The B-On-Time Loan Program offers sweet savings if you are a student. But if you are an institution of higher education, the program might be costing you anywhere from a few thousand to millions of dollars.
Dan Patrick
Posted in
Public Education
Senators Debate Productivity Center, Class Size
During Tuesday’s Senate Education Committee meeting, senators considered legislation that could dramatically change the way school districts operate — including two bills that target the dreaded “unfunded mandates.”
Posted in
Public Education
Do Texas Schools Spend Too Much on Administration?
For lawmakers scrutinizing every possible saving, “administrative costs” presents an easy mark. But there may be less to cut than they imagine.
Posted in
State Government
The Week in Texas Politics Recap: 2/7 to 2/11
No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We’ve made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome.
Posted in
Health care
For Senate Democrats, Abortion Bill Reveals Split
Unlike the debate over voter ID, in which Senate Democrats stood united in their opposition, a combination of politics, religion and personal histories have made the sonogram bill more divisive in their caucus.
Posted in
Health care
Sonogram Bill Reworked
Even before state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, tweaked a bill requiring a woman seeking an abortion to have a sonogram performed, he said lawmakers and the media had misunderstood his intent.
Posted in
Higher Education
Senators Call Tuition Set-Aside Theft, Secret Tax
One state senator calls it “a 20 percent backdoor secret tax” on those paying for college. Another argues that eliminating it would help create a Texas with a “have-and-have-not culture.” And some students say the the tuition set-aside program mandated by the state in 2003 is just plain theft.
Posted in
Economy
Senators Grill Education Agency Over Cuts
At the Texas Education Agency’s first appearance before the Senate since the release of a budget that reduces school funding by $9.3 billion, senators called for a “full picture” of the state’s spending on public education.
Posted in
State Government
ICYMI: The Senate Two-Thirds Debate
In case you missed it, we mashed up Wednesday’s speeches for and against the Texas Senate’s hallowed “two-thirds rule,” which senators ultimately preserved. Members voted to keep an exception to the rules that allows a simple majority to consider changes to voter identification laws.
Posted inState Government
TribBlog: The Two-Thirds Discussion
In a party-line vote, the Texas Senate adopted its rules today without making any changes to the rule that requires the consent of two-thirds of the body to bring an issue to the floor. Of course, no change means that controversial legislation on voter ID — as it was last session — is exempt.
