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education
Posted in
Public Education
The Brief: July 14, 2010
Don’t look now, but things just got substantive in the governor’s race.
Posted in
Economy
Ads Infinitum: Education PAC’s Anti-Perry Ad [Updated]
A new political action committee is attacking Gov. Rick Perry with a television ad playing on a familiar theme: Perry’s high-class living. The ad starts airing tonight in markets across Texas.
Posted in
Public Education
State Board of Landlords?
Hoping to tackle the long-standing challenge of financing charter school facilities, the State Board of Education is considering taking on a novel and controversial role: landlord. SBOE member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, wants to use $100 million from the $23 billion Permanent School Fund to buy properties and then lease them back to charter schools, which have historically struggled with capital costs. Critics say the elected board can’t possibly fulfill the mandate of the Fund — to invest for maximum return — while at the same time cutting charters a good deal.
Posted inState Government
The Texas Grade Inflation Agency?
A published report Tuesday highlighted concerns over whether the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test, the standardized exam for the state’s public school students, is rigorous enough. Nathan Bernier of KUT News talked to Houston Chronicle reporter Ericka Mellon, whose analysis of Texas Education Agency data found that the TEA lowered its passing standards more this year than it did at least over the last two years.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw on geriatric care in state prisons, with Miller’s photo essay inside those walls; M. Smith interviews the state’s newest Supreme Court justice, Debra Lehrmann; Aguilar finds fewer Mexicans seeking asylum in the U.S; Galbraith sorts out the politics of pollution and whether our air is dangerous to breathe; Thevenot discovers authorities writing tickets for misbehavior to elementary school kids; Philpott reports on early hearing about political redistricting; Kreighbaum examines fines levied against polluters and finds they’re often smaller than the economic benefits of the infractions; and Stiles and Babalola spotlight some of our data projects from our first seven months online: The best of our best from May 31 to June 4, 2010.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
The Brief: June 4, 2010
Physician-owned hospitals, which provide some of the best health care in the nation but have been in danger since health insurance reform passed, are taking their case to court.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramsey on what the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll says about the governor’s race, education, immigration, and other issues; Grissom on a far West Texas county divided over Arizona’s immigration law; Ramshaw talks health care reform and obesity in Texas with a legendary Dallas doctor; M. Smith on the Collin County community that’s about to break ground on a $60 million high school football stadium; Aguilar on the backlog of cases in the federal immigration detention system; Philpott of the Green Party’s plans to get back on the ballot; Hu on the latest in the Division of Workers’ Comp contretemps; Mulvaney on the punishing process of getting compensated for time spent in jail when you didn’t commit a crime; Hamilton on the fight over higher ed formula funding; and my sit-down with state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin: The best of our best from May 24-28, 2010.
Posted in
Health care
Kenneth Cooper: The TT Interview
The world-renowned Dallas doctor who essentially invented jogging as exercise talks with the Tribune about health care reform, the crisis of obesity in Texas, and what lawmakers must do to shore up the physical-education legislation they passed last session.
Posted in
Public Education
Are You Ready for Some Football?
Allen High School is a study in bigness: A 5,000-student campus with a 650-member marching band supporting a football team that draws 8,000 fans to away games. And now — the pinnacle of suburban spoils — the Collin County community will break ground on an 18,000-seat stadium, the largest occupied by a single team. Pricetag: $60 million.
