers can continue, Texas Supreme Court rules
The whistleblower lawsuit, which argues that four senior staffers were improperly fired in retaliation for reporting Paxton to the FBI, returns to a Travis County trial court for action. Full Story
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![Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, walks back to his seat after speaking privately with defense attorney Dan Cogdell before starting the ninth day of his impeachment trial on the Senate floor on Sept. 15, 2023.]()
Credit: Sam Owens/Pool via San Antonio Express-News -
Nonprofit drug treatment center for low-income Texas teens shutters amid opioid crisis
Phoenix House is the latest casualty in an escalating funding crisis for Texas treatment centers as the state struggles with startling increases in overdose deaths, particularly among young people. Full Story
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![The Phoenix House in Dallas.]()
Credit: Phoenix House website -
One-third of Texas foster care caseworkers left their jobs last year as the agency continued putting kids in hotels
The Department of Family and Protective Services has increasingly relied on housing foster kids in hotels when it can’t find them a home. In the 2022 fiscal year, after record staff turnover, more than 1 in 4 caseworkers had less than one year of experience. Full Story
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![A former DFPS employee's badge on April 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
New anti-DEI law for public Texas colleges presents hiring challenges
The law requires publicly-funded universities and colleges to close their diversity, equity and inclusion offices, creating hiring challenges. Full Story
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![Kate McGee, higher education reporter at The Texas Tribune, moderates a panel with Renu Khator, John Sharp and Tedd Mitchell, at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 22, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott says special legislative session on “school choice” coming in October
The governor promised political consequences if lawmakers cannot pass legislation allowing for publicly subsidized school vouchers before March primaries. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about the recent 88th Legislative Session to an audience at the Texas Public Policy Foundation offices in Austin, on June 2, 2023. Abbott recounted policy victories in regards to fentanyl and the border crisis, as well as limiting gender affirming care and banning DEI practices in higher education. Abbott ended the event by promising to call a special session for school choice, after the current special session for property tax resolves.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas made it illegal to punish students for dreadlocks. A school is testing the limits of the law.
The Barbers Hill school district prompted a new law meant to prohibit schools from punishing students with hairstyles associated with race. A recent student suspension sparks questions about the extent of the CROWN Act’s protections. Full Story
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![Buttons and t-shirts promoting the CROWN act on display at a press conference in Houston on February 6, 2020.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
An East Texas principal was arrested after paddling a student, renewing debate over corporal punishment
Texas is one of 17 states that still permits hitting, spanking and paddling in schools. Republican lawmakers stood by the practice earlier this year in part because they say it was permitted in the Bible. Full Story
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![A Texas school hallway in 2019.]()
Credit: Pu YIng Huang for The Texas Tribune -
Texas A&M System’s guidance on the state’s DEI ban shows compliance might be a hard needle to thread
The guidance asks universities in the system to avoid using the acronym DEI on their websites and walk a fine line between organizing events that “support diversity in a general way” but don’t “promote preferential treatment of any particular group.” Full Story
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![Texas A&M University in College Station on Aug. 23, 2017]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles/The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton’s prosecutors stumbled at times. But did it matter in the GOP-dominated Senate?
The House impeachment managers faced a high bar: convincing enough Republican senators to vote against their own political self-interest. Full Story
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![House impeachment manager Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, center, listens as votes are votes cast during Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial on Sept. 16, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
These 2 senators were the only Republicans to vote for Paxton impeachment articles
Kelly Hancock and Robert Nichols broke from the rest of their party, but longtime observers said they weren’t surprised. Full Story
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Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial escalates Texas Republican civil war
Paxton’s far-right supporters doubled down on their promises for swift retribution against fellow Republicans who supported his removal from office. Full Story
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![Streetlights illuminate the Texas Capitol through early morning fog on the ninth day of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial in Austin on Sept. 15, 2023.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
Dan Patrick, Dade Phelan trade potshots after impeachment trial ends
The lieutenant governor criticized the House for a secretive and rushed process that “wasted” taxpayer dollars. The House speaker fired back, saying Patrick confessed his bias and contempt. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick gives a speech to the Senate after the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Texas Capitol on Sept. 16, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton was acquitted. See how each Senator voted.
After spending two weeks listening to both sides make their case, Texas Senators voted to acquit Paxton on all 16 articles of impeachment. Because of this vote, Paxton will remain in office. Full Story
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![A court bailiff collects votes from senators, skipping Angela Paxton, on the tenth day of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Sept. 16, 2023.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted on all 16 articles of impeachment
Only two of 19 Republican Senators voted in favor of convicting for any article — a stark contrast to the more than 70% of House Republicans who impeached the attorney general in May. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, center, sits between defense attorneys Tony Buzbee, left, and Mitch Little, right, before starting the ninth day of his impeachment trial in the Senate chamber at the Texas Capitol on Sept. 15, 2023.]()
Credit: Sam Owens/Pool via San Antonio Express-News -
Paxton defense calls charges “foolishness,” House argues AG “betrayed us” in closing impeachment arguments
Senators begin deliberating in private after defense lawyers and impeachment managers make impassioned pleas after two weeks of trial. Full Story
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![Senators are led onto the Senate Floor at the beginning of the ninth day of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial at the state capitol in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 15, 2023.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune