The outgoing superintendent of Garland ISD on how to prepare students for college and the workplace, the weighty decisions coming up for state leaders, and standardized tests’ potential for “cognitive bludgeoning.”
school finance
Posted in
Economy
The Search for a Less Unpopular School Tax
As the state and its independent school districts head to court again in October to debate school financing, it’s still possible that the issue of a statewide property tax could be revisited.
Posted in
Public Education
Texas Weekly Newsreel: Property Tax, Speed Limit, PAC Money
This week on the Newsreel, a look at property taxes versus sales taxes, 85-mph speed limits and Super PAC contributions from Texas.
Posted in
Public Education
Comparing School District Expenses Has Challenges
Because of the complexity of school finance, it’s tempting to turn to per-student spending to understand how well — or how poorly — a district is spending its money. But that approach has its perils.
Posted in
Economy
Property Tax Easy to Hate, Tough to Mess With
Property tax bills are big, but they have a couple of political advantages for legislators. For one thing, they don’t take most of the blame over those levies.
Posted in
Energy
Weekend Insider: Pocket Prairies, School Spending
Houston conservationists reintroduce native plants to the area, and we examine how much money school districts spend per student.
Posted in
Public Education
In Hard Times, Staffing at Schools Closely Watched
How school districts manage personnel costs will be increasingly monitored as debate over efficiency progresses — as will the ways they have coped with the loss of roughly 25,000 employees they shed before the 2011-12 school year.
Posted in
Public Education
A New Run at School Choice
Despite a half-hearted attempt at the end of the 2011 legislative session, the last real grasp lawmakers made at passing private school vouchers was in 2007. But that could soon change.
Posted in
Public Education
Testing Firm Hits Back Against Claims of Flaws
After a UT-Austin professor’s research suggested a flaw in the design of the state’s standardized tests, an official with the testing vendor said the firm welcomes an “open dialogue” based on well-founded evidence — but not what he called “wild conclusions.”
Posted in
Public Education
Design Flaw Suspected in Standardized State Tests
Researchers believe they have uncovered a glitch in the DNA of the state’s standardized exams that suggests, because of the statistical method used to assemble them, they are virtually useless at measuring the effects of instruction in the classroom.
