Districts prepare to go to court with the TEA over minimum grades policies, prompting the question: How much should schools emulate the real world? And how many second chances should students get?
state agencies
Posted in
State Government
Hire Power
Typically, Texas Child Protective Services experiences sky-high employee and caseworker vacancy rates, but as unemployment has soared, staffing numbers have blossomed — stabilizing child abuse caseloads. Why the bad economy is good news for one state agency.
Posted in
Health care
On the Records: Sick Of Waiting
Tired of waiting for the state to provide swine flu vaccine locations, The Dallas Morning News took matters into its own hands.
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Politics
Campaign Cash: To Cap, or Not to Cap?
Should the state set limits on political contributions? Depends on which candidate you ask.
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Criminal Justice
Behind Closed Doors
Should the Texas Forensic Science Commission meet in private? The new chairman, John Bradley, says there’s a good argument for it.
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Economy
Is Texas in the Race?
The federal government is giving away $4.35 billion to state education systems through Race to the Top. But is Texas already out?
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Criminal Justice
Off The Books, Part Two: Contractor Conflicts
State contractors – many of whom get paid top dollar to advise Texas agencies – are largely immune from reporting conflicts of interest.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Broken Border, Part Five: Safer?
In some places, the governor’s border security efforts have led to a reduction in crime — in rural counties, for instance, where there aren’t many people and there wasn’t much crime to begin with. But in large urban counties like El Paso and Webb, it’s a different story.
Posted in
Public Education
Robert’s Rules
State schools chief Robert Scott recently failed to get the Legislature to increase the cap on charter schools — then found a legal way to do it anyway, much to the dismay of state Democrats and teachers unions.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Off The Books, Part One: High-Price High-Tech
State agencies are spending tens of millions of dollars every year on information technology contract workers, employees who aren’t on the state payroll – but whose pay often dwarfs those who are.
